What’s Happening?
During Wednesday night’s single-car qualifying, Alex Bowman ran away with history. While his pole-winning lap was almost 2-tenths faster than Kyle Larson’s, it isn’t the speed that had everyone talking. Bowman’s 3rd career Daytona 500 pole is also his 6th consecutive front row start. For his team, Hendrick Motorsports has now won 8 of the last 9 poles for the Great American Race. For his manufacturer, Chevy has been the polesitter for the race every year since 2012 when Carl Edwards lead the field to green in a Ford.
What you need to know:
- Alex Bowman won the pole for the 2023 Daytona 500.
- The pole extends his front row start streak to 6 consecutive races and continues Hendrick’s dominance in 500 qualifying.
- Despite the recent qualifying success, Bowman, Hendrick, and even Chevy have rarely seen it payoff in the race but they will be the first to tell you their confidence is high. Like the old adage goes, “you can’t lead every lap if you don’t start upfront.”
Front row Bow!@Alex_Bowman will lead the field to green on Sunday for the #DAYTONA500. @DAYTONA | #BuschLightPole pic.twitter.com/BQ8A2tgy4V
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) February 16, 2023
Main Characters
Bowman celebrated the pole with his pups, saying “if you’re not the lead dog, the view never changes.”
— Alex Bowman (@Alex_Bowman) February 16, 2023
Hendrick Motorsports celebrated both of their front row drivers on Twitter.
Back-to-back on the front row for these guys. pic.twitter.com/znYlcjzVrU
— Hendrick Motorsports (@TeamHendrick) February 16, 2023
Around the Garage
Kyle Larson congratulated his teammate and said he was proud of the entire organization’s success on Wednesday.
Back to back @TeamHendrick front row. Proud of all the hard work our team put in over the offseason. Congrats @Alex_Bowman, thanks for handling all the media 😁 pic.twitter.com/jTZRgARaHe
— Kyle Larson (@KyleLarsonRacin) February 16, 2023
In the Stands
Fans took to Twitter to celebrate “Front Row Bow”.

Ta’Marcus Morgan puts Bowman on an esteemed list because of his qualifying success.

Dustin Gray wants to see the 48 defend the position for all 500 miles.

Michael Daly takes a look at the darker side of Bowman’s qualifying, giving a reminder that a pole award does not equate to raceday success.
On Your Screen
The boys of the NASCAR Weekly Podcast jumped on YouTube to break down all of the events of qualifying.
From the Pressbox
Media members brought lots of insight to the conversation on social media overnight.
In the last 11 years, only three times ('18, '21, '23) has the #DAYTONA500 pole been decided by a margin larger than one-tenth of a second.
— Joseph Srigley (@joe_srigley) February 16, 2023
All three times saw @Alex_Bowman win the pole for @TeamHendrick – two of those three times over an HMS teammate.#NASCAR | #SrigleyStats pic.twitter.com/BigjjHgR2E
Alex Bowman gets out of his car after winning the pole for the Daytona 500. #HotPass pic.twitter.com/5TOby80Ro5
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) February 16, 2023
Fox’s Kaitlyn Vincie congratulated her crew chief husband on his first Daytona 500 pole award.
Proud of you @dblakeharris.
— Kaitlyn Vincie (@kaitlynvincie) February 16, 2023
Door Bumper Clear’s Brett Griffin and Freddie Kraft called their shot on the Dirty Mo podcast last week and jumped on Twitter to remind everyone.
DBC said watch the 48 with Blake Harris.
— Couch Racer (@CouchRacerShop) February 16, 2023
While it may not guarantee success on raceday; Bowman, Hendrick, and Chevrolet has something figured out for single car speed.