2018 Daytona 500 Qualifying Statistics - Alex Bowman Wins Pole Position (February 11, 2018)

Alex Bowman scored the pole position for the 60th Daytona 500 on Sunday, February 18, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. He took his No. 88 Chevrolet to the top position with a lap of 195.644 mph.

Denny Hamlin will start second in the 500 after a lap of 195.092 mph.

A quick look at pole position statistics for the Daytona 500 as well as Alex Bowman.

Notes of Interest

- This is the first Daytona 500 pole position for Alex Bowman, and the second career pole for Bowman in Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series competition. His first pole position came in 2015, at the Chase race at ISM Raceway (Phoenix International Raceway) in Avondale, Arizona.

- The pole comes in Bowman’s second Daytona 500 start. His only previous Daytona 500 was in 2014, his series debut, where he started 29th and finished 23rd for BK Racing.

- Bowman is the 41st polesitter of the Daytona 500.

- Bowman seeks to become the 10th driver to win the Daytona 500 from the pole position and first since 2000, when Dale Jarrett won his third 500.

- This is the fourth consecutive Daytona 500 that a Hendricks Motorsports car will start on the pole position. Jeff Gordon qualified on the pole in 2015, while Chase Elliott earned the pole position in 2016 and 2017.

- This is the sixth consecutive Daytona 500 that a Chevrolet has sat on the pole position and 11th in 13 years. Carl Edwards was the last driver to lead the field to the green flag in a car other than a Chevrolet, when he sat on the pole position in a Ford in 2012. Chevrolet’s streak of six poles for the Daytona 500 is the longest of any manufacturer in the race’s history.

- Overall, this is Chevrolet’s 26th pole position in the Daytona 500.
- Denny Hamlin qualified second. He was attempting to give Toyota its first pole position in the Daytona 500.

List of Daytona 500 Polesitters

- 1959: Bob Welborn*

- 1960: Cotton Owens*

- 1961: Fireball Roberts

- 1962: Fireball Roberts (2)

- 1963: Fireball Roberts (3)*

- 1964: Paul Goldsmith

- 1965: Darel Dieringer

- 1966: Richard Petty

- 1967: Curtis Turner

- 1968: Cale Yarborough

- 1969: Buddy Baker*

- 1970: Cale Yarborough (2)

- 1971: A.J. Foyt

- 1972: Bobby Isaac

- 1973: Buddy Baker (2)

- 1974: David Pearson

- 1975: Donnie Allison

- 1976: Ramo Stott*

- 1977: Donnie Allison (2)

- 1978: Cale Yarborough (3)

- 1979: Buddy Baker (3)

- 1980: Buddy Baker (4)*

- 1981: Bobby Allison

- 1982: Benny Parsons

- 1983: Ricky Rudd

- 1984: Cale Yarborough (4)

- 1985: Bill Elliott

- 1986: Bill Elliott (2)

- 1987: Bill Elliott (3)

- 1988: Ken Schrader

- 1989: Ken Schrader (2)

- 1990: Ken Schrader (3)

- 1991: Davey Allison

- 1992: Sterling Marlin

- 1993: Kyle Petty

- 1994: Loy Allen Jr.

- 1995: Dale Jarrett

- 1996: Dale Earnhardt

- 1997: Mike Skinner

- 1998: Bobby Labonte

- 1999: Jeff Gordon

- 2000: Dale Jarrett (2)

- 2001: Bill Elliott (4)

- 2002: Jimmie Johnson

- 2003: Jeff Green

- 2004: Greg Biffle

- 2005: Dale Jarrett (3)

- 2006: Jeff Burton

- 2007: David Gilliland

- 2008: Jimmie Johnson (2)

- 2009: Martin Truex Jr.

- 2010: Mark Martin

- 2011: Dale Earnhardt Jr.

- 2012: Carl Edwards

- 2013: Danica Patrick

- 2014: Austin Dillon

- 2015: Jeff Gordon (2)

- 2016: Chase Elliott

- 2017: Chase Elliott (2)

- 2018: Alex Bowman

* polesitter but not fast qualifier