NASCAR Cup Series

Starting lineup for Coke Zero 400 as Greg Biffle takes pole

Published Jul. 1, 2016 5:35 p.m. ET

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Greg Biffle won the pole for Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Daytona International Speedway, turning a lap of 192.955 miles per hour in his Roush Fenway Racing Ford.

The pole was the first of the year for Biffle and the 13th of his career. It was also his first pole since Charlotte in October 2012, a span of 129 races.

"We knew the car had pretty good speed from our practice but we never made a mock qualifying run. ... I made two decent laps and the car has a lot of speed. We are pretty happy,” Biffle said.

Biffle won the Coke Zero 400 as a rookie in 2003, scoring his only career restrictor-plate race victory in 54 starts.

After winning the Daytona 500 and taking four of the top five finishing spots in that race, the Toyota armada was strong again this time around at NASCAR’s most famous track.

All four of the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas qualified in the top nine for the Coke Zero 400, along with five Fords and three Chevrolets.

Carl Edwards put his JGR Toyota next to Biffle on Row 1, with Kyle Busch third, Matt Kenseth seventh and Denny Hamlin ninth.

“We would have loved to be on the pole, but starting up front will be great and hopefully we can stay up front,” said Edwards, who has never won a plate race. “I need to get a win in that column. We have a big zero there from my career here at Daytona so I would like to get a win.”

Meanwhile, Biffle’s teammate Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was fourth, while Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski qualified fifth.

“It shows we are putting a lot of hard work in and it is starting to pay off at every race track,” Stenhouse said.

“I am really happy to see a Ford on the pole with Greg Biffle and I think we will be ready to race tomorrow night,” Keselowski said. “It makes you feel really good to see all those Ford teammates up there in the front of the field.”

Despite threatening Central Florida skies, all 41 cars were able to make qualifying runs.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., the defending race winner, qualified 16th, but said he had a Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet that worked well in traffic.

"We will be good,” Earnhardt said. “We worked on our car to try and help it be better. That might take some straight-line speed out of it, but it’s going to hopefully help us be able to make moves we need to make in the race.”

After qualifying on the pole in the Daytona 500 and the spring Talladega race, rookie Chase Elliott timed out 24th for Saturday night’s race.

That broke a string of three consecutive restrictor-plate poles for the No. 24 Hendrick Chevrolet, dating to when Jeff Gordon drove it last year.

Josh Wise was the only driver who failed to qualify. 

Check out the row-by-row starting lineup for Saturday's race that was set by Friday qualifying below.

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