DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Jacques Villeneuve certified for his first Daytona 500 then jogged down pit highway anxiously trying to find his workforce and a celebration.

The 50-year-old former Method One champion and Indianapolis 500 winner discovered his associate and lifted her within the air, then he hugged his crew members. His Ford had wanted three tries to go NASCAR inspection and simply hours earlier than Wednesday evening’s time trials, Villeneuve had written off his probabilities within the first spherical of qualifying.

“I actually thought we couldn’t get in on time, so that is the most important shock,” Villeneuve mentioned as qualifying continued round him. “I used to be satisfied we did not have (the pace). I wasn’t confused as a result of I did not suppose we would get in anyway.”

The Canadian wasn’t quick sufficient to earn a entrance row beginning spot, that are technically the one two positions for the season-opening Daytona 500 out there through time trials. Reigning Cup champion Kyle Larson earned the pole and can lead Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman to the inexperienced Sunday.

Bowman will begin on the entrance row for the fifth time in his profession. It was the seventh pole within the final eight Daytona 500s for Hendrick Motorsports.

However everybody knew the Hendrick automobiles had been going to lock down the entrance row in time trials; Hendrick had the three quickest automobiles and 4 of the quickest 5.

The one intrigue was which two “open groups” would lock into Sunday’s 40-car discipline in time trials. There are 4 spots within the discipline earmarked for groups that do not personal a constitution that ensures entry each week, however two had been awarded Wednesday evening.

Villeneuve was in one of many six automobiles vying for these one of many spots and locked himself into his first Daytona 500 by beating the opposite 5 open groups. Noah Gragson, who was born a yr after Villeneuve gained his 1997 F1 title, earned the second spot.

The ultimate two open spots can be crammed in Thursday evening’s duel qualifying races.

Villeneuve simply final week defined why a 50-year-old world champion would present up at Daytona with a model new workforce. He admitted that failing to make the race may harm his legacy, however Villeneuve mentioned the danger was value it as a result of he ranks the Daytona 500 alongside the Indy 500 and 24 Hours of Le Mans because the three largest races on the earth.

However after incomes a spot within the Daytona 500 — Villeneuve missed the race 14 years in the past in his solely different try and run “The Nice American Race” — he did not notably suppose he’d accomplished something particular.

“If you win Indy and F1 and also you get right here and do not make it, it is both nice or dangerous, there is no center line,” Villeneuve. “However thanks quite a bit to the brand new automotive, to the Subsequent Gen, as a result of that is allowed the workforce to come back in and construct a automotive and that was a giant factor.”

NASCAR this yr has launched a brand new automotive, the Subsequent Gen, that’s partly designed to open an reasonably priced entry into the game. Group Hezeberg used the automotive to broaden its group and, in a collaborative effort between former sports activities automotive driver Toine Hezemans, Dutch businessman Ernst Berg and Reaume Brothers Racing, eyed a partial Cup schedule this season.

Loris Hezemans, son of the workforce proprietor, has been introduced as the first driver however the 24-year-old shouldn’t be accepted to race at Daytona. So Villeneuve, who races alongside Hezemans in Europe, pulled his two oldest kids out of faculty in Switzerland and introduced them to Florida together with his associate, Giulia, and their new child three-week-old son.

“My eldest noticed my race solely as soon as, or perhaps twice in rally cross,” Villeneuve mentioned of his 15-year-old. “One thing large like this? By no means.”