DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. _ Chase Elliott continued Hendricks Motorsports' recent run of dominance by capturing the pole for next week's Daytona 500. The 21-year-old becomes the first driver to win back-to-back poles since Bill Elliott in 1986-87.
Elliott put together a final lap of 192.972 miles per hour just ahead of teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr., who put together a final lap of 192.864 Sunday at Daytona International Speedway.
"There ain't much to it," Earnhardt said of his run. "The car does all the work ... I didn't know where we stood against the competition yesterday at practice it was real hard to figure out what guys are doing and how they are trimming their cars out and whether to trust the speeds we were seeing.
"It's good to be on the front row. I certainly would have loved to have gotten the pole, but my boss man is happy. He's got to be thrilled to have Hendricks cars up front," he added.
It was the third straight year in which the No. 24 of Hendricks Motorsports won the top spot with crew chief Alan Gustafson.
Forty-two drivers took to the track Sunday for two qualifying sessions to grab the top two spots in Sunday's race.
Earlier in the day, Joey Logano survived a late crash on the final lap to capture the Advance Auto Part Clash. The race was pushed back due to rain showers in the Daytona area Saturday night.
The pole winner will start first in the first Can-Am Duel race on Thursday. The other front-row driver will start first in the second Can-Am Duel race.
