What are the odds?
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| Chase Elliott, driver of the #24 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, poses with the 21 Means 21 Pole Award after qualifying for pole position in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 14, 2016 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/NASCAR via Getty Images) |
The Daytona 500 is a 500-mile-long NASCAR Sprint Cup Series motor race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is the first of two Sprint Cup races held every year at Daytona. It is also one of the four restrictor plate races on the Sprint Cup schedule.
The inaugural Daytona 500 was held in 1959 coinciding with the opening of the speedway and since 1982, it has been the season-opening race of the Cup series.
In his Daytona 500 debut, Chase Elliott won the pole with a speed of 196.314 miles per hour. At the age of 20, he became the youngest pole-sitter in 500 history. However he has yet to finish in the top 15 in a Sprint Cup race.
Only five drivers have won the Daytona 500 and the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship in the same year:
- 1959 Lee Petty
- 1964 Richard Petty
- 1971 Richard Petty
- 1974 Richard Petty
- 1977 Cale Yarborough
- 1979 Richard Petty
- 1997 Jeff Gordon
- 2013 Jimmie Johnson
- 2016 Jimmie Johnson
Can the rookie driver add the Elliott name to that prestigious list?
Chase will first have to win the #Daytona500 from pole on Sunday.
(The pole winner hasn’t won the Daytona 500 since Dale Jarrett in
2000, when Chase Elliott was just four.)
Elliott will join the Sprint Cup Series full-time in 2016, driving the No. 24 with Alan Gustafson as crew chief.
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