DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – It’s the front row of the front row at Daytona International Speedway.

Michael McDowell took the pole for Saturday night’s 400-mile race at Daytona after beating his Front Row Motorsports teammate Todd Gilliland in Friday’s qualifying session.

McDowell posted a top speed of 183.165 mph on the 2.5-mile superspeedway, nearly four-tenths faster than Gilliland. While McDowell and Gilliland topped the speed charts, Ford secured the top six spots in qualifying and seven of the top ten.

Joey Logano finished third for Team Penske, followed by Ryan Preece, Josh Berry and Chase Briscoe of Stewart-Haas Racing.

William Byron was the fastest Chevrolet in seventh place. Austin Cindric, Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott completed the top 10.

It was McDowell’s fourth pole of the season. He previously started from the front row at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Talladega Superspeedway and Gateway Motorsports Park, but failed to win any of those races.

McDowell has two wins in 489 Cup Series starts in his career, including the 2021 Daytona 500. This year, he took advantage of Logano and Brad Keselowski’s final-lap crash to secure his first win.

McDowell currently sits 21st in the Cup standings, 157 points behind Ross Chastain for the 16th and final playoff spot. McDowell must win one of the two remaining regular-season races – at Daytona and Darlington – to make the playoffs for the third time in the last five years.

McDowell has signed a contract to drive for Spire Motorsports next season after Front Row owner Bob Jenkins decided to go in a different direction. McDowell credits Jenkins with turning him from “a guy who was running 30th every weekend” to a driver who won the 2021 Daytona 500 and the Indianapolis race last year.