Chase Elliott wins Daytona 500 pole for second straight year

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Chase Elliott found himself in familiar territory Sunday — on the pole for the Daytona 500, NASCAR’s version of the Super Bowl.

In doing so, the Hendrick Motorsports driver, who was the final driver to take a qualifying run in the final group of 12, denied teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Earnhardt was on the pole briefly, having gone out just before Elliott. But Elliott’s qualifying speed of 192.872 mph bested Earnhardt’s (192.864).

“I certainly would have loved to have gotten a pole, but my boss man is happy,” Earnhardt said. “I just talked to him on the phone, and he’s got to be thrilled with having his cars up front.”

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Elliott, 21, became the fifth driver overall to to win consecutive Daytona 500 poles and the first to go back-to-back since Ken Schrader won three from 1988-90. His father, Bill Elliott, who also still holds the qualifying record  with a speed of 210.364 mph in 1987, also pulled off the feat – winning three poles in a row from 1985-87. The other two are Fireball Roberts and Buddy Baker.

Elliott, who last year became the youngest driver to win the Daytona 500 pole, also made it three consecutive years up front for the No. 24 Chevrolet and crew chief Alan Gustafson. Jeff Gordon won the pole in 2015 in his final season before he retired and turned the car over to Elliott.

Earnhardt, a two-time Daytona 500 winner, sat out the second half of last season while suffering the effects of a concussion suffered during a crash at Michigan International Speedway in June. He was cleared by doctors in December and will make his Cup race debut in the Daytona 500 next Sunday (2 p.m. ET, Fox).

Hendrick Motorsports appears to have a strong hand early, but there are some concerns in the camp.

Last year, Earnhardt and Elliott spun out coming out of Turn 4, seemingly getting loose on their own.

During the Advance Auto Parts Clash earlier Sunday, Jimmie Johnson got loose in the turn twice, the second time spinning into the inside wall and ending his day. He wasn’t bumped either time.

Earnhardt addressed the recent mystery spins after qualifying.

“I spun out twice last year. Alex (Bowman) spun out once in our car. All of them really similar situations. Jimmie (Johnson) had issues twice today. The 24 (Elliott) wrecked in the 500 (in 2016) the same thing. Yeah, we’re definitely aware of it and we’re looking at our notes from over the years.”

He said crew chief Greg Ives already has made a handful of changes to his No. 88 Chevrolet to help the balance.

“We dominated … I thought we ran great in 2015. We’ll look at what we did then and what we’re doing now and sort of go through the process of elimination and that’s kind of what we’ve been doing until we fix it,” Earnhardt said.

“It’s gonna be real hard to get enough practice. We’re going to practice as much as we can. But you gotta have enough guys out there to put yourself in enough situations to get confidence in the balance of the car.

“So I don’t know if we’ll really achieve that, because people won’t really practice that much for this race. They might, considering how the balance is changing with the track and stuff and it’s getting a little slicker. But hopefully a lot of guys will practice.”

Gustafson called the handling issues ‘’a concern.’’

PHOTOS: 2017 Daytona 500 pole qualifying

DUELS: The speeds from the remaining qualifiers Sunday will set the lineup for Thursday’s Can-Am Duels, which will set the starting order for the rest of the 40-car field. Beard Motorsports' Brendan Gaughan and Tommy Baldwin Racing’s Elliott Sadler locked up spots Sunday as the two quickest drivers from teams not already guaranteed spots on charters.

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON: Four father-son combinations have started the Great American Race from the pole: Bobby and Davey Allison; Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Dale Earnhardt Jr.; Richard and Kyle Petty; and the Elliotts.

ROOKIES SHUT OUT: In the past five years, a rookie had won the pole three times. This time, Daniel Suarez, Erik Jones, Ty Dillon and Gray Gaulding were shut out. Danica Patrick won in 2013 in her first full-time year in Cup; Austin Dillon won in 2014, the same year Richard Childress Racing brought back the No. 3 Chevrolet made iconic by seven-time champion Dale Earnhardt Sr; and Elliott won last year, his first replacing Gordon.

FINAL ROUND: These dozen drivers advanced to the final round of the two-round, single-lap session: Elliott,  Earnhardt, Brad Keselowski, Martin Truex Jr., Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin, Clint Bowyer, Kyle Busch, Ryan Newman, Kasey Kahne, Kevin Harvick and Ty Dillon.

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PHOTOS: History of the Daytona 500

FULL RESULTS: Daytona 500 qualifying

1. (24) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 192.872 mph.
2. (88) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 192.864 mph.
3. (2) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 192.691 mph.
4. (14) Clint Bowyer, Ford, 192.571 mph.
5. (78) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 192.308 mph.
6. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 192.213 mph.
7. (4) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 192.189 mph.
8. (5) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 192.090 mph.
9. (20) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, 192.016 mph.
10. (31) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 191.996 mph.
11. (18) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 191.767 mph.
12. (13) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 191.453 mph.
13. (17) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 192.004 mph.
14. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 191.898 mph.
15. (19) Daniel Suarez, Toyota, 191.877 mph.
16. (42) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 191.804 mph.
17. (22) Joey Logano, Ford, 191.779 mph.
18. (21) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 191.746 mph.
19. (6) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 191.718 mph.
20. (77) Erik Jones, Toyota, 191.693 mph.
21. (27) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 191.534 mph.
22. (41) Kurt Busch, Ford, 191.420 mph.
23. (1) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 191.396 mph.
24. (10) Danica Patrick, Ford, 191.318 mph.
25. (43) Aric Almirola, Ford, 190.990 mph.
26. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 190.973 mph.
27. (34) Landon Cassill, Ford, 190.335 mph.
28. (47) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 190.283 mph.
29. (32) Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, 190.054 mph.
30. (95) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 189.721 mph.
31. (37) Chris Buescher, Chevrolet, 189.422 mph.
32. (38) David Ragan, Ford, 189.402 mph.
33. (75) Brendan Gaughan(i), Chevrolet, 189.294 mph.
34. (72) Cole Whitt, Ford, 189.107 mph.
35. (15) Michael Waltrip, Toyota, 189.080 mph.
36. (7) Elliott Sadler(i), Chevrolet, 188.561 mph.
37. (55) Reed Sorenson, Toyota, 187.332 mph.
38. (96) DJ Kennington, Toyota, 186.819 mph.
39. (23) Joey Gase(i), Toyota, 185.843 mph.
40. (83) Corey LaJoie, Toyota, 185.246 mph.

Failed to qualify:

41. (33) Jeffrey Earnhardt, Chevrolet, 184.767 mph.
42. (51) Timmy Hill(i), Chevrolet, 184.102 mph.