page_title: List of Daytona 500 pole position winners
section_title: Notes
hierarchical_section_title: List of Daytona 500 pole position winners / Daytona 500 pole winners / Notes
caption_attribution_description: A crop of a flickr image of w:David Pearson taken in Daytona. Shot by "The Daredevil" at Daytona during Speedweeks 2008
context_page_description: Daytona 500 pole position winners for the NASCAR Cup Series's Daytona 500 are rewarded with being the driver to lead the field across the start line at the beginning of the 200-lap 500-mile race. Pole qualifying for the Daytona 500 is held one weekend before the race at the Daytona International Speedway. The driver to complete the fastest single lap in the final of three rounds in the knockout qualifying session around the 2.5-mile high-banked tri-oval superspeedway earns the pole position. The first Daytona 500 was held in 1959 and in 1982, it became the opening event for the NASCAR Cup season. The term "pole position" was originally coined in the American horse racing industry, and indicated the position of the starter being next to the "poles", which established the boundaries of the course. The two drivers who complete a lap with the fastest time are awarded the first and second starting positions for the Daytona 500. An additional 33 to 35 entrants are determined by a combination of the results of two qualifying races and the position of the team in the previous season's point rankings.
context_section_description: 1959: Cotton Owens (143.198 mph) was the fastest qualifier.
  1960: Fireball Roberts (151.556 mph) was the fastest qualifier.
  1963: Johnny Rutherford (165.183 mph) was the fastest qualifier.
  1964: On April 4, 1959, Dick Rathmann set the one-lap Daytona International Speedway track qualifying record driving in a USAC Champ Car race at 173.210 mph. The Champ Cars would not return to the track. The one-lap record held until 1964 when Paul Goldsmith finally broke it in a NASCAR stock car with a speed of 174.910 mph.
  1969: David Pearson (190.029 mph) was the fastest qualifier.
  1976: A. J. Foyt (185.943 mph) was the fastest qualifier.
  1980: A. J. Foyt (195.020 mph) was the fastest qualifier again.
  1983: On his first of two qualifying laps, Cale Yarborough ran a lap of 200.503 mph, a new track record, and the first 200 mph lap (320 km/h) in Daytona history. On the second lap, however, gusty winds caused him to spin, flip over, and crash in turn 4. The car had to be withdrawn, and the lap did not count. Yarborough started a backup car on race day, and was moved to the rear of the field. Ricky Rudd was credited with the fastest qualifying speed at 198.864 mph.
  1990: Pole winner Ken Schrader crashed during the Gatorade Twin 125's, and was required to start a back-up car on race day. His car was moved to the rear of the field, and duel winner Geoff Bodine moved up to the pole position.
  2003:  Starting with the 2002 Subway 400 at Rockingham (the race after the 2002 Daytona 500), teams were not permitted to change engines during the race week.  For the Daytona 500, a team must race their qualifying race with the same engine they used to qualify.  An engine change between first qualifying practice and the qualifying race means the team must start in the back for that race only.  After the qualifying races, teams will be allowed one engine change before the start of the final Daytona 500 practices on the Saturday before the race.  The engine in the car for the Saturday practices before the Daytona 500 is the declared engine, with any engine change after the first Daytona 500 practice that occurs after the qualifying race will be penalized with the team being sent to the rear of the field.  As is the case for a backup car after a crash, the respective column of cars moves up when the offending car is moved to the back.  This is the first Daytona 500 with the new engine rule.
  2004:  Greg Biffle won his first Nextel Cup Series pole but changed engines after final Daytona 500 practice the Saturday before the race.  This moved the inside column of cars up, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. started first and won the race.
  2011:  Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the Coors Light Pole Award, but crashed in Wednesday practice.  Although a backup car was implemented and Earnhardt started in the rear for the first Duel, he also was moved to the rear for the Daytona 500 under an oddity in Daytona 500 qualifying rules.  Drivers who switch to backup cars after incidents in Wednesday practice do not have to move to the back for the Daytona 500 if the car raced in the Duel is the same car for the 500, unless it is one of the front row qualifying cars.  Kurt Busch, who won the first Duel, started first.
  2015:  Starting with 2014 The Profit on CNBC 500 the next week at Phoenix, multiple-round knockout qualifying, used in many codes of motorsport, was implemented.  The knockout format was used for the first time at the Daytona 500, using the old restrictor plate qualifying format (three five-minute rounds, with the first round split evenly between cars, each having a five-minute round, top 24 advance to the second round, top 12 advancing to the final round).  Six drivers were faster than pole speed in Q1, and three drivers (including eventual pole winner Jeff Gordon) were faster than the pole speed in Q2.  The pole time was set in Q3.  Aric Almirola (44.473 seconds/202.370 mph (325.683 km/h)) was the fastest qualifier, but the time was set in Q1; he finished 15th in Q2 (originally 17th, but moved up after two post-Q3 disqualifications) and did not advance to Q3.
  2016:  Starting
caption: David Pearson, 1974 pole winner
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