Chase Elliott will lead the field to green in Sunday’s (Feb. 21) race on the Daytona International Speedway road course in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Elliott claimed the pole after finishing second in the season opener.
Daytona 500 champion Michael McDowell will line up second alongside Elliott. Austin Dillon begins in third, Denny Hamlin is fourth and Kevin Harvick rounds out the top five starters.
Ryan Preece starts sixth, Corey LaJoie begins seventh and Elliott’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson lines up eighth. Ross Chastain and Bubba Wallace complete the top 10 in the lineup.
The 2021 owner’s points rankings, weighted 35%, as well as driver’s and owner’s results (25% each) and fastest lap (15%) from the Daytona 500 were used to form the lineup.
The Daytona road course replaces Auto Club Speedway due to COVID-19 restrictions.
O’Reilly Auto Parts 253 Starting Lineup
The O’Reilly Auto Parts 253 will air on Feb. 21 at 3 p.m. ET on FOX.
Joy joined Frontstretch in 2019 as a NASCAR DraftKings writer, expanding to news and iRacing coverage in 2020. She's currently an assistant editor and involved with photos, social media and news editing. A California native, Joy was raised watching motorsports and started watching NASCAR extensively in 2001. She earned her B.A. degree in Liberal Studies at California State University Bakersfield in 2010.