Rajah Caruth will lead the field to green Friday night at Daytona International Speedway after delivering a career-best qualifying performance ahead of the Winn-Dixie 250.
Caruth put the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet on the pole with a 49.118-second lap at 183.232 mph in the final round of qualifying. The run gave Caruth his first career pole in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series in his 46th series start.
Caruth showed speed throughout the entire qualifying session. He was fastest in the opening round with a 49.305-second lap before stepping it up when it mattered most in the final round.
JR Motorsports Locks Out Front Row
Caruth will have a familiar face alongside him when the green flag drops, as JR Motorsports teammate Carson Kvapil qualified second. Caruth edged Kvapil by just 0.086 seconds for the top spot, giving JRM control of the front row at one of NASCAR’s most unpredictable tracks.
Jesse Love will start third with Sheldon Creed fourth, while Caruth’s JRM teammate Sammy Smith rounds out the top five. Chevrolet also dominated the front of the field, taking each of the first six starting positions.
Pole Comes at the Perfect Time
The timing of Caruth’s first career pole could not be much better.
Friday night’s race is the regular-season finale, and Caruth enters Daytona 15 points below the Chase cutline. Starting from the front gives him an opportunity to score valuable stage points early while keeping himself away from some of the chaos that often develops deeper in the Daytona pack.
Caruth has already proven he can win at NASCAR’s national level, earning two victories during his time in the Truck Series before moving into an expanded O’Reilly Series schedule with JR Motorsports for 2026. Now, he has another milestone to add to his résumé.
Caruth Has a Chance to Make Daytona Night Special
Winning a pole at Daytona is already a major accomplishment. Turning it into a victory — and potentially a Chase berth — would make Friday night one of the biggest moments of Caruth’s young career.
Superspeedway racing rarely goes according to plan, and starting first guarantees nothing once the field gets organized into the draft. But Caruth and the No. 88 team have already shown they brought one of the fastest cars to Daytona.
Now the challenge is finishing the job.