1. Kyle Busch: Busch won the Pala Casino 400 in Fontana in only his second start for Richard Childress Racing.
“I knew I could win with RCR,” Busch said. “I’m a confident driver and I know I have the talent to win on any track. My skill set is unlimited. There may be more weapons in my skill set than in my luggage.”
2. Ross Chastain: Chastain won Stage 1 at Fontana and led 91 laps, but failed to capitalize with a win, settling for third.
“It looks like Kyle Busch is still ‘Rowdy,’” Chastain said. “But is Kyle a true ‘outlaw?’ He’s not. I am. Because NASCAR outlawed my ‘around-the-outside’wall’ move at Martinsville. But NASCAR didn’t say anything about outlawing an ‘around-the-inside-wall’ move. I’ve got a feeling the physics will work a little differently on that one.”
3. Joey Logano: Logano followed up his runner-up finish at Daytona with a 10th at California.
“Sure I’m disappointed that I haven’t won this season,” Logano said. “But it’s nice to know I have two Cup championships under my belt. And let me tell you, that’s a really uncomfortable place to keep them. I can only imagine the discomfort that Richard Petty and Jimmie Johnson must endure.”
4. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin led 11 laps and finished sixth at California.
“That was the last race in California under its current two-mile configuration,” Hamlin said. “Once the reconfiguration is complete, it will be a ½-mile track. So, just like that, one and a half miles of Fontana will be gone. Most drivers and fans wish that all two miles of the track would disappear.”
5. Alex Bowman: Bowman finished eighth in the Pala Casino 400.
“Kyle Busch just had too much car for the rest of us at the end,” Bowman said. “Kudos to Richard Childress Racing, for giving Kyle a car with the firepower under the hood and not in the trunk.”
6. Daniel Suarez: Suarez joined Trackhouse Racing teammate Ross Chastain in the top 10 with a fourth at California.
“It’s always cool to have Tony Stewart in the Fox Sports booth calling the race,” Suarez said. “You can tell by Tony’s voice that he really misses racing and would love to be out there. I think what I’m trying to say is that Tony sounded ‘hungry.’”
“When you win the first race of the season,” Stenhouse said, “it’s hard to improve upon that. After the initial euphoria, I would expect things to steadily go downhill, much like my relationship with Danica Patrick.”
8. Kevin Harvick: Harvick finished fifth in the Pala Casino 400.
“That was my 750th consecutive Cup start,” Harvick said. “That’s a long time. And Busch beer has been with me for most of it. Hunt Brothers Pizza has been with me for a long time too because that stuff is just so damn hard to digest.”
9. Chris Buescher: Buescher finished 12th at California after starting the season with a strong fourth in the Daytona 500.
“I like how we’re running so far,” Buescher said. “I know it’s early, but it’s never too late for another Kyle Busch gun incident joke. So here goes. ‘What did Kyle Busch say when his vacation ended in Mexico in January?’ ‘It’s time to bail.’”
10. Chase Elliott: Elliott rebounded from a poor showing at Daytona with a solid runner-up finish in the Pala Casino 400.
“It’s all about overcoming adversity,” Elliott said. “I’m not talking about my bad result at Daytona, I’m talking about having Kyle Larson as a teammate.”
The Xfinity Series Production Alliance Group 300 has been postponed to Sunday at 8 p.m. ET on FS2 following the Cup Series Pala Casino 400 on FOX at 3:30 p.m. ET for a doubleheader Sunday.
After continual rain and random snow flurries amid efforts to dry the track, NASCAR canceled all of Saturday’s scheduled on-track activity at Auto Club Speedway, including practice, qualifying and the Xfinity Series race.
Every effort was made to start the Xfinity Series race, originally scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. ET Saturday evening. At approximately 6 p.m. ET, the drivers were sent on track and made a few pace laps but the rain persisted and the cars were sent back to pit road, prompting the decision to postpone.
The lineups for both series were set by the performance matrix based on last week’s results at Daytona International Speedway, as specified in the NASCAR rule book.
It is comprised of the driver’s fastest lap time position (15%), the driver’s final race position (25%), the owner’s final race position (25%) and the owner’s points position (35%).
Christopher Bell will be on the pole for the Cup Series race with Austin Hill leading the field to green for the Xfinity Series event.
The NASCAR Cup Series and Xfinity Series travel to Auto Club Speedway this weekend. It will be the final race on the current 2-mile configuration. The Craftsman Truck Series is off and will return to competition on March 3 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Kyle Busch leads all active Cup Series drivers with four wins at the speedway in 2005, 2013, 2014 and 2019. Also of note, the race will mark Kevin Harvick’s 750th consecutive Cup Series start. He joins Jeff Gordon (797) and Ricky Rudd (788) with the third-most consecutive starts in the series.
There are two former Xfinity Series Auto Club Speedway winners entered in this weekend’s race. Current full-time Xfinity driver Cole Custer has two previous victories (2019, 2022) and current Cup driver, Austin Dillon (2016), will be competing in the No. 10 Chevrolet for Kaulig Racing.
All times are Eastern.
