2026 Daytona 500 pole position: Kyle Busch, Chase Briscoe capture top two spots

The Daytona 500 is almost here. On Thursday night, the drivers competed in the Duels to determine the starting order for the Great American race.

The single-car qualifying took place on Wednesday night. In single-car qualifying, each driver ran a timed lap around the 2.5-mile superspeedway. The top 10 drivers advanced to Round 2 to compete for the pole position, racing another timed lap. The two fastest drivers in that round will be in the front row for the Daytona 500.

Kyle Busch finished first and won his first Daytona 500 pole. Last year’s pole-sitter Chase Briscoe finished with the second-best time, putting him right behind Busch in the lineup.

The single-car qualifying also set the lineup for each Duel qualifying race. Drivers that placed in odd number positions (third, fifth, etc.) raced in Duel 1. Drivers who placed in even number finishes (fourth, sixth, etc.) raced in Duel 2.

The Duels are 60-lap, 150-mile qualifying races that set the third to 40th positions in Sunday’s race. Duel 1’s finishing order determines the inside rows and Duel 2’s finishing order determines the outside row for the Daytona 500.

Points are awarded to the top 10 finishers in each Duel and will count towards the regular season. First place of each Duel race will get 10 points, second will get nine points, etc.

Daytona 500 order

1. Kyle Busch
2. Chase Briscoe
3. Joey Logano
4. Chase Elliott
5. Ryan Blaney
6. Carson Hocevar
7. Austin Dillon
8. Kyle Larson
9. Brad Keselowski
10. Michael McDowell
11. John Hunter Nemechek
12. Christopher Bell
13. Shane van Gisbergen
14. Josh Berry
15. Daniel Suarez
16. Ricky Stenhouse Jr
17. Casey Mears
18. Todd Gilliland
19. Ryan Preece
20. Ty Gibbs
21. Alex Bowman
22. Denny Hamlin
23. Cole Custer
24. Erik Jones
25. Noah Gragson
26. Tyler Reddick
27. Bubba Wallace
28. Riley Herbst
29. Corey Heim
30. Zane Smith
31. Jimmie Johnson
32. Connor Zilisch
33. Cody Ware
34. Ty Dillon
35. AJ Allmendinger
36. Austin Cindric
37. Ross Chastain
38. Anthony Alfredo
39. William Byron
40. Justin Allgaier
41. Chris Buescher

Failed to qualify

• Corey LaJoie (Duel 1)
• Chandler Smith (Duel 1)
• BJ McLeod (Duel 2)
• JJ Yeley (Duel 2)

Duel 1 results

1. Joey Logano
2. Ryan Blaney
3. Austin Dillon
4. Brad Keselowski
5. John Hunter Nemechek
6. Shane van Gisbergen
7. Daniel Suarez
8. Casey Mears
9. Ryan Preece
10. Alex Bowman
11. Cole Custer
12. Noah Gragson
13. Bubba Wallace
14. Corey Heim
15. Jimmie Johnson
16. Chandler Smith
17. Cody Ware
18. Kyle Busch
19. Corey LaJoie
20. AJ Allmendinger
21. Ross Chastain
22. William Byron
23. Chris Buescher

Duel 2 results

1. Chase Elliott
2. Carson Hocevar
3. Kyle Larson
4. Michael McDowell
5. Christopher Bell
6. Josh Berry
7. Ricky Stenhouse Jr
8. Todd Gilliland
9. Ty Gibbs
10. Denny Hamlin
11. Erik Jones
12. Tyler Reddick
13. Riley Herbst
14. Zane Smith
15. Connor Zilisch
16. Ty Dillon
17. Austin Cindric
18. Anthony Alfredo
19. BJ McLeod
20. Chase Briscoe
21. Justin Allgaier
22. JJ Yeley

Duel 1 lineup

Duel 2 lineup