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Chase Elliott wins pole for Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona

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A sprained ankle didn't get in the way for Chase Elliott when qualifying for the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona.

Chase Elliott will start first in Saturday night’s Cup race at Daytona International Speedway (7 p.m. ET on NBC).

The Hendrick Motorsports driver claimed his fourth career pole (all on restrictor-plate tracks) with a lap at 194.045 mph.

Three of Elliott’s poles have been at Daytona. He is the first driver to score his first four career poles on restrictor-plate tracks.

Elliott is joined on the front row by teammate Alex Bowman (193.046 mph), who had the pole for February’s Daytona 500.

The top five was rounded out by Brad Keselowski, Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick. Johnson’s starting spot is his best of the season.

“Our Hooters Chevy has been nice all weekend, we made a couple of changes at the end of that last practice before the rain and made it go a little faster,” Elliott told NBCSN. “I hope that translates to a good driving car tomorrow night. Obviously a lot of speed in our Chevrolets. I’ve said this before, but we put a lot of effort into our speedway program at Hendrick Motorsports. ... We take a lot of pride in coming to these races. They pay the same amount of points as the rest of them, so it matters.”

Elliott has started in the first two rows in five of his six Daytona starts.

Elliott’s pole is Hendrick Motorsports’ 10th at a restrictor-plate track since 2015. Six have come at Daytona and four at Talladega.

Michael McDowell qualified eighth for his best starting position this season and his second start inside the top 10.

No Toyota drivers qualified in top 12 for the first time since last fall’s Talladega race.

Timothy Peters is the only driver who failed to qualify.

Click here for qualifying results.