| Type: | NASXFIN |
| Location: | Daytona Beach, Florida, Daytona International Speedway |
| Race No: | 1 |
| Season No: | 33 |
| Year: | 2016 |
| Race Name: | PowerShares QQQ 300 |
| Official Name: | 35th annual PowerShares QQQ 300 |
| Date: | February 20 |
| Course Mi: | 2.50 |
| Course Km: | 4.02 |
| Scheduled Mi: | 300.00 |
| Distance Mi: | 300.00 |
| Scheduled Km: | 482.803 |
| Distance Km: | 482.803 |
| Scheduled Laps: | 120 |
| Distance Laps: | 120 |
| Pole Time: | 151.176 |
| Pole Driver: | Ty Dillon |
| Pole Team: | Richard Childress Racing |
| Avg: | 151.176mph |
| Most Laps: | 40 |
| Most Driver: | Joey Logano |
| Most Team: | Team Penske |
| Car: | 88 |
| First Driver: | Chase Elliott |
| First Team: | JR Motorsports |
| Network: | FS1 |
| Radio: | Performance Racing Network |
| Announcers: | Adam Alexander, Kevin Harvick, Michael Waltrip |
The 2016 PowerShares QQQ 300 was the 1st stock car race of the 2016 NASCAR Xfinity Series season and the 35th iteration of the event. The race was held on Saturday, February 20, 2016, in Daytona Beach, Florida, at Daytona International Speedway a 2.5 miles (4.02 km) permanent triangular-shaped superspeedway. The race took the scheduled 120 laps to complete. At race's end, Chase Elliott, driving for JR Motorsports, held off a hard-charging Joey Logano to earn his 5th career NASCAR Xfinity Series win and his first of the season.[1] To fill out the podium, Logano of Team Penske and Kasey Kahne of JR Motorsports would finish second and third, respectively.
Daytona International Speedway is one of three superspeedways to hold NASCAR races, the other two being Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway.[2] The standard track at Daytona International Speedway is a four-turn superspeedway that is 2.5 miles (4.0 km) long. The track's turns are banked at 31 degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked at 18 degrees.[3]
The first practice session was held on Friday, February 19 at 11:00 AM EST. Ty Dillon of Richard Childress Racing would set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 46.747 and an average speed of 192.526mph.[4]
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Make | Time | Speed | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 46.747 | 192.526 | ||
| 2 | 11 | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet | 46.884 | 191.963 | ||
| 3 | 2 | Austin Dillon (i) | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 86.897 | 191.910 | |
| Full first practice results | |||||||
The second practice session was held on Friday, February 19 at 1:00 PM EST. David Starr of TriStar Motorsports would set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 49.042 and an average speed of 183.516mph.[5]
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Make | Time | Speed | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 44 | TriStar Motorsports | Toyota | 49.042 | 183.516 | ||
| 2 | 33 | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 49.151 | 183.109 | ||
| 3 | 87 | Joe Nemechek (i) | NEMCO Motorsports | Toyota | 49.171 | 183.035 | |
| Full first practice results | |||||||
The final practice session, sometimes referred to as Happy Hour, was held on Friday, July 14, at 3:00 PM EST. Ty Dillon of Richard Childress Racing would set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 49.420 and an average speed of 182.113mph. [6]
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Make | Time | Speed | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 49.420 | 182.113 | ||
| 2 | 07 | Ray Black Jr. (R) | SS-Green Light Racing | Chevrolet | 49.667 | 181.207 | |
| 3 | 43 | Jeb Burton | Richard Petty Motorsports | Ford | 49.689 | 181.127 | |
| Full Happy Hour practice results | |||||||
Qualifying was held on Saturday, February 20, at 11:00 AM EST. Since Daytona International Speedway is at least 2miles, the qualifying system was a single car, single lap, two round system where in the first round, everyone would set a time to determine positions 13-40. Then, the fastest 12 qualifiers would move on to the second round to determine positions 1-12.[7]
Ty Dillon of Richard Childress Racing would win the pole after advancing from the preliminary round and setting the fastest lap in Round 2, with a time of 49.493 and an average speed of 181.844mph.[8]
Mark Thompson, Mario Gosselin, Harrison Rhodes, Derrike Cope, Chris Fontaine, Derek White, Mike Harmon, and Stanton Barrett failed to qualify.
Laps: 120
| Pos | Driver | Points | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Elliott Sadler | 38 | |||||||
| 2 | Bubba Wallace | 35 (-3) | |||||||
| 3 | Brandon Jones | 34 (–4) | |||||||
| 4 | Daniel Suarez | 33 (–5) | |||||||
| 5 | Blake Koch | 32 (–6) | |||||||
| 5 | Brendan Gaughan | 32 (-6) | |||||||
| 7 | Justin Allgaier | 29 (-9) | |||||||
| 7 | Ty Dillon | 29 (-9) | |||||||
| 9 | Dakoda Armstrong | 27 (-11) | |||||||
| 10 | Jeremy Clements | 26 (-12) | |||||||
| 11 | Ryan Reed | 25 (-13) | |||||||
| 12 | David Starr | 23 (-15) | |||||||
| Official driver's standings | |||||||||