Bowman put #88 Dale Jr. car on pole for Daytona 500

Polesitter Alex Bowman
Polesitter Alex Bowman
Getty Images for NASCAR

For the second straight season, the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet will sit on the front row for the season-opening Daytona 500.

But this time, young driver Alex Bowman is piloting the car.

Circling 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway at a speed of 195.644 mph, Bowman notched his second career pole — first at Daytona — in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series during Sunday’s qualifying session. This marks his first season driving the No. 88 full time in the Monster Energy Series, following Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s retirement last season.

“I think it’s still a little surreal," Bowman said. “It’s a dream come true to get to drive for Hendrick Motorsports. I never thought it would have happened after the path my career took. I’m so thankful to be able to do this. I’m very blessed to be able to call driving a race car my job, and now to get to drive what I think is the best race car in the business."

Denny Hamlin will line up alongside Bowman after notching a speed of 195.092 mph in his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to nab the second starting spot for the “Great American Race." Hamlin is the 2016 Daytona 500 winner, but has never started on the front row for the sport’s biggest race.

Bowman and Hamlin also were fastest in the opening round of qualifying.

William Byron (fifth) was the fastest qualifying rookie. Rick Hendrick (2015-2018) now ties Harry Ranier (1979-1982) for the record of most consecutive DAYTONA 500 poles with four each.

Sunday’s two-round, single-car qualifying session only produced the front row for the season-opening Daytona 500 on Feb. 18 (2:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). The rest of the field will be determined by Thursday’s Can-Am Duels (7 p.m., FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). The lineup for the Duels will be set based on Sunday’s qualifying speeds.

Qualifying Speeds

Pos No. Driver Sponsor/Make Time Speed Behind Gap
1 88 Alex Bowman Nationwide Chevrolet 46.002 195.644 0.000 0.000
2 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Express Toyota 46.132 195.092 0.130 0.130
3 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe's for Pros Chevrolet 46.217 194.734 0.215 0.085
4 18 Kyle Busch M&M's Toyota 46.224 194.704 0.222 0.007
5 24 William Byron # AXALTA Chevrolet 46.261 194.548 0.259 0.037
6 20 Erik Jones DEWALT Toyota 46.279 194.473 0.277 0.018
7 19 Daniel Suarez ARRIS Toyota 46.280 194.468 0.278 0.001
8 4 Kevin Harvick Jimmy John's Ford 46.281 194.464 0.279 0.001
9 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Fastenal Ford 46.381 194.045 0.379 0.100
10 9 Chase Elliott NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet 46.413 193.911 0.411 0.032
11 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 46.437 193.811 0.435 0.024
12 21 Paul Menard OmnicraftAutoParts/QuickLaneTire&Auto Ford 46.584 193.199 0.582 0.147
13 10 Aric Almirola Smithfield Ford 46.539 193.386 0.358 0.005
14 3 Austin Dillon DOW Chevrolet 46.546 193.357 0.365 0.007
15 12 Ryan Blaney Menards/Peak Ford 46.577 193.228 0.396 0.031
16 14 Clint Bowyer Rush Truck Centers Ford 46.658 192.893 0.477 0.081
17 41 Kurt Busch Haas Automation/Monster Energy Ford 46.678 192.810 0.497 0.020
18 95 Kasey Kahne Procore Chevrolet 46.694 192.744 0.513 0.016
19 2 Brad Keselowski Discount Tire Ford 46.698 192.728 0.517 0.004
20 6 Trevor Bayne AdvoCare Ford 46.781 192.386 0.600 0.083
21 31 Ryan Newman Bass Pro Shops/Cabela's Chevrolet 46.816 192.242 0.635 0.035
22 42 Kyle Larson Credit One Bank Chevrolet 46.817 192.238 0.636 0.001
23 1 Jamie McMurray McDonald's/Cessna Chevrolet 46.836 192.160 0.655 0.019
24 34 Michael McDowell Love's Travel Stops Ford 46.899 191.902 0.718 0.063
25 43 Darrell Wallace Jr. # Click n' Close Chevrolet 46.938 191.742 0.757 0.039
26 78 Martin Truex Jr. Bass Pro Shops/5-hour Energy Toyota 47.002 191.481 0.821 0.064
27 13 Ty Dillon GEICO Chevrolet 47.074 191.188 0.893 0.072
28 7 Danica Patrick GoDaddy Chevrolet 47.081 191.160 0.900 0.007
29 37 Chris Buescher Kleenex Chevrolet 47.095 191.103 0.914 0.014
30 47 AJ Allmendinger Kroger ClickList Chevrolet 47.144 190.904 0.963 0.049
31 62 Brendan Gaughan BeardOilDistributing/SouthPointHotel Chevrolet 47.398 189.881 1.217 0.254
32 51 Justin Marks(i) HARRY'S Chevrolet 47.464 189.617 1.283 0.066
33 32 Matt DiBenedetto The Hurricane Heist Ford 47.675 188.778 1.494 0.211
34 96 DJ Kennington LORDCO/Castrol Toyota 47.848 188.096 1.667 0.173
35 00 Jeffrey Earnhardt VRX Simulators Chevrolet 47.866 188.025 1.685 0.018
36 92 David Gilliland(i) Black's Tire Service/Carquest Auto Parts Ford 47.884 187.954 1.703 0.018
37 66 Mark Thompson Phoenix Air Racing Ford 48.267 186.463 2.086 0.383
38 72 Corey LaJoie Schluter Systems Chevrolet 48.372 186.058 2.191 0.105
39 23 Gray Gaulding Toyota 0.000 0.000 —– —–
40 38 David Ragan Speedco Ford 0.000 0.000 —– —–