Larson, Bowman on front row for Daytona 500

Some observers thought Chevrolet teams may have been sandbagging during Tuesday's first two practice sessions for Sunday's Daytona 500

Chevrolet admittedly did not have much to write home about during Tuesday's first two practice sessions for Sunday's 64th Daytona 500, as Ford dominated both sessions.

But when it really mattered, Chevrolet delivered during Wednesday night's front row qualifying for the Great American Race.

Defending NASCAR Cup champion Kyle Larson won the pole with a speed of 181.159 mph, while his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman will start Sunday's race next to him on the front row, qualifying with a speed of 181.046 mph.

“Anytime you are really proud of your team to get a pole here because this is the littlest it has to do with us drivers; qualifying at superspeedways,” Larson said. “Just a huge thank you to the engine shop at Hendrick Motorsports.

"Everybody who’s had a part in touching these vehicles; whether it be on the computer, engineering, or just hands on. It’s really neat; just awesome the speed in our HendrickCars.com Chevy. Hopefully this is the beginning of a really good weekend.”

The front row feat puts Bowman’s name in the NASCAR history books as the only driver in the series’ history to sit on the Daytona 500 front row for five consecutive seasons (2018-2022). The Bowtie Brand has now swept the Daytona 500 front row 20 times in the event’s history, including 10 of the past 12 years.

“It just says so much about Hendrick Motorsports and all these guys," Bowman said. "Congrats to the 5 on getting the pole. It’s cool to have the record, but I feel like Greg Ives (Crew Chief) and my race team should be the ones that get the credit for that record.

"The driver doesn’t really have much to do with it, but glad I didn’t mess it up for them and really happy for Ally and Chevrolet. Cool to be a part of it.”

Kyle Larson and Alex Bowman will start on the front row for the NASCAR Cup Series 64th Annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

While the remainder of the 40-car field will be determined during Thursday's Twin Dual 150s at Daytona International Speedway, Chevrolet wound up with six drivers among the top 10 qualifiers Wednesday.

Hendrick Motorsports drivers William Byron (180.850 mph) and 2020 Cup champ Chase Elliott (180.314 mph) had the third- and fifth-fastest qualifying efforts, while Aric Almirola was the fastest Ford driver with the fourth-fastest speed (180.527 mph).

Rounding out the top 10 drivers and their speeds were: Martin Truex Jr. was the fastest Toyota driver, coming in sixth at 180.040 mph, followed by Chevy driver Ross Chastain in seventh (179.845 mph), Denny Hamlin (179.723 mph), Daniel Suarez (179.619 mph) and Harrison Burton was the fastest rookie at 179.508 mph.

As for Thursday's Twin Dual 150s, here's the starting lineups: