NASCAR: Alex Bowman breaks record with Daytona 500 pole
By Asher Fair
Alex Bowman broke a record by taking the pole position for the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.
Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman dominated front row qualifying for the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on Wednesday evening in what was his first qualifying session behind the wheel of the #48 Chevrolet.
He beat teammate William Byron, who locked in the second place starting position for Sunday’s 200-lap race around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) high-banked oval in Daytona Beach, Florida, by more than a full mile per hour and a quarter of a second.
Bowman qualified with a lap speed of 191.261 miles per hour (47.056 seconds) to take the pole position for the 63rd annual running of the race while Byron qualified with a lap speed of 190.219 miles per hour (47.314 seconds) behind the wheel of his #24 Chevrolet.
By taking the pole position for this race, Bowman broke an all-time Daytona 500 record.
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Prior to this qualifying session, no driver had ever qualified on the front row for the “Great American Race” for four consecutive years. Bowman took the pole position for the race in 2018, qualifying alongside Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin, and he and Byron made up the front row in 2019, but with Byron on the pole.
Then last year, Bowman qualified in second place for the second consecutive year, with JTG Daugherty Racing’s Ricky Stenhouse Jr. taking the pole position.
Last year, Bowman became the sixth driver to ever qualify on the front row for the Daytona 500 in three straight years. The only other five drivers to ever pull off such a feat are Fireball Roberts, Richard Petty, Bill Elliott, Ken Schrader and Dale Earnhardt, and none of them ever went on to do so for a fourth straight year.
Roberts took three straight pole positions from 1961 to 1963 before qualifying in 15th place in 1964. Petty himself made four straight front row starts, but he missed a year during that stretch. He qualified in second in 1964, missed 1965, took the pole position in 1966 and qualified in second again in both 1967 and 1968. He qualified in 12th in 1969.
Elliott took three straight pole positions from 1985 to 1987 before qualifying in 31st place in 1988. Schrader took three straight pole positions from 1988 to 1990 before qualifying in 24th in 1991. Earnhardt qualified in second in 1994 and 1995 before taking the pole position in 1996. He qualified in fourth in 1997.
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The Bluegreen Vacations Duels are set to determine the entire starting lineup for the 63rd annual Daytona 500 tomorrow evening. Fox Sports 1 is set to provide live coverage from Daytona International Speedway beginning at 7:00 p.m. ET. The Daytona 500 itself is set to be broadcast live on Fox beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, February 14.