- Joey Logano’s No. 22 Team Penske Ford led 25 of the 60 clear laps on his way to victory in the opening race.
- In the second race, Aric Almirola clinched his second duel win, the fourth for his Stewart-Haas Racing team.
- Non-chartered motorists Chandler Smith and Austin Hill failed to make the 2023 Daytona 500 field.
Reigning NASCAR Cup Series Champion Joey Logano and Florida native Aric Almirola each won their Bluegreen Vacations Duel in Thursday night’s Daytona Qualifying Races at Daytona International Speedway – the event that established the starting order for Sunday’s Daytona 500 .
It was a Ford sweep at Daytona, but the two races went very differently.
Logano’s No. 22 Team Penske Ford led 25 of the 60 clear laps in the opening race, his Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney led the best 30 laps of the race and finished third – behind Logano and Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell, who crossed the Finish line just 0.018 seconds after Logano.
Late in the race, Almirola led just 17 laps but took the final lead with two laps to go in the No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford, holding off fellow Ford drivers Austin Cindric and Chase Elliott by an easy 0.122s in a race that more drama showed; two yellow periods, including one that ultimately knocked out the dominant car.
Aric Almirola crosses the finish line and wins the second duel Thursday night in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Jared C. Tilton, Getty Images
Kyle Busch led the most laps (28) in the second duel, but his No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet was hit from behind by Daniel Suarez’ No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet, demolishing the lead with 18 laps to go.
“A lot of pushing and shoving,” Busch said afterwards, hoping the team was able to fix the car and not have to go to a backup driver for the Daytona 500 on Sunday.
“Do whatever you can to stay tuned and do your best to keep it straight,” Busch said of the incident. “Finally overloaded the left rear and hooked on the right. Hate it for all my boys. Built a fast Chevy Camaro and it was fun to drive. Had a long way to go and don’t get it, but it is what it is.”
This six-car accident also damaged Austin Hill’s Chevrolet so badly that he had to tow it into the garage. That gave IndyCar Series regular Conor Daly the final Daytona 500 transfer position, whose No. 50 TMT Racing Chevrolet finished 17th in the 21-car field, one lap down. The car had a mechanical problem on Wednesday night and couldn’t even complete a pole qualifying lap.
“Well, we’ve been inherently unlucky in the last 36 hours, but we’ve been lucky,” said Daly. “I wish I could have said I went in at pure pace but it was just crazy.
“As we were walking out, the car lurched around. I had no idea what was going on. I thought the drive train was bad, and [crew chief] tony [Eury Jr.] made it better every time. We got lucky with the yellows to try and get some experience but it’s pretty crazy.
“This race, I’ve watched it for so many years and so many crazy things can happen and luckily we were on the right side of the crazy. It’s pretty amazing.”
“I’m sure none of you expected to see me here, but we changed everything at this race except the color of the car,” Daly told reporters with a smile, noting he’d already had 170 text messages , while conducting post-race interviews.
The first duel was relatively calm – without yellow phases. Fords dominated the race. RFK Racing driver Chris Buescher and 2021 Daytona 500 winner Michael McDowell completed the top five in their Ford Mustangs. Kevin Harvick, who is retiring at the end of the 2023 season, finished sixth in the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford after driving Logano’s bumper for more than 20 laps at the end of the race.
“Executing this race is everything,” said Logano and thanked his team Penske. “You know there will most likely not be a warning so you have to do a good job on the pit lane to move up front yourself. But then I sit there as the leader and I think I’m a sitting duck, that’s not the place where you wanna be I was hoping that back there they would start what they were doing and it finally worked out for me.
Veteran IndyCar racer Conor Daly qualified for his first Daytona 500.
Chris Gray then Getty Images
“When the 20 got to me, I saw Blaney behind me and I was like, ‘That’s my mate, I have to stay with him.’ I knew the 20 would make the run out and I probably wouldn’t be able to defend that and was just waiting for the 12 to push me through there. So good effort from Penske to win the duel.
Toyota’s Bubba Wallace was sixth in the #23 23XI Racing Toyota, followed by Zane Smith in the #36 Front Row Motorsports car. Smith’s performance was good enough to secure first of the two open Daytona 500 entries.
“These duels are a bit nerve-wracking, but I just followed my team-mate and he was a huge, big help,” Smith said of McDowell’s great success on superspeedways.”
Chandler Smith, driving a third Kaulig Racing Toyota, finished 18th in the opening duel and, along with Hill, does not make the 2023 Daytona 500 field.
