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‘Donald Trump sent them on this mission’

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. &mdash; Hendrick Motorsports once again dominated Daytona 500 qualifying with a sweep of the front row for its 14th pole and sixth in the last seven years.
				Alex Bowman posted a lap at 191.261 mph Wednesday night at Daytona International Speedway to earn the top starting spot for the second time in his career. It&rsquo;s the fourth consecutive year Bowman will start from the front row.
				&ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t really have a lot to do with me &mdash; it&rsquo;s a testament to these guys and everybody back at the shop at Hendrick Motorsports,&rdquo; Bowman said. &ldquo;They work so hard on these superspeedway cars. They&rsquo;re beautiful when they get to the race track.&rdquo;
				William Byron made it a Hendrick sweep with a lap at 190.219 mph. Only the front row was set Wednesday night, the first time Daytona 500 qualifying has been held at night under a condensed Speedweeks schedule.
				It&rsquo;s the ninth consecutive year Chevrolet won the pole.
				The 40-car field is determined through both the time trials and a pair of Thursday night qualifying races. NASCAR sold 36 charters that guarantee the owners slots in the field, which leaves eight drivers vying for four &ldquo;open&rdquo; spots in the Super Bowl of stock-car racing.
				But two spots are earmarked to the fastest &ldquo;open&rdquo; cars in Wednesday night time trials. David Ragan and Ryan Preece earned the two berths.
				Preece had a charter last year with JTG-Daugherty Racing, but the team no longer holds its rights and there&rsquo;s concern the car won&rsquo;t attempt to make every race if it doesn&rsquo;t have early success.
				Preece said he wasn&rsquo;t nervous before attempting his lap, but did panic when the qualifying session was delayed for a power issue and Preece noticed he was wearing the wrong firesuit. Preece said he ran half-a-mile before his qualifying lap to change his firesuit.
				Derrike Cope, the 1990 Daytona 500 winner and oldest driver in the field at 62, could not get his car started and did not make a qualifying lap. His car is locked into the race, though, because it has a charter.
				The No. 62 failed pre-qualifying inspection three times, did not get to attempt a qualifying lap, and lost a crew member.
				Noah Gragson also did not make a qualifying lap because his car failed pre-race inspection. Beard Motorsports has to forfeit a team member as penalty but Gragson can race Thursday night and attempt to qualify for his first Daytona 500.
				Wallace, new team debut
				Bubba Wallace and Michael Jordan are feeling bullish about their debut in 23XI Racing headed into the Daytona 500.
				Wallace sent Jordan to the top of scoring pylon in the first Daytona 500 practice session for their new team and the first overall for NASCAR in more than 300 days. Wallace then threatened Wednesday night to make a front-row start for Sunday&rsquo;s season opener but has to wait another night to find out where he&rsquo;ll qualify for &ldquo;The Great American Race.&rdquo;
				Wallace was selected as the driver in the first season of a new team that brought Jordan into NASCAR as a team owner. Wallace was fastest in the field in practice and surely impressed his new boss -&mdash; call that about 200 mph speed &ldquo;Flying Jordan&rdquo; &mdash; once they meet for the first time.
				&ldquo;He&rsquo;ll be here Thursday, so I&rsquo;ll get to have the first one-on-one conversation with him, just to pick his brain, to learn more about him,&rdquo; Wallace said. &ldquo;We all got to see a little bit of his taste and his character in &lsquo;The Last Dance.&rsquo; Very competitive, I&rsquo;m going to say that.&rdquo;
				With a getting-to-know-you weekend ahead, Jordan sent Wallace &ldquo;a very positive&rdquo; text after practice.
				Wallace hit 199.747 mph in the No. 23 Toyota for 23XI Racing to top practice and then 189.577 in the qualifying session for the Daytona 500. That speed was enough to zip him to the top of the chart, and he stayed there until Byron bumped him out with 21 drivers remaining.
				Jordan joined with NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin to form the new team with Wallace, a high-profile pairing of a Black majority team owner and the only Black driver at NASCAR&rsquo;s top level. Jordan is the first Black principal owner of a full-time Cup team since Hall of Famer Wendell Scott in 1973.
				Jordan, the six-time NBA champion with the Chicago Bulls and Hall of Famer, and Hamlin purchased a charter for their team from Germain Racing that guarantees Wallace a spot in the 40-car Cup Series field every week.
				Hamlin, of course, is trying for his third straight Daytona 500 victory for Joe Gibbs Racing. He said he&rsquo;ll focus maybe a day each week on the 23XI team (No. 23 for Jordan, XI for Hamlin&rsquo;s No. 11 Toyota) and remain committed to JGR.
				&ldquo;I always have to maintain a level of professionalism to the team that I drive for,&rdquo; Hamlin said. &ldquo;This is the point of the season where things will start to get easier from my standpoint.&rdquo;

Bowman, Byron give Hendrick sweep of Daytona 500 front row