A bad wheel was not going to cost Chase Elliott the pole position at Daytona International Speedway.
Despite nursing a right-ankle sprain, Elliott and his Chevrolet Camaro were uncatchable Friday evening during qualifying for Saturday night’s Coke Zero Sugar 400. His time of 46.381 was nearly .25 seconds faster than teammate Alex Bowman, a significant margin in a sport where hundredths of a second can separate qualifiers.
Bowman, who posted a time of 46.621, and the next four qualifiers were within a smaller margin than he and Elliott.
“I didn’t know it was that fast,” Elliott said of his car.