Rain Cuts Final Daytona Qualifying Practice Early

Early in the 2nd practice session of the day, teams started to report that they could feel some mist in the spotter stands. It wasn’t long until the skies opened up just enough to put a stop to practice. As for what occurred during the time the track was green, second verse same as the first. While some teams chose to draft to prepare for the Duels, including some that used their first practice in the same way, most chose to make their single car runs. While Bubba Wallace led the session, Martin Truex Jr. seemed to be the fastest single car run.

All eyes are on Hendrick Motorsports (HMS) heading into Qualifying on Sunday. HMS is looking for an astounding 5th straight Daytona 500 Pole. The streak started back in 2015 when Jeff Gordon won the Pole for his final career Daytona 500. Then when Chase Elliott took over for the now Hall of Famer, he won back-to-back Daytona 500 Poles. Finally, last year, Alex Bowman won the Pole in his full-time debut in the #88 following the retirement of Dale Earnhardt Jr.. As if the streak wasn’t impressive enough, since 2008, Hendrick cars have won 7 out of 11 Daytona 500 Pole Awards. All 4 of the HMS teams were in the Top-11 of the speed charts, primarily in single car runs as well. It’s obvious they’re still the favorites.

The Daytona 500 Pole winning streak is even longer for Chevrolet as the manufacturer is going for its 7th straight, dating back to Danica Patrick becoming the first woman to win a Pole in 2013. Since 2000, a non-Chevrolet has only won the Daytona 500 Pole 6 times (3 Yates, 2 Roush, 1 Evernham). So even if the winner of the Pole isn’t a Hendrick Chevrolet, the odds it’ll be a Chevrolet are just as strong.

Qualifying for the Daytona 500 will take place on Sunday, February 10 at 12:15pm ET and will be aired on FOX.

Second Daytona 500 Practice results:
(i) – ineligible for Cup points
* – unchartered