NASCAR: Kyle Larson wins Daytona 500 pole
Hendrick Motorsports driver will start alongside teammate Alex Bowman
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Kyle Larson will start the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season where he left off last year.
Kyle Larson has won the pole position for the 2022 Daytona 500. (Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
The defending series champion set the fastest time in single-car qualifying on Wednesday night to claim pole position for the season-opening Daytona 500.
The Hendrick Motorsports driver was the second to last driver to go and put down a time of 49.68 seconds at 181.159 mph to beat teammate Alex Bowman's 49.711-second lap at 181.046 mph. The two will start on the front row on Sunday while the rest of the drivers will look to secure positions through Thursday's Daytona Duels races.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The session marked the first official outing for the all-new NASCAR Next Gen car. Bowman won the 2021 pole in the previous car with a time of 47.056 seconds at 190.261 mph.
The 2022 Daytona 500 marks the official competitive debut of the NASCAR Next Gen Cup Series car. (Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
Hendrick's other drivers, William Byron and Chase Elliott, finished third and fifth, and were split by Stewart-Haas driver Aric Almirola in fourth. Among the surprises were Pitbull's Trackhouse Racing team putting two drivers in the top 10, with Ross Chastain and Daniel Suarez finishing seventh and ninth.
Last year's Daytona 500 winner Michael McDowell qualified 22nd, while 1995 Indy 500 winner Jacques Villeneuve's 27th place finish was highest among the non-chartered entries and guarantees him a spot in The Great American Race.
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The 42 cars will now be split onto two groups that will race in the Daytona Duels on Thursday night, with the results used to set the 40-car field for the Daytona 500, which airs Sunday on FOX starting at 2:30 p.m. ET.