DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Ross Chastain will start Saturday night’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona Int’l Speedway from the pole.
The Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet driver earned his first pole of the season during qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series regular-season finale on Friday afternoon at the 2.5-mile superspeedway.
Chastain turned a lap of 48.808 seconds at 184.396 mph to earn his third career pole in 285 starts.
“Yeah, it’s almost indescribable. I think I should probably start with, like, I grasp that it doesn’t have much bearing on knowing what tomorrow is going to bring, but for tonight and today for a new package, for Trackhouse to go and pick the right things for car build to come here and to execute through two rounds, it’s incredible,” Chastain said. “We’ve been good in one round before, but not the second. So, yeah, it’s very important to note that we chose the right things as a team to come here and execute through qualifying.
“I’ll start this with — I do not know what that means for tomorrow. I’m being honest, I have no idea what it means for tomorrow.”
Chastain edged RFK Racing Ford driver Chris Buescher by .038 seconds.
Austin Hill will start third in the No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, with Ryan Preece fourth in a second RFK Ford.
Preece enters the race 31 points behind Shane van Gisbergen for the final spot in the Chase for the Cup Series championship.
Van Gisbergen qualified sixth in a second Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet. Riley Herbst took the fifth spot in a 23XI Racing Toyota.
