NASCAR
Chase Briscoe, Austin Cindric on Daytona 500 Front Row, Past Champs in as Fastest Open Cars
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Daytona 500 qualifying was very kind to drivers making a debut with a new team. In his first outing with Joe Gibbs Racing, Chase Briscoe put the No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota on pole for The Great American Race. The Indiana native turned a blistering lap time of 49.249 seconds, almost a tenth better than past teammate Austin Cindric. The Team Penske No. 22 Ford will be on the outside pole for Sunday’s big show.
Briscoe earned the first Toyota pole ever in the Daytona 500, also being the second time JGR has won this honor.
“A great way to start our season,” Briscoe said. “Unbelievable way to start off the year. 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.”
“Can’t thank Coach Gibbs enough, the entire Joe Gibbs Racing organization. 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.”
“Can’t believe it. Super appreciative of this opportunity with Bass Pro, Toyota, Joe Gibbs. Unbelievable way to start our season. Hopefully we can carry it on now.”
Past Cup champions Martin Truex Jr. and Jimmie Johnson were each the two fastest open cars. This locked in both part-time Toyota entries.
The Duels at Daytona (Thursday, 7 p.m. ET on FS1) will set the rest of the starting lineup as well as set the final two open competitors. Briscoe and Cindric will lead each respective field to green.
Written by Peter Stratta
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