Daytona Road Course 2021 lineup: Chase Elliott wins Busch Pole Award

The Daytona Road Course race will have Chase Elliott start from pole position for Sunday, Feb. 21's O’Reilly Auto Parts 253.

Elliott won the Busch Pole Award largely owing to his four wins in a points-paying road course effort this past season.

He will have Daytona 500 winner Michael McDowell alongside him on the front row. Current points-leader Austin Dillon and Denny Hamlin will make up the second row in third and fourth for the Daytona Road Course race.

Actor Kevin James will be the Grand Marshal for Sunday's race.

There will be no practice or qualifying for the Daytona Road Course race owing to the COVID-19 restrictions in place.

The next qualifying session will be for the dirt-track race at Bristol Motor Speedway, scheduled for Mar. 28.

You might also like: A marketer's dream team: All of Chase Elliott's 2021 sponsors

How was the Daytona Road Course starting lineup determined?

Since there was no qualification, the Daytona Road Course starting lineup was determined after competition officials took into consideration a formula based on four statistical categories:

25% of driver's finish position from the last race

25% of car owner's finish position from the last race

35% points ranking for team owners

15% consideration given to fastest lap since last race

Based on the above formula, the early Daytona 500 crash that trimmed the field will result in a few of the drivers starting from the rear of the field for the Daytona Road Course race.

You might also like: Daytona Road Course favorite: Chase Elliott, NASCAR’s best road racer

For example, Ryan Blaney, who was part of the crash and had to retire, will start from 28th position, and Alex Bowman, who started on pole for the Great American race, will fall to 36th position for the Daytona Road Course race.

You might also like: Twitter explodes as Michael McDowell wins Daytona 500

Daytona Road Course lineup

Below is the lineup for the Daytona Road Course race on Feb. 21 at Daytona International Speedway:

1 Chase Elliott - No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

2 Michael McDowell - No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford

3 Austin Dillon - No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet

4 Denny Hamlin - No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

5 Kevin Harvick - No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford

6 Ryan Preece - No. 37 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet

7 Corey LaJoie - No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet

8 Kyle Larson - No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

9 Ross Chastain - No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet

10 Bubba Wallace - No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota

11 Joey Logano - No. 22 Team Penske Ford

12 Christopher Bell - No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

13 Cole Custer - No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet

14 Kyle Busch - No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

15 Brad Keselowski - No. 2 Team Penske Ford

16 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. - No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet

17 Kurt Busch - No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet

18 Chase Briscoe - No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford

19 BJ McLeod - No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports Ford

20 Joey Gase - No. 53 Rick Ware Racing Ford

21 Martin Truex Jr. - No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

22 Justin Haley - No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet

23 Cody Ware - No. 51 Petty Ware Racing Chevrolet

24 William Byron - No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

25 Josh Bilicki - No. 52 Rick Ware Racing Ford

26 Tyler Reddick - No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet

27 Aric Almirola - No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford

28 Ryan Blaney - No. 12 Team Penske Ford

29 Quin Houff - No. 00 StarCom Racing Chevrolet

30 Chris Buescher - No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford

31 Anthony Alfredo - No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford

32 Matt DiBenedetto - No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford

33 Ryan Newman - No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford

34 AJ Allmendinger - No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet

35 Daniel Suarez - No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Team Chevrolet

36 Alex Bowman - NO. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

37 Erik Jones - No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet

38 Ty Dillon - No. 96 Gaunt Brothers Racing Toyota

39 James Davison - No. 15 Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet

40 Timmy Hill - No. 66 Motorsports Business Management Ford

You might also like: "I'd like to race against my dad, but not in his prime" — Chase Elliott takes fan questions

How to watch the Daytona Road Course race?

The Daytona Road Course race on Feb. 21 will be shown on FOX at 3 p.m.

You might also like: Who are NASCAR's best road course drivers?

The Daytona Road Course was not originally part of the 2021 NASCAR roster. It came in as a replacement for the California Speedway round owing to COVID-19 restrictions, and is the first of the seven points-paying road course races in 2021.