For Almirola it is his second duel victory, the fourth for his team Stewart-Haas Racing. The Tampa, Florida native, who originally announced he would be retiring at the end of the 2022 season only to rejoin the team, earned his first NASCAR Cup Series victory at the 2014 summer race at the Daytona International speedway
“I had my hands full,” Almirola said, adding, “But man, this is so cool. Daytona is such a special place for me. I grew up in these grandstands and dreamed of racing here. I want that on Sunday (Daytona 500) but…. I know Sunday is the big one, we will continue to focus on that. The job is not finished yet.”
The 40-car field is now set for Sunday’s Daytona 500, including the “open cars” of seven-time NASCAR Cup Series Champion Jimmie Johnson and action star Travis Pastrana, both of whom advanced on their qualifying speed . It will be the NASCAR Cup Series debut for Pastrana, who was also involved in the six-car accident in race two.
“I learned a lot about where the car works,” Pastrana said of his #67 23XI Racing Toyota. “I think we’ll still be able to drive the same car, I just didn’t get it to slow down in time to avoid the chaos right in front of me.”
Results
NASCAR Cup Series
Bluegreen Vacations Duel 1 in Daytona
1. (3) Joey Logano, Ford, 60.
2. (11) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 60.
3. (4) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 60.
4. (7) Chris Buescher, Ford, 60.
5. (13) Michael McDowell, Ford, 60.
6. (9) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 60.
7. (6) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 60.
8. (15) Zane Smith(i), Ford, 60.
9. (5) Harrison Burton, Ford, 60.
10. (2) William Byron, Chevrolet, 60.
11. (8) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 60.
12. (14) Erik Jones, Chevrolet, 60.
13. (17) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 60.
14. (12) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 60.
15. (16) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 60.
16. (18) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 59.
17. (1) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 59.
18. (21) Chandler Smith(i), Chevrolet, 59.
19. (10) Ty Gibbs #, Toyota, 59.
20. (19) CodyWare, Ford, 59.
21. (20) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 59.
Average speed of the race winner: 187.63 km/h.
Time of the race: 0 hr 47 min 58 sec Margin of victory: 0.018 seconds.
warning flags: 0 for rounds.
Lead Changes: 4 out of 3 drivers.
Lap leader: A. Bowman O; R. Blaney 1-5;R. Chastain 6;R. Blaney 7-31;J. Logans 32-60.
Summary of the leaders (drivers, lead times, led laps): Ryan Blaney 2 times for 30 rounds; Joey Logano 1 time for 29 rounds; Ross Chastain 1 time for 1 round.
Bluegreen Vacations Duel 2 at DAYTONA
1. (2) Aric Almirola, Ford, 60.
2. (4) Austin Cindric, Ford, 60.
3. (7) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 60.
4. (9) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 60.
5. (20) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 60.
6. (1) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 60.
7. (17) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 60.
8. (11) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 60.
9. (13) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 60.
10. (8) Ryan Preece, Ford, 60.
11. (14) Noah Gragson #, Chevrolet, 60.
12. (6) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 60.
13. (10) Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 60.
14. (15) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 60.
15. (3) Chase Briscoe, Ford, 60.
16. (18) BJ McLeod, Chevrolet, 60.
17. (21) Conor Daly(i), Chevrolet, 59.
18. (16) Austin Hill(i), Chevrolet, accident, 41.
19. (5) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, accident, 40.
20. (19) Riley Herbst(i), Ford, accident, 40.
21. (12) Travis Pastrana, Toyota, accident, 40.
Average speed of the race winner: 151.813 km/h.
Time of the race: 0 hr 59 min 17 sec Margin of victory: 0.122 seconds.
warning flags: 2 for 9 rounds.
Lead Changes: 15 out of 6 drivers.
Lap leader: K. Larson1; A. Almirola 2-4;K. Larson 5;A. Almirola 6-10;K. Larson 11;K. Bush 12-13;K. Larson 14;K. Bush 15-40;D. Suarez 41-42;K. Larson 43-45; A. Almirola 46;K. Larson 47-48; A. Almirola 49-54; A. Cindric 55-57;T. Gilliland 58;A. Almirola 59-60.
Summary of the leaders (drivers, lead times, led laps): Kyle Busch 2 times for 28 rounds; Aric Almirola 5 times for 17 rounds; Kyle Larson 6 times for 9 rounds; Austin Cindric 1 time for 3 rounds; Daniel Suarez 1 time for 2 rounds; Todd Gilliland 1 time for 1 round.
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