ECR Power Takes Ross Chastain To Daytona Pole; 3rd Career Pole

A week after being eliminated from championship contention, Ross Chastain snagged the pole position for Saturday's Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona.

Ross Chastain watches as he is shown as the pole sitter for the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona. | Jared Bokanoski | Racing America On SI

It's been a tough season for Ross Chastain and the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing team, which saw their chances at a Cup Series championship come to an end with an engine failure at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. However, on Friday at Daytona International Speedway, the group was given a reason to smile once again.

After two rounds of qualifying for Saturday night's Coke Zero Sugar 400, it was Chastain's No. 1, which stood atop the scoring pylon in the infield of the 2.5-mile superspeedway. Chastain, who isn't known much for his qualifying prowess, was able to polish off his third career Cup Series pole in his 285th attempt.

The pole marks Chastain's first since Watkins Glen in 2024, 70 races ago. A week after heartbreak in New Hampshire, Chastain admitted he didn't expect to have the fastest car in qualifying this weekend.

“For our Wendy’s Watermelon Lemonade Chevy, I’m not sure that we expected that leaving the shop, to be honest,” Chastain stated. “I mean, you always try to be efficient. You’re trying to have the least amount of drag when you come to Daytona, and then you’re trying to put the most grip in it with this new package. Hats off to Trackhouse and ECR, you know, to have our issues last week and to come right back and redeem all of us.”

Chastain's pole-winning run came on the strength of a 48.808-second circuit around the high-banked 2.5-mile superspeedway, which equates to a 184.396 mph average speed. Chastain topped Chris Buescher by 0.051 seconds to take the top qualifying spot in the field.

Austin Hill, who continues to race in the shadow of the legendary Kyle Busch, will start from the third spot in Saturday's race, driving the No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, which he'll pilot full-time next season.

Ryan Preece, who is looking to advance himself into the Chase for the Championship and enters the weekend 31 points behind Shane van Gisbergen for the final transfer spot, will start fourth.

Riley Herbst, Shane van Gisbergen, Connor Zilisch, Austin Cindric, Joey Logano, and Kyle Larson rounded out the top-10 qualifers for the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona.

Gray Gaulding was the slowest driver in the session, driving the No. 66 Garage 66 Ford. With 41 cars on the entry list and only 40 spots available in the race, the No. 66 team will load up its hauler and head back home.