DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – For the second time this season, the Nos. 24 and 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolets will sit on the front row at Daytona International Speedway.
However, this time, it will be Dale Earnhardt Jr. sitting on the pole, with Chase Elliott beside him in second.
The achievement marks Earnhardt’s 14th career pole – his second at Daytona as he makes his last start at the Florida track.
“I have to give Hendrick Motorsports a lot of credit and particularly for me personally it’s been the No. 24 bunch,” Earnhardt said. “We’ve been kinda pushing each other over the last several years in qualifying at Daytona and Talladega. It’s been a healthy competition and I think that’s why we win poles and qualify so well.”
Following two strong qualifying runs, Elliott narrowly missed out on the pole to teammate Earnhardt, but is confident in his No. 24 NAPA AUTO PARTS Chevrolet SS.
“It was definitely close,” said Elliott, a two-time Daytona pole-winner. “I’m happy for those guys obviously. We would love to outrun them there, but it’s so hard to tell when you’re out there making your lap how it’s going to be or if you did anything any better. But I’m proud of our NAPA Chevy team, we improved a little bit I think from Round 1 to Round 2, which is nice.”
Kasey Kahne and Jimmie Johnson also advanced to the final round of Friday’s qualifying session. Kahne will start Saturday’s race in fourth, followed by Johnson in 12th.
Saturday’s race is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SIRIUSXM NASCAR Radio.