Martin Truex Jr claimed pole position for the Daytona 500 while Mark Martin will start beside him on the front row.
Truex set a fastest lap of 47.872 seconds (188.001mph) and despite not being as quick as veteran Martin on his first lap he was able to pick up enough speed on his second to win his second ever Sprint Cup series pole.
The 28-year-old also gave Earnhardt Ganassi Racing their maiden pole position, following a tough off-season in which both Chip Ganassi Racing and Dale Earnhardt Inc were forced to lay-off more than a hundred people each since announcing they were merging under a new name last November.
"Well, it's been a tough winter," Truex said. "Everybody's read about what's going on with the team and there was a lot of uncertainty throughout most part of the winter but I'm proud of my guys for sticking with it and not letting anything get them down.
"It's not really important to qualify up front here, but we've never really had a shot at the pole before and it's nice to come here and see that we had it. It's a great way to start off the week here at Daytona."
Martin came close to starting from pole at the start of what is expected to be his last full-season in the Sprint Cup series. The 50-year-old topped the timesheets for most of the session and will enjoy his best ever starting spot for the season-opener.
"I can't wait to get this car out there in the draft," said an excited Martin. "It's so fast. Everybody on this race team is so charged up. It's just so fun to go to work every day and I'm glad it's just about ready to start."
Behind the front row pair, the rest of the starting positions will be set by the results of next Thursday's Gatorade Duels.
Stewart-Haas Racing continued to impress after a promising showing for Tony Stewart in the Budweiser Shootout where he finished third. Defending Daytona 500 champion Ryan Newman put on a strong qualifying run in third place, and has a guaranteed starting spot for next week's race.
"We came off the truck fast," Newman said. "It was a good effort for everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing. To have a new organisation and a new group of guys do this makes us proud. This is a good effort for sure. We are among some great company."
Juan Pablo Montoya (Earnhardt Ganassi) equalled his best qualifying effort at Daytona but was disappointed to miss out on pole. He was second fastest at the time he set his run but ended up fourth as Newman and Truex set faster laps than his.
"To be honest, I'm actually disappointed that we didn't run faster," Montoya said. "We honestly thought we had a car to easily be on pole. The wind just picked up and it didn't help. But you know, it is what it is."
"It's a lot better than where we were last year, but we should've run better. All our cars have been running very quick in practice, but we should've picked up more speed on that run."
Earnhardt Ganassi Racing's good performance was underlined by Aric Almirola's seventh place. Hendrick Motorsports were the only team who got close to such strong qualifying with all their cars placed in the top 15. Defending champion Jimmie Johnson was sixth while Jeff Gordon was ninth and Dale Earnhardt Jr 12th.
Wood Brothers' Bill Elliott, who had set the pace in practice for qualifying, was unable to match his speed from Saturday but still ran fast enough to secure a spot in the field after missing last year's race. The 53-year-old took fifth and was the fastest of those not guaranteed a starting spot through the top-35 in the car owner standing.
"I think it says it on the board," said Elliot. "We're the fastest of the Fords and that was a very impressive run as far as we're concerned. It's kind of a double-edged sword being that we didn't get the pole, but there again, we're out of the top 35 in points and we needed a good, solid run, so that's kind of where we need to be."
Kyle Busch was the fastest Toyota in 15th, two spots ahead of Red Bull's Scott Speed, who was quicker than his rookie rival Joey Logano. Meanwhile the Dodges ended up far down in the order, the fastest being Richard Petty's Reed Sorenson in 28th place.
The other two drivers securing a spot based on their qualifying speed were Yates Racing's Travis Kvapil, who was eighth fastest, and last year's Rookie of the Year Regan Smith, who was 14th quickest.
Another four drivers will get the chance to get in the field through the Gatorade Duels next Thursday, while the most recent past champion not already qualified will get the last available spot on the grid.
74-year-old James Hylton finally withdrew and didn't attempt qualifying after his car was plagued by mechanical issues during Saturday's practice.
