Ricky Stenhouse Jr. breaks Hendrick streak to win Daytona 500 pole
Hendrick Motorsports’ Daytona 500 pole streak is over.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. became the first non-Hendrick driver to get the Daytona 500 pole since 2014 when he posted the fastest lap during pole qualifying on Sunday. He’ll start alongside Hendrick driver Alex Bowman on the front row for the Daytona 500 and will also start first in the first Duel qualifying race on Thursday night.
Hendrick drivers had won five-straight pole positions for the 500 since Austin Dillon took the pole six years ago. But Stenhouse was able to sneak ahead of the Hendrick trio of Bowman, Chase Elliott and Jimmie Johnson in his first qualifying session for JTG-Daugherty Racing.
Hendrick does get to claim some credit for Stenhouse’s pole, however. JTG-Daugherty has an alliance with Hendrick Motorsports and gets its equipment from the powerhouse team.
Stenhouse joined the team ahead of the 2020 season when Roush Fenway Racing cut ties with him. Stenhouse was replaced at Roush by JTG driver Chris Buescher and then JTG went out and replaced Buescher with Stenhouse.
Stenhouse won his first two Cup Series races for Roush in 2017 and finished 13th in the standings. But he performed worse in each of the following two seasons as Roush decided to make a change at the end of 2019.
After earning nine top-10s in that playoff season of 2017, Stenhouse had just eight combined top 10s over 2018 and 2019 to go with four top fives. He was 18th in the standings in 2018 and 23rd in 2019.
Sunday’s qualifying session determined the top two spots for the Daytona 500 and guaranteed that non-charter car drivers Brendan Gaughan and Justin Haley would make the race by virtue of being the fastest drivers without guaranteed starting spots. The final two qualifiers — along with the starting order for positions Nos. 3-40 — will be determined during Thursday night’s Duel qualifying races.
Daniel Suarez, Timmy Hill, Reed Sorenson, Chad Finchum and JJ Yeley will race for the final two spots in the Duel races. The first Duel will determine the odd-numbered starting positions in rows Nos. 2-20 while the second Duel will determine the even-numbered starting positions.
[Full Daytona 500 and Speedweeks schedule]
Duel 1 lineup
1. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
2. Chase Elliott
3. Denny Hamlin
4. Aric Almirola
5. Christopher Bell
6. Joey Logano
7. Clint Bowyer
8. Ryan Newman
9. Ryan Preece
10. Chris Buescher
11. Martin Truex Jr.
12. Brad Keselowski
13. John Hunter Nemechek
14. Ryan Blaney
15. Austin Dillon
16. Justin Haley
17. Bubba Wallace
18. Reed Sorenson
19. Daniel Suarez
20. Quin Houff
21. Chad Finchum
22. Joey Gase
Duel 2 lineup
1. Alex Bowman
2. Jimmie Johnson
3. Kyle Busch
4. William Byron
5. Erik Jones
6. Kevin Harvick
7. Cole Custer
8. Matt DiBenedetto
9. Tyler Reddick
10. Kyle Larson
11. Kurt Busch
12. Michael McDowell
13. David Ragan
14. Ross Chastain
15. Ty Dillon
16. Brendan Gaughan
17. Timmy Hill
18. Corey LaJoie
19. JJ Yeley
20. Brennan Poole
21. BJ McLeod
Pole qualifying results
1. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
2. Alex Bowman
3. Chase Elliott
4. Jimmie Johnson
5. Denny Hamlin
6. Kyle Busch
7. Aric Almirola
8. William Byron
9. Christopher Bell
10. Erik Jones
11. Joey Logano
12. Kevin Harvick
13. Clint Bowyer
14. Cole Custer
15. Ryan Newman
16. Matt DiBenedetto
17. Ryan Preece
18. Tyler Reddick
19. Chris Buescher
20. Kyle Larson
21. Martin Truex Jr.
22. Kurt Busch
23. Brad Keselowski
24. Michael McDowell
25. John Hunter Nemechek
26. David Ragan
27. Ryan Blaney
28. Ross Chastain
29. Austin Dillon
30. Ty Dillon
31. Justin Haley
32. Bubba Wallace
33. Brendan Gaughan
34. Reed Sorenson
35. Timmy Hill
36. Daniel Suarez
37. Corey LaJoie
38. Quin Houff
39. JJ Yeley
40. Brennan Poole
41. Chad Finchum
42. Joey Gase
43. BJ McLeod
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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.
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