NASCAR Duels at Daytona
- Jadden Smith
- Feb 13
- 6 min read
NASCAR Duels at Daytona | Broken Down
60 Lap races to determine the starting lineup of each lane in the Daytona 500. Duel #1 lines the inside line while Duel #2 lines the outside. The top 2 from qualifying are automatically set on pole and outside pole no matter their finishing position in each duel. Two drivers that do not have charters will also race their way into the Daytona 500.
Make since?
Duel #1
Chase Elliott, Ryan Preece, Ross Chastain all had issues before the race even started. Elliott and Preece were able to resume their starting positions, while Chastain started at about a .25 lap deficit.
Off to a choppy start when Zane Smith blew a tire and slammed the wall early.
“The Big One” involved some cars that were battling for a position in the Daytona 500 including Chandler Smith.
Chandler Smith hit the outside wall, head on, causing him to wreck out of the race and not lock himself into the Daytona 500. Smith was released from the infield care center after being inside for a longer amount of time than that of a typical impact. He was ok.
Justin Allgaier from JR Motorsports first Daytona 500 entry and JJ Yeley in the #44 were now battling for the last position to race their way into the Daytona 500.
Helio Castroneves was also involved in the large crash. He though, being a non-chartered car, has the ability to use NASCAR’s new rule to qualify him in the Daytona 500 based off of his “World Class” racing experience is what we are going to call it. So Helio will race in the Daytona 500.
A few debris cautions helped the race continue without drivers needing to make strategy calls.
In order to keep his car clean so he could start the Daytona 500 from the pole, Chase Briscoe took his car behind the pit road wall and into the garage.
Ty Gibbs kept racing with a very badly damaged Toyota Camry.
During the last few laps, Justin Allgaier made a third line with Michael McDowell on the high side and once AJ Allmendinger moved up to help the line, the third line was able to really make a move.
Justin Allgaier advances into the Daytona 500 with JR Motorsports in their first cup start as a team.
Bubba Wallace wins the race after a move from Ty Dillon to block his teammate, AJ Allmendinger, put Dillon in the wall. It was Wallace’s first Daytona Duel race.
Surprises
Ty Dillon ran well all throughout the race in his return to full time Cup Series racing.
Justin Allgaier races his way in after being shuffled out of the pack.
Ty Gibbs being able to race with the way his car was torn up after he was involved in the crash involving Chandler Smith.
There was not a break from pushing, shoving and side by side action in this duel. It was wild from start to finish.
Finishing Order | (Duel finish. Name - Starting position in Daytona 500)
Bubba Wallace 3
William Byron 5
Ty Dillon 7
Ross Chastain 9
Tyler Reddick 11
AJ Allmendinger 13
Austin Dillon 15
Chase Elliott 17
Justin Allgaier 19
Kyle Busch 21
Ty Gibbs 23
Michael McDowell 25
Ryan Preece 27
Josh Berry 29
Martin Truex Jr 31
Ricky Stenhouse Jr 33
JJ Yeley DNQ
Carson Hocevar 35
Chase Briscoe 1
Chandler Smith DNQ
Justin Haley 37
Helio Castroneves 39 (Provisional)
Zane Smith 41
Duel #2
To start Duel #2. Christopher Bell's team made an unapproved adjustment and had to start at the rear of the field.
A tame beginning to the first duel sees not much movement between lanes. Austin Cindric and Joey Logano line up on the outside with Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson leading the inside lane.
The pace of this 2nd duel started slower than single car qualifying in order for strategy to play out and for max fuel savings. Erik Jones and Jimmie Johnson, two Legacy Motor Club teammates, decided they did not want to run that slow and created a 3rd lane on the outside and moved to the front of the field fairly easily.
The pace picked up as Erik Jones took the lead of Duel #2.
Christopher Bell, with the help of the third line moved from the back of the field to the front after having to start at the rear.
Jimmie Johnson thought he was losing fuel or out of fuel and pit by himself. Just a few laps later, he went a lap down right before the rest of the pack's fuel window opened.
