The qualifying session for pole position is held before the Daytona 500. Drivers take one timed lap to determine their time. The fastest qualifier takes the pole position for the Daytona 500 and starts on the inside of the first row; the second fastest starts alongside him on the outside, referred to as the "outside pole." The second round of qualifying ended in 2001. The two fastest drivers in the final qualifying session (the Daytona 500 pole winner and the "outside" pole winner) only are also awarded the pole positions for the two
qualifying races held the following Thursday. Drivers are ranked by the furthest number of rounds advanced in qualifying, and then their qualifying time in the final round that they reached. Those who rank with an odd-numbered position are assigned to the first qualifying race, and those with an even-numbered rank to the second race. Cars in the final round of qualifying start the race in the front. The starting spots for the third through 32nd positions are determined by the drivers' finishing position in the qualifying races, with only the top 15 drivers' results, excluding the pole sitter in each race, advancing to the feature. Since 2005, each of the two qualifying races is long, or 60 laps. From its inception in 1959 until 1967, it was 40 laps, and from 1969 to 2004 it was 50 laps. After the races, prior to establishment of the
Race Team Alliance charter system, the top four drivers in speed of those that failed to advance through the qualifying race are positioned in positions 33–36. The speeds used for this does not reflect their official qualifying times; regardless of which qualifying round they reached, their time used is the fastest time set in any round (first, second, or third), and does not reflect their starting position in the Duels. Positions 37-42 will go to the top six teams (not drivers) in points from the previous year's owners (team) points standings of teams not already qualified, again with their positions based on speed, again based on the fastest time in any round, not in the final round that they reached. The final starting position in the Daytona 500 (43rd overall) is reserved by NASCAR to allow one former NASCAR champion to start the race under the "champion's provisional" rule. Also known as the "Petty Rule", this rule was established in 1989 when NASCAR's winningest driver (
Richard Petty) failed to qualify for an event at
Richmond International Raceway. If the Champion's Provisional is not necessary, the seventh-highest team in the previous year's points advances, and positions 37-43 are positioned based on speed from their fastest round of qualifying. From 2005 until 2012, NASCAR adopted an "All Exempt Tour" format similar to golf. The teams in the top 35 of owner points (resulting in alternate nickname of "Top 35 Rule") during the previous season would be eligible to run in the Daytona 500, regardless of qualifying speed. The qualifying races now determine the relative starting position for these 35 drivers plus the starting positions for an additional seven to eight teams. The top 35 drivers, plus two non-top 35 drivers from each qualifier, start in the first 39 positions of the 500. Budweiser's parent company,
Anheuser Busch Corporation, had been sponsoring the award since 1979, Under the current
charter system, all chartered teams (maximum of 36) are guaranteed entry to the race, meaning the races only set the inside and outside starting positions for those teams. Each race's top finishing unchartered team advances to the Daytona 500, as well as two fastest "open" (non-charter) in the qualifying time trials for the last two starting grid slots (next fastest, if the fastest "open" car in the time trials was also the top "open" car in the Duel), for a total of four "open" cars and 40 overall cars on the grid.
History In early years, qualifying had varying formats: from one timed lap, to the average of two laps, to the better of two laps. The idea of having two individual races to establish the starting lineup of the Daytona 500 dates back to the first race in 1959. featured cars from NASCAR's Grand National division racing against cars in the
Convertible division.
Shorty Rollins won the 100-mile Convertible race to become the track's first winner. When the
green flag was thrown on the first Daytona 500, 59 cars raced to the starting line; the event was held without a caution period during the entire race. The reduction in speed for the 1971 qualification was a result of NASCAR's effort to limit the increasing speeds achieved through the late 1960s and early 1970s. Engine size and technology, along with increased
aerodynamic styling changes, brought speeds to over at some of the larger superspeedways. In an effort to reduce the escalating costs of developing faster racing equipment, increased horsepower, and the lack of parity in competition, NASCAR implemented several restrictions for the 1971 season, followed by
Gander RV in 2019 and Bluegreen Vacations since 2020. Since the restrictor plate era began in
1988 until 2014, qualifying was the better single lap of two; drivers are permitted one warm-up lap followed by two consecutive timed laps. Since restrictor plate cars require more time to accelerate to full speed, drivers often consider their first timed lap a "throwaway lap," and use it essentially as a second warm-up lap; and the second timed lap is usually the fastest of the three laps. The events that determine the top two starters for the Daytona 500 were rescheduled after the NFL moved the Super Bowl day one week to February 7, 2010. Qualifying had originally been scheduled for February 7, but NASCAR moved the date back to Saturday, February 6, to avoid conflict with the NFL. Daytona Speedway president, Robin Braig, stated: In 2014, NASCAR adopted, starting with the second race of the year in Phoenix, a Formula One-style knockout qualifying system. After tweaking it in the
2014 GEICO 500 at Talladega, the format became three five-minute rounds, with the first round being split as two five-minute rounds with half the field in each round. As is the case for standard knockout qualifying, the top 24 advanced to the second round, and the top 12 advancing to the final round. This format was used at the Daytona 500 for the first time in 2015, but was soon abandoned for restrictor plate races after a series of incidents taking place during qualifying. Restrictor plate races eventually gets a new two-round qualifying format starting from the first Talladega race. In round 1, each car goes out one at a time for one warm-up, one timed, and one cool down lap. The order for the cars released was determined by a random draw. NASCAR will release the next car to begin their lap while the current car is finishing their timed lap with the goal to have the next car start their timed lap no more than 20 seconds after the previous car finishes. The top 12 cars from round 1 will make a second run in the same format to determine the starting lineup for positions 1–12, with the order of cars released are the invert of round 1 result (i.e. the 12th placed car will be released first). Positions 13th and below are determined by round 1 result. ==Daytona 500 pole winners==