Elliott repeats as Daytona 500 pole winner

Chase Elliott will start on the pole for the Daytona 500 for the second consecutive season.

In fact, it will be an all Hendrick Motorsports front row for the 59th annual event as Elliott, the last car to qualify Sunday, knocked his teammate, Dale Earnhardt Jr., off the top spot. Elliott put down a lap of 192.872 mph over Earnhardt's 192.864 mph. It is the fifth time Hendrick Motorsports has swept the front row at Daytona.

"This team definitely has a knack for these plate tracks as they showed with Jeff Gordon and then last year with here and Talladega," Elliott said. "But that stuff doesn't just happen by staying the same as everybody knows. Everyone is always trying to get better and make their cars better and faster, and the engine shop is always finding new things.

"So, I think that's just proof that they're improving with everybody else and taking that next step, which is really impressive. I'm happy to be a part of it, and hopefully, we can run good next Sunday."

It is the third consecutive pole for the No. 24 team in the Daytona 500, after earning the award last year with Elliott as a rookie and Jeff Gordon in 2015. Alan Gustafson is just the second crew chief to win three consecutive poles, joining Elliott's uncle, Ernie Elliott, in 1985-'87.

"I didn't know I had two straight until I heard it on the radio today," Gustafson said. "That's pretty good company. That's pretty awesome. Amazing, I didn't think we had a shot at it yesterday (in practice), we just didn't have a lot of speed, struggled for speed, but the guys worked really hard and went through a lot of stuff, a lot of data, and worked on the car and made it happen. So, we're proud of them."

Elliott and Earnhardt are the only two drivers who have locked in their starting positions for next Sunday's event. The remainder of the 40-car field will be determined in the two Can-Am Duel races Thursday night.

Although their starting positions are still to be determined, both Brendan Gaughan and Elliott Sadler know they will race in the Daytona 500. As two of the six open (teams without a charter) cars, Gaughan and Sadler out-qualified their competition to lock into the race on speed.

Timmy Hill, Corey LaJoie, DJ Kennington, and Reed Sorenson will fight for the final two spots in the Daytona 500 in the duel races.