Toyota’s and Chevrolet’s pit together on lap 45 to try and get an advantage on the Ford’s
Most of the Ford’s came to pit road together. Some failed to make it into the pits with the rest of the manufacturers.
During their pit stops, Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin and John Hunter Nemechek got busted for speeding leaving pit road.
Ford’s found each other and after the pit stops first.
Crash as all the merging packs after pit stops. Buescher blocks Cindric, shuffles up the field and Bowman, Keselowski, and Suarez all get lots of damage. Luckily all drivers were locked into the 500. The drivers got stacked up and spun each other out when bumpers hit. Suarez spun back up the track collecting no one else. This was the first caution in Duel #2 on lap 47.
The last lap of Duel #2
Austin Cindric and Joey Logano are on the inside, the outside is full of Chris Buescher and Corey Lajoie.
Erik Jones, the 3rd car on the inside got clear of the outside lane and jumped to it in front of the Chris Buescher #17 machine.
Jones, pushed by Buescher all the way down the back and through turns 3 and 4.
Denny Hamlin made a three wide move to the inside of Joey Logano and separated the Ford’s of Logano and Cindric and the outside lane of Buescher and Jones.
Crash involving Shane Van Gisbergan, Anthony Alfredo, Kyle Larson, Cody Ware etc.
The race ended under caution. Though Erik Jones crossed the line first, Austin Cindric was leading at the time of caution. Jones sat at the start finish line for several minutes awaiting NASCAR’s call for the finishing order.
Corey Lajoie advances into the Daytona 500 with his #01 Ford Mustang with Rick Ware Racing.
Surprises
For the first 15-16 laps of Duel #2, it was very calm even at times, every running only half throttle around the track. Making speeds slower than single car qualifying yesterday.
Austin Cindric did not back out of the pack, even though he is locked into the Daytona 500 and starting 2nd no matter where he finishes (given he does not crash out). Chase Briscoe did this in the first race, though Austin Cindric stayed within the pack and raced.
Jimmie Johnson showing strength in his #84 Carvana/SHAQ Toyota Camry running 2nd for a lot period of time.
Anthony Alfredo raced his way to a high position of 4th before the first pit stop. Alfredo was trying to race his way into the Daytona 500 as he racing an un-chartered entry.
A photo finish with Austin Cindric, and Erik Jones calls Erik Jones the winner at first and then Austin Cindric is declared the winner.
Finishing Order | (Duel finish. Name - Starting position in Daytona 500)
Austin Cindric 2
Erik Jones 4
Chris Buescher 6
Denny Hamlin 8
Joey Logano 10
Corey Lajoie 12
Todd Gilliland 14
Ryan Blaney 16
John Hunter Nemechek 18
Christopher Bell 20
Kyle Larson 22
Riley Herbst 24
Anthony Alfredo DNQ
Shane Van Gisbergan 26
Cody Ware 28
Cole Custer 30
BJ McLeod DNQ
Noah Gragson 32
Jimmie Johnson 34
Brad Keselowski 36
Daniel Suarez 38
Alex Bowman 40
Full Starting Lineup for the 2025 Daytona 500
Chase Briscoe
Austin Cindric
Bubba Wallace
Erik Jones
William Byron
Chris Buescher
Ty Dillon
Denny Hamlin
Ross Chastain
Joey Logano
Tyler Reddick
Corey Lajoie
AJ Allmendinger
Todd Gilliland
Austin Dillon
Ryan Blaney
Chase Elliott
John Hunter Nemechek
Justin Allgaier
Christopher Bell
Kyle Busch
Kyle Larson
Ty Gibbs
Riley Herbst
Michael McDowell
Shane Van Gisbergan
Ryan Preece
Cody Ware
Josh Berry
Cole Custer
Martin Truex Jr
Noah Gragson
Ricky Stenhouse Jr
Jimmie Johnson
Carson Hocevar
Brad Keselowski
Justin Haley
Daniel Suarez
Helio Castroneves
Alex Bowman
Zane Smith
Join the Daytona 500 on Sunday, February 18th at 2:30pm.
Comments