Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe spearheaded Ford’s dominant efforts during NASCAR Cup Series qualifying at Daytona Int’l Speedway on Friday night.
There were seven Fords who qualified in the top 10, starting with Briscoe.
The No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing driver set a fast lap of 49.499 seconds (181.822 mph) at the 2.5-mile superspeedway. He will start from pole position during Saturday night’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 — the Cup Series’ regular season finale.
“It’s huge to have strength in numbers, so we’ve got a lot of them — nine in the top 12, so that will be good to hopefully control the race, control the narrative and hopefully our Ford can find victory lane and keep all the Fords up front,” Briscoe said.
Briscoe is one of 17 drivers who will be fighting for the 16th and final playoff berth.
Teammate Aric Almirola, who is also in a win-and-get-in situation, will join Briscoe on the front row in his No. 10 SHR Ford. His fastest lap was 49.534 seconds (181.693 mph) at the Florida facility.
“It’s a great starting spot for tomorrow. Getting the pole today would be awesome, but it’s not the end goal. The end goal is to end up in victory lane tomorrow, so I feel good about our car. We’ve had so much speed here with this Next Gen car and I feel good about it. Tomorrow is the day. I’ll lick my wounds tonight and tomorrow we’ll be ready,” Almirola said.
Win & In: 17 Drivers Chase 1 Playoff Spot
Harrison Burton qualified third in his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford with a 49.613-second lap (181.404 mph).
23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace and Joe Gibbs Racing driver Ty Gibbs completed the top five in their Toyota entries. Wallace and Gibbs are two of three drivers who have the ability to point their way into the playoffs, should there be a repeat winner. Daniel Suarez, who qualified 22nd, is the third.
Riley Herbst was sixth, piloting the No. 36 Ford for Front Row Motorsports.
Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson was seventh, while Ford drivers Ryan Blaney, Ryan Preece and Kevin Harvick rounded out the top 10.
The full Cup Series field will take the green at 7 p.m. (ET) on Saturday.