Dale Earnhardt Jr. takes pole position for Daytona Cup race

Earnhardt, who posted the quick lap in Round 1, doubled-up in the final round with a lap of 190.973mph. 

“Awesome, finally,” Earnhardt said after topping his teammate Chase Elliott. “It’s like the 15th time is the charm.”

“Welcome to the Clash,” crew chief Greg Ives replied. 

When Earnhardt was asked about whether he would consider returning to Daytona in February to run the Clash, he said, “Yeah, absolutely, I’ll talk to my bossman Rick (Hendrick) and see if we can come back and have some fun.”

For Earnhardt, it was his second pole at Daytona and his 14th career Cup pole overall.

Elliott was second follow by Brad Keselowski, Kasey Kahne, Kevin Harvick and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Jimmie Johnson established a lap of 189.450mph as the first driver out in the second round of time trials. He ended up 12th. Jamie McMurray bumped Johnson with a speed of 189.849mph. 

Clint Bowyer moved up to second with a lap of 189.530mph. But his teammate, Kevin Harvick, topped the board on the next run with a lap of 190.046mph.

“Good job guys,” Harvick said.

Danica Patrick, the third Stewart-Haas Racing Ford, ran a 189.633mph — temporarily good for third, until  Blaney replaced her with a lap of 189.785mph. 

Keselowski took the top spot with a lap of 190.287mph with a solid run through Turn 3. 

“I think what we have for tomorrow night will be better,” crew chief Paul Wolfe tells Keselowski. 

Kasey Kahne, who was looking for a solid run, was the first Hendrick Motorsports Chevy to take a time and ended up second — 47-356-seconds (190.050mph). 

Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s lap of 190.006mph held up for fourth on the speed chart. 

Joey Logano struggled getting through Turn 4 and ended up fifth (189.921mph). 

“Getting closer,” he told the No. 22 Team Penske squad 

Chase Elliott secured a front-row seat for Saturday with a lap of 190.795, knocking Keselowski off the pole.

“Good job, we’ll see if ol’ Dale gets us,” crew chief Alan Gustafson said. 

And he did.  Earnhardt wasn't going to be denied in his final run in the Coke Zero 400.

Click on image below to watch highlights of Dale Earnhardt Jr. winning the pole at Daytona on Friday. 

Round 1 

Dale Earnhardt Jr. posted the top speed in the first round of qualifying for Saturday’s Coke Zero 400. 

Earnhardt, the 22nd driver on the track, set a time of 47.157-seconds (190.852mph). 

Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Kasey Kahne and Brad Keselowski rounded out the top-six speeds.

“The car had speed,” Logano said. “That’s a great accomplishment for our team.”

Ryan Blaney, Danica Patrick, Kevin Harvick Clint Boywer, Jamie McMurray and Jimmie Johnson also transfered to Round 2. 

AJ Allmendinger, the fourth car on the track, jumped up to P1 with a lap of 187.758mph but was bumped by McMurray’s lap of 188.513mph. Patrick, who won the pole for the 2013 Daytona 500, was next on the provisional pole after a lap of 189.693mph. She held the top spot through five drivers until Kahne knocked her off with a lap 190.751mph. 

Kahne’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate — and two-time pole winner — Chase Elliott bumped the No. 5 with a speed of 190.751mph. Five drivers later, Earnhardt Jr. captured the top spot with a lap of 190.852mph. 

Thirty minutes into single-car qualifying, 24 drivers had posted times. Earnhardt, Elliott, Kahne, Patrick, Bowyer and McMurray rounded out the top-six.

With six cars remaining to take times, Stenhouse Jr., who won his first Cup race at Talladega Superspeedway in the spring, jumped up to third (190.186mph). Blaney followed by posted the fifth fastest time — 189.765mph. Logano’s Ford bumped both drivers with a lap of 190.283mph for third. 

Harvick’s lap of 189.605mph held up for eighth. Keselowski, the penultimate driver to make a run, vaulted to sixth with a lap of 190.014. Kyle Busch, the final driver to make a run, didn’t crack the top 12. His lap of 189.060mph ended up 16th.

Cla	#	Driver	Manufacturer	Time	Gap	Mph
1	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet	47.127		190.973
2	24	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	47.171	0.044	190.795
3	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	47.297	0.170	190.287
4	5	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	47.356	0.229	190.050
5	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	47.357	0.230	190.046
6	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Ford	47.367	0.240	190.006
7	22	Joey Logano	Ford	47.388	0.261	189.921
8	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	47.406	0.279	189.849
9	21	Ryan Blaney	Ford	47.422	0.295	189.785
10	10	Danica Patrick	Ford	47.460	0.333	189.633
11	14	Clint Bowyer	Ford	47.486	0.359	189.530
12	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	47.506	0.379	189.450
13	20	Matt Kenseth	Toyota	47.543	0.416	189.302
14	6	Trevor Bayne	Ford	47.563	0.436	189.223
15	41	Kurt Busch	Ford	47.569	0.442	189.199
16	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	47.604	0.477	189.060
17	77	Erik Jones	Toyota	47.624	0.497	188.980
18	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	47.648	0.521	188.885
19	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	47.659	0.532	188.842
20	19	Daniel Suarez	Toyota	47.730	0.603	188.561
21	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	47.742	0.615	188.513
22	31	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	47.756	0.629	188.458
23	95	Michael McDowell	Chevrolet	47.766	0.639	188.419
24	27	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	47.803	0.676	188.273
25	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	47.815	0.688	188.225
26	34	Landon Cassill	Ford	47.817	0.690	188.218
27	47	A.J. Allmendinger	Chevrolet	47.934	0.807	187.758
28	32	Matt DiBenedetto	Ford	47.957	0.830	187.668
29	37	Chris Buescher	Chevrolet	47.969	0.842	187.621
30	38	David Ragan	Ford	48.041	0.914	187.340
31	43	Darrell Wallace Jr.	Ford	48.145	1.018	186.935
32	75	Brendan Gaughan	Chevrolet	48.199	1.072	186.726
33	7	Elliott Sadler	Chevrolet	48.201	1.074	186.718
34	13	Ty Dillon	Chevrolet	48.346	1.219	186.158
35	72	Cole Whitt	Chevrolet	48.484	1.357	185.628
36	23	Corey Lajoie	Toyota	48.529	1.402	185.456
37	55	Reed Sorenson	Toyota	48.747	1.620	184.627
38	15	DJ Kennington	Chevrolet	48.790	1.663	184.464
39	83	Ryan Sieg	Toyota	49.063	1.936	183.438
40	33	Jeffrey Earnhardt	Chevrolet	49.588	2.461	181.496