The first Duel at Daytona ended in dramatic fashion. Joey Logano captured the checkered flag in a 1-2 finish for Team Penske, but all eyes were on the battle to make the Daytona 500.
Looking at the open cars, Casey Mears had spun in an earlier incident, and Chander Smith suffered damage in another wreck. That cleared the way for Corey LaJoie to make the race, but he got turned on the final lap in a multi-car melee.
In a scene straight out of Days of Thunder, Mears did not lift, driving straight through the wreck and suffering nose damage, but never slowing down. He crossed the line in seventh place, and that was enough for the 47-year-old to lock himself and the Garage 66 team into the 68th running of the Daytona 500.
While the results are unofficial as NASCAR reviews film, the finishing order was: Logano, Ryan Blaney, Austin Dillon, Johnp-Hunter Nemechek, Brad Keselowski, Shane van Gisbergen, Mears, Daniel Suarez, Ryan Preece, and Alex Bowman.
Race recap
There were several early lead changes, but RFK Racing got all four of their cars lined up, quickly marching forward. They powered by A. Dillon for the top spot and dominated the rest of the stint.
The pack remained fairly calm without many aggressive pushes, with the exception of Logano, who got his own teammate sideways as he and Blaney tried to cut a path forward.
With 15 laps to go, the leaders finally dove to pit road to kick off green-flag pit stops. However, it did not go as planned as Mears spun, collecting Gragson. They got stranded in the infield, forcing NASCAR to throw the caution.
Preece, who entered the pits with the lead, lost a few spots as he needed to say in his box longer (burned more fuel while out front), but the timing of the caution meant all the Fords could cycle right back to the front for the final sprint to the finish.
The restart came with eleven laps to go, and Smith made a mad charge forward to challenge LaJoie. He pushed Preece out of line and moved into the transfer spot.
The Team Penske duo of Blaney and Logano took command of the race, as Daytona 500 pole-sitter Busch dropped out of line, sensing that things were about to get messy.
Keselowski made a wild move to the inside of Smith, dooring each other as Smith was shuffled back into the pack.
Bubba Wallace was challenging the Penske cars for the race lead, but a bad bump sent him spinning across the track. Thankfully, the flaps did their job and kept his No. 23 on the ground. The wreck didn’t end with him, though, as Byron, Buescher and Smith all sustained damage.
That cleared the way for LaJoie, who just had to finish the race in one piece to ensure his place in the Daytona 500 field. However, that proved to be an impossible ask…
That wrecked pushed the race into overtime, setting up a two-lap shootout. On the final lap, another wreck broke out, and shockingly, LaJoie was in it. Mears kept his foot on the gas even as he collided with Suarez and the wall, keeping the car pointed straight and snagging a spot in the field for the Daytona 500.
This will be Mears’ 14th appearance in the 500, and his first since the 2019 season.
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: motorsport.com
