Caruth earns first career pole at Daytona
NXTbets Pro | Published On: August 28, 2026
Caruth pole breakthrough
Rajah Caruth delivered the first pole of his career Friday night at Daytona International Speedway, earning the top starting spot for the Winn-Dixie 250 with a 49.118-second lap at 182.232 mph. The result gave Caruth a milestone in his 46th series start and put the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet at the front of the field for the race on the 2.5-mile superspeedway.
Caruth also beat teammate Carson Kvapil by 0.086 seconds, a slim margin that locked in a JR Motorsports front-row presence and set the tone for the rest of the qualifying order. Kvapil qualified second, leaving Chevrolet with the top two spots and giving the team a strong start for a race that was set to begin at 7:30 p.m. ET and air on CW, the ESPN App and MRN.
The pole mattered because it came after a precise lap in a session where every thousandth counted. Caruth found enough speed to separate himself from the field, and his run carried extra weight because it was the first time he had ever led the lineup from the front. That breakthrough also gave him a chance to open the night with control of the outside lane and the clear track position that comes with the pole at Daytona.
The performance added another marker to a growing resume. Caruth had already built experience over dozens of series starts, but this qualifying run gave him a new line on that record. He did it in a Chevrolet sweep at the top, on a track where drafting and timing can turn a single lap into a major advantage. The lap stood out because it was fast enough to hold off a teammate and because it came under the pressure that Daytona qualifying always brings.
Chevrolet sweep top six
Chevrolet dominated the qualifying sheet behind Caruth and Kvapil, sweeping the top six starting spots. Jesse Love qualified third, Sheldon Creed fourth, Sammy Smith fifth and Sam Mayer sixth, a clean block of Chevy speed that stretched well beyond the front row and showed how deep the manufacturer ran in the session.
William Sawalich led the Toyota effort in seventh, which kept the brand in the conversation but still left Chevrolet in complete control of the front of the field. Austin Hill, Anthony Alfredo and Taylor Gray also landed among the top 10 starters, giving the race a mixed group near the front even as Chevrolet separated itself from the rest. The order from first through 10th showed a clear split between the top six and the rest of the qualifiers, with the Chevrolets setting the pace and the others chasing the mark they established.
The session also sent several notable names into the opening round’s disappointment. Harrison Burton, Ryan Sieg, Brandon Jones, Corey Day, Nick Sanchez, Dean Thompson and Justin Allgaier did not advance out of Round 1, leaving them without a place near the front for the start of the race. Their early exits added another layer to a session that rewarded precision and punished anyone who missed the mark.
That left Caruth with the headline position and a strong starting group around him. Kvapil lined up beside him after a close fight for the pole, while Love, Creed, Smith and Mayer filled out the next four positions. Sawalich’s seventh-place run gave Toyota its best showing, and Hill, Alfredo and Gray rounded out the top 10 with solid starting spots of their own.
For Daytona, the qualifying order matters because track position can shape the opening stages before the draft takes over. Caruth will start first, Kvapil second and a Chevrolet-heavy group will trail them in the first six rows. The lineup set the stage for Friday night’s 250-mile race, with the pole going to a driver who turned one fast lap into the first of his career and put JR Motorsports in prime position at the front.
