DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Chase Briscoe has just made history to kick off his partnership with Joe Gibbs Racing. He became the first Toyota driver to win the pole for the Daytona 500.
Briscoe had the fastest lap during the first round of qualifying on Wednesday night. He then went out and topped the field again during the second round. He completed his lap in 49.249 seconds at 182.745 mph.
"What an unbelievable way to start off the year," Briscoe said after winning the pole. "What an unbelievable way to start off with Toyota. To be able to be the guy to deliver them the first anything when they've already accomplished so much is pretty cool.
"Man, to think I'm going to start on the front row or on the pole of the Great American Race with ultimately the great American brand of Bass Pro Shops is unbelievable."
2022 Daytona 500 winner Austin Cindric qualified second on Wednesday. He posted the second-fastest lap at 49.325 seconds and 182.463 mph.
The other drivers in the top 10 were Ryan Preece (49.335), Joey Logano (49.358), Josh Berry (49.376), Denny Hamlin (49.413), Austin Dillon (49.444), Christopher Bell (49.465), Ty Dillon (49.466), and Kyle Larson (49.522).
Wednesday was not the first time that Briscoe has won the pole for a Cup Series race. He won the pole at World Wide Technology Raceway in 2022 and then at Daytona International Speedway in the summer of 2023.
However, both of these pale in comparison to winning the pole for the biggest race on the Cup Series schedule. After all, the Daytona 500 has an iconic trophy that goes to the team and driver who posts the fastest lap during qualifying.
The amount of attention on Briscoe and the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing team will also be unrivaled on Sunday afternoon considering the amount of people in the stands and the number of viewers watching at home.
"Can't thank Coach Gibbs enough, the entire Joe Gibbs Racing organization," Briscoe said. "The whole off-season everybody kept telling me the focus was trying to qualify better at superspeedways.
"That's something I really struggled at last year. For our 19 group to come here and sit on the pole at the biggest race of the year is pretty special."