Kyle Busch clinched pole position for Saturday evening's Coke Zero 400 with a lap of 46.458s (193.723mph), his third pole of 2013. It's Busch's first pole in 18 races at the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway, and his 13th pole in 311 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races.

Before Busch's qualifying run, pole had been held by his Joe Gibbs Racing team mate Matt Kenseth, and his time - a tenth of a second off pole - remained good enough to see him start this weekend's race on the front row alongside Busch. Clint Bowyer qualified in third place for Michael Waltrip Racing, making it a Toyota 1-2-3 with Kasey Kahne the top Chevrolet qualifier in fourth place.

In practice on Thursday, 16 Sprint Cup cars including those of Busch, Kenseth and Bowyer were found to be using unapproved roof flap spacers. The parts were confiscated and the drivers and teams may face fines or points deductions when the post-race penalties are anounced next week.

The other drivers affected were Jamie McMurray, Brad Keselowski, Marco Ambrose, Denny Hamlin, Casey Mears, Greg Biffle, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Trevor Bayne, Joey Logano, Aric Almirola, Michael Waltrip, Martin Truex Jr. and Carl Edwards. 15 cars in the Nationwide Series were also found to have breached the same rules.