For the first time in 21 tries, Richard Childress Racing's Kyle Busch took the pole position for the NASCAR Cup Series season-opening Daytona 500 in Wednesday night's single-car qualifying session at Daytona International Speedway.
The two-time Cup Series champion and 63-time race winner is also still going for his first career victory in the 200-lap "Great American Race" around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) high-banked Daytona Beach, Florida, and he's hoping that the pole is a sign of things to come in Sunday's crown jewel event.
However, if recent history has anything to say about it, that pole position could actually be bad news for the driver of the No. 8 Chevrolet.
No polesitter has won the Daytona 500 since Dale Jarrett won it in 2000, and only nine polesitters have ever won the race in its 67-year history.
Daytona 500 pole a bad sign for Kyle Busch?
Joe Gibbs Racing's Chase Briscoe, who is set to join Busch on the front row on Sunday, currently owns the highest finish for a Daytona 500 polesitter over the past 25 years. He finished fourth after leading the field to the green flag a year ago.
Perhaps that could be a small positive for Busch, as the Daytona 500 went more than two decades without even seeing a polesitter finish inside the top five until 2023, and now it's happened twice in three years. Bill Elliott finished fifth after starting from pole in 2001, and it didn't happen again until Alex Bowman finished in the same spot three years ago.
Busch has never before been on the front row for the Daytona 500. His best qualifying efforts had been fourth place efforts in 2006, 2009, 2013, and 2016. He won his Duel race in 2009, 2013, and 2016 to secure those starting spots.
His best career Daytona 500 finish is second in 2019. He has finished the race just twice in six starts since. His lone victory at the track (aside from the Duel races) came in the 2008 Coke Zero 400 summer race.
The 40-year-old Las Vegas, Nevada native is on a 33-race win drought at Daytona and a career-long 93-race Cup Series win drought overall, having not won a race since June 2023 at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.
Fox's live coverage of the 68th annual Daytona 500 is set to begin at 2:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, February 15 from Daytona International Speedway. Begin a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss any of the action from the "World Center of Racing"!