Austin Cindric – 2022 Daytona 500 champion – will have the advantage in The Great American Race in 2025, taking the green flag from the front row. He wheeled the No. 2 NASCAR Ford Mustang Dark Horse around the 2.5-mile speedway to the second best qualifying lap on February 12th, 2025.
Cindric completed his best lap in 49.325 seconds at 182.463 mph. He was bested only by Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 19 Toyota TRD Camry, who earned the night’s best time of 49.249 seconds at 182.745 mph. Ironically, Briscoe is brand new to the Toyota camp, parting ways with his NASCAR Ford team after it shuttered at the end of last season.
Cindric’s No. 2 NASCAR Ford and Briscoe’s No. 19 Camry are the only two entries in the field whose starting position is locked in. The rest of the field must race for position in the forthcoming Duels at Daytona, which are scheduled for February 13th. Cindric will lead the second Duel to green from the pole position. Duel 2 is comprised of the even-numbered qualifiers. Duel 1, which will be led by Briscoe, is made up of the odd-numbered qualifiers.
Typically, the drivers on the front row for the Daytona 500 will choose to hang back from the pack, preserving their race cars and keeping them out of wrecks so they do not have to start in a backup car. Resorting to the backup car means affected drivers must start at the rear of the field. In other words, while Cindric’s No. 2 NASCAR Ford Mustang is fast, it will be a surprise if he decides to run with the pack and win his Duel.
Several other NASCAR Ford drivers qualified with top 10 times. Ryan Preece, Joey Logano, and Josh Berry followed Cindric’s second-best qualifying time, posting the third, fourth, and fifth best times, respectively.
The 2025 Daytona 500 is scheduled for February 16th at 2:30 p.m. EST – assuming Mother Nature plays nice and doesn’t rain on The Great American Race this year.
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