Florida native Ross Chastain calls Daytona Cup pole a "life achievement"

Ross Chastain has never been known for his qualifying performances. In fact, he became the only driver to ever win the Coca-Cola 600 from last place on the grid in 2025.

But Friday at Daytona, he rocketed to the top of the charts, taking pole position by half-a-tenth over Chris Buescher.

It’s just Chastain’s third career pole in the NASCAR Cup Series, with his other two P1s coming at Watkins Glen in 2024 and Nashville in 2023 (a race he won).  

“Yeah, it’s almost indescribable,” Chastain said of the pole in a post-qualifying press conference. “I think I should probably start with, like, I grasp that it doesn’t have much bearing on knowing what tomorrow is going to bring, but for tonight and today for a new package, for Trackhouse to go and pick the right things for car build to come here and to execute through two rounds, it’s incredible. We’ve been good in one round before, but not the second. So, yeah, it’s very important to note that we chose the right things as a team to come here and execute through qualifying.  

“I’ll start this with — I do not know what that means for tomorrow. I’m being honest, I have no idea what it means for tomorrow.”

Ross Chastain, Trackhouse Racing

Of course, as Chastain notes, qualifying means very little a superspeedway. Last year, Ryan Blaney won the race from P1, but qualifying was rained out. The last true Daytona pole-sitter to win the race was Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the summer of 2015.

But besides that, it’s still a very special moment for the Florida driver.

“Life achievement,” said Chastain. “I was a kid sitting in the grandstands. We camped outside of turn one, gate 40. For those that remember back in, I don’t know, late 90s, 2000s, early 2000s, it was not the nice, beautiful gate 40 with dry grass that you see now. It was a mud pit. We camped over there, rode our bikes around and had other families that were family and some that were more than family that were such close friends and my buddies that I grew up with.

“So, yeah, I mean, from the race pools, like getting the race day paper and drawing names out that they would cut up and hoping you got the pole-sitter, that was a big deal. And as I got older, I realized how much little or just less it means, as far as how the car is going to draft. But, still, it’s a big deal. It’s a life achievement that I will never forget. This is a moment I’ll never forget.”

Helping SVG make the Chase

Shane van Gisbergen, Trackhouse Racing

It was also a great day for Trackhouse as an organization, with Chastain’s teammates Shane van Gisbergen and Connor Zilisch qualifying sixth and seventh, respectively.

SVG is trying to hold onto the 16th and final spot inside the Chase field, and Chastain is fully aware of the role he may play in that battle.

“When there’s an opportunity of two cars in front of me, I think everybody in the field knows that I’ll push the 97 [SVG],” said Chastain. “I am OEM loyal and specifically 97 loyal. So when there’s opportunity, any momentum I have, any push I have, will go to the 97. The crew chiefs will be talking. You know, there’s little differences, and if we find something air pressure wise or something, the 97 will be the first to know.”

However, Chastain surely wants to win too, as he is facing a winless streak that dates back to Memorial Day Weekend, 2025. Daytona will mark 49 races since his last trip to Cup Series Victory Lane, and the driver of the No. 1 has also managed to win at least one race in every year of the Next Gen era (since 2022).

Watch: Chastain wins Daytona pole: ‘Not sure that we expected that’

Read Also:

NASCAR Cup Daytona starting lineup: Ross Chastain wins pole position

Shane van Gisbergen vs Ryan Preece: What Daytona stats say about final Chase battle

Ryan Sieg wins first NASCAR O’Reilly race after 13 years of trying
To read more Motorsport.com articles visit our website.