Chase Elliott scores Daytona 500 pole

Chase Elliott has quickly showed he was the right choice to replace the retired Jeff Gordon by becoming the youngest ever pole winner for the famed Daytona 500.

The son of NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott, the 20-year-old took the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet to the top spot in the second round of qualifying to back-up Gordon's effort from last year.

Bill Elliott took three pole positions in the Daytona 500, with Chase setting an impressive lap of 315.9367km/h (196.314MPH) around the 2.5-mile superspeedway to share the front row with Matt Kenseth.

“This is a very, very cool day,” said Elliott.

“I don't know that this opportunity has sunk in yet, much less sitting on the pole for the Daytona 500. I think the big thing is just the team and the Daytona 500 qualifying is about the team guys and the effort they put into these cars and it's nothing special I did, it's really what kind of work they did this off-season to make it happen.”

Although today's qualifying has been run, only the front row is set with a total of 44 cars fighting for the 40 starting spots.

Positions 3-40 will be determined in Thursday night's Can-Am Duel qualifying races at Daytona.

In the 40-car field, the 36 teams with NASCAR Charters are all guaranteed starting spots. There are eight non-charter teams or “Open” entries.

Among the Open drivers, Ryan Blaney and Matt DiBenedetto were fastest in qualifying on Sunday, which guarantees them starting spots in the Daytona 500.

Blaney is driving for the Wood Brothers; the oldest team in NASCAR. The Wood Brothers were not offered a Charter by NASCAR, as they have not raced fulltime in recent years. Despite a fulltime commitment in 2016 from the team, Blaney will need to qualify on speed throughout the season.

The highest finishing Open team in each Can-Am Duel race will also make the 500 field. In each of the Can-Am Duels, the fields will consist of 18 Charter teams and four Open teams.

Drivers with work to do in those races will be Kevin Harvick, Brian Vickers and Martin Truex Jr. The Stewart-Haas duo of Harvick and Vickers did not have their respective track bars in compliance with the Sprint Cup Series Rule Book, according to NASCAR officials.

The qualifying times for both cars were disallowed, and both will start their respective Can-Am Duel races from the rear of the field.

Additionally, NASCAR ruled that the roof flaps on the No. 78 Toyota of Martin Truex Jr. was not in compliance with the prescribed specifications of the rule book. The No. 78 did not qualify and will also start its duel race from the rear of the field.

VIDEO: Chase Elliott speaks after scoring pole for the Dayton 500

QAULIFYING: Daytona 500 – Daytona International Speedway

POS.	CAR #	DRIVER	MAKE	SPONSOR	MPH	BEST TIME
1	24	Chase Elliott		NAPA Auto Parts	196.314	45.845
2	20	Matt Kenseth		Dollar General	196.036	45.910
3	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr		Nationwide	195.682	45.993
4	18	Kyle Busch		M&M's 75	195.207	46.105
5	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr		Fastenal	195.118	46.126
6	48	Jimmie Johnson		Lowe's	194.839	46.192
7	21	Ryan Blaney		Motorcraft / Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center	194.746	46.214
8	3	Austin Dillon		Dow	194.675	46.231
9	19	Carl Edwards		Arris	194.662	46.234
10	11	Denny Hamlin		FedEx Express	194.523	46.267
11	41	Kurt Busch		Haas Automation / Monster Energy	194.510	46.270
12	22	Joey Logano		Shell Pennzoil	194.460	46.282
13	13	Casey Mears		GEICO	194.250	46.332
14	5	Kasey Kahne		Farmers Insurance	194.104	46.367
15	31	Ryan Newman		CAT	194.099	46.368
16	27	Paul Menard		Peak Antifreeze / Menards	193.936	46.407
17	95	Ty Dillon		Cheerios	193.936	46.407
18	2	Brad Keselowski		Miller Lite	193.878	46.421
19	43	Aric Almirola		Smithfield	193.753	46.451
20	16	Greg Biffle		KFC Nashville Hot	193.665	46.472
21	1	Jamie McMurray		McDonald's/Cessna	193.399	46.536
22	44	Brian Scott		Albertsons Co. / Shore Lodge	193.332	46.552
23	42	Kyle Larson		Target	192.938	46.647
24	93	Matt DiBenedetto		Dustless Blasting	192.686	46.708
25	59	Michael McDowell		Thrivent Financial / K-LOVE Radio	192.604	46.728
26	7	Regan Smith		Nikko RC / Golden Corral	192.542	46.743
27	83	Michael Waltrip		Maxwell House	192.406	46.776
28	34	Chris Buescher		Love's Travel Stops	192.365	46.786
29	10	Danica Patrick		Nature's Bakery	192.291	46.804
30	32	Bobby Labonte		Can – Am	191.808	46.922
31	47	AJ Allmendinger		Kroger/Scott Products	191.583	46.977
32	6	Trevor Bayne		AdvoCare	191.436	47.013
33	46	Michael Annett		Pilot Flying J	191.302	47.046
34	15	Clint Bowyer		5-Hour Energy	191.249	47.059
35	38	Landon Cassill		Florida Lottery	191.192	47.073
36	26	Robert Richardson		Stalk It	190.496	47.245
37	98	Cole Whitt		TBA	190.375	47.275
38	35	David Gilliland		TBA	189.350	47.531
39	23	David Ragan		Dr. Pepper	189.068	47.602
40	30	Josh Wise		Curtis Key Plumbing Cont. Inc	187.282	48.056
41	40	Reed Sorenson		CRC Brakleen	181.163	49.679
42	78	Martin Truex Jr		Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats	0.000	0.000
43	4	Kevin Harvick		Jimmy John's	0.000	0.000
44	14	Brian Vickers		Bass Pro Shops / Mobil 1	0.000	0.000