NASCAR Daytona 2017: Starting grid, lineup for Coke Zero 400

Dale Earnhardt Jr. could have a final start to remember at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday night, and will start the Coke Zero 400 on the pole.

Earnhardt is a two-time winner of the Coke Zero 400 — including in 2015 — and also won the Daytona 500 twice as well, part of his 17 career wins in Daytona. He announced in April that 2017 would be his last season racing full-time.

He won the pole position on Friday with a qualifying speed of 190.973 mph, narrowly beating out Chase Elliott, his Hendricks Sports teammate.

Earnhardt is still in search of his first win of the 2017 NASCAR season, and ranks 22nd in the Monster Energy Cup points standings heading into Saturday. He finished sixth last week at Sonoma, just his fourth top-10 finish of the year.

“You have Dale Jr. with his final race at Daytona,” NBC race analyst Steve Letarte said this week. “And I think that only adds to the pressure of a season that’s been probably a little down by 88 standards.”

“He hasn’t really shown winning speed, so he comes to a track where he has so much history, his fan base, his dad has so much history that they’re going to be able to go here and see if they can punch their ticket to the playoffs.”

Brad Keselowski, who won the Coke Zero 400 in 2016, starts in third position on Saturday.

NBC will televise the race from Daytona beginning at 7 p.m. ET on Saturday, with Rick Allen calling the race alongside analysts Steve Letarte and Jeff Burton. Online streaming will be made available through NBC Sports.