Saturday, Feb. 25
12:05 p.m.: Xfinity Series Practice – FS1 – Canceled 12:35 p.m.: Xfinity Series Qualifying – FS1 – Canceled
2:05 p.m.: Cup Series Practice – FS1/MRN/SiriusXM – Canceled 2:35 p.m.: Cup Series Qualifying – FS1/MRN/SiriusXM – Canceled
4:30 p.m.: Xfinity Series Driver Intros 5 p.m.: Xfinity Series Production Alliance Group 300 – Postponed to Sunday at 8 p.m. (approx.) Distance: 300 miles (150 Laps) Stage 1 ends on Lap 35, Stage 2 ends on Lap 70, Final Stage ends on Lap 150 FS2/MRN/SiriusXM The Purse: $1,659,396
Sunday, Feb. 26
3 p.m.: Driver Intros 3:30 p.m.: Cup Series Pala Casino 400 Distance: 400 miles (200 laps) Stage 1 ends on Lap 65, Stage 2 ends on Lap 130, Final Stage ends on Lap 200 FOX/MRN/SiriusXM The Purse: $8,484,302
1. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.: Stenhouse overtook Joey Logano for the lead on an overtime restart, but a huge pileup behind necessitated another restart. Stenhouse again nailed the restart and won when Kyle Larson’s spin brought out the caution.
“This is a great day for JTG Daugherty Racing,” Stenhouse said. “Not only does it mean I’ve won the Daytona 500 and I’ve qualified for the playoffs, it also means everyone will again be treated to Brad Daugherty’s mountain hillbilly accent. Brad’s never met a syllable he didn’t like.”
2. Joey Logano: Defending Cup series champion Logano finished second in the Daytona 500.
“I feel like NASCAR’s overtime rules robbed me of a chance to go for the win,” Logano said. “It’s like NASCAR’s rule book ‘handcuffed’ me, much like Mexico’s rule book did the same to Kyle Busch.”
3. Christopher Bell: Bell came home third at Daytona, finishing the race as Joe Gibbs Racing’s top finisher.
“Let’s give it up for Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.,” Bell said. “He’s a real stand-up guy, and he’s been racing in the Cup series for 15 years, so he’s paid his dues. One thing he hasn’t paid is bail, to get out of a Mexican prison.”
4. Chris Buescher: Buescher survived a wild Daytona 500 and navigated a big final lap wreck to come home fourth.
“Driving for Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing has taught me a lot about how to be a successful driver,” Buescher said. “And Brad was especially kind enough to give me pointers on how to win at Daytona. Pointers I kindly ignored, because he’s 0-14 here.”
5. Alex Bowman: Bowman started on the pole at Daytona and won Stage 1 on his way to a fifth-place finish.
“This was the longest Daytona 500 in history,” Bowman said. “It went 211 laps, which is equivalent to 528 miles. That’s 28 extra miles than the advertised distance. And I think NASCAR needs to go the extra mile to fix or modify their jacked-up overtime rules.”
6. AJ Allmendinger: Allmendinger posted his best Daytona 500 finish ever with a sixth.
“I’m known as more of a road course expert,” Allmendinger said. “This result gives me confidence that I can post top 10 results on super speedways on a consistent basis, provided there’s a massive pileup which allows me to pass 15+ cars on the last lap.”
7. Kyle Busch: Busch took the lead on Lap 197 and was in position to make a move for the win late, but was caught in a wreck after the last restart and finished 19th.
“Sure I’m disappointed,” Busch said, “but I can’t dwell on missed opportunities. For me, it’s on to the next race in California. That’s the life of a NASCAR driver—always traveling from one destination to the next. You know what they say about Kyle Busch—‘always packing.’”
8. Ross Chastain: Chastain finished ninth at Daytona.
“Erik Jones was driving the No. 43 car sponsored by legendary rock band Guns ‘N Roses,” Chastain said. “If you placed roses inside Kyle Busch’s suitcase, you would also get ‘Guns N’ Roses.’”
9. Daniel Suarez: Suarez recovered from a late spin and finished seventh in the Daytona 500.
“First of all,” Suarez said, “as a Mexican citizen, I’d like to speak on the Kyle Busch gun incident. Kyle’s always been known as a ‘loose cannon.” His recent ordeal in Mexico pretty much confirms that.
“I just wonder what would happen to me if I was caught with a handgun and ammo here in America. I mean, besides being declared a national hero.”
10. Kevin Harvick: Harvick finished 11th in the Daytona 500.
“This is my final season as a full-time driver,” Harvick said. “I’ve been doing this so long, I remember when the Daytona 500 started at noon. I believe it’s just a matter of time before it has an 8 p.m. start time.”
In NASCAR’s longest-ever running of the Great American Race to commence the sport’s 75th anniversary of competition, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. muscled his way to win the 65th annual running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday, February 19, amid two overtime attempts and a series of late carnages.
The 35-year-old Stenhouse from Olive Branch, Mississippi, rallied from a late pit road speeding penalty to take the lead from reigning series champion Joey Logano during the first of two overtime attempts. He then had to endure a second overtime attempt, where he nearly lost the lead on the final lap before a draft from Christopher Bell enabled Stenhouse to fend off Logano and remain ahead of him prior to a vicious multi-car wreck on the final lap that concluded the event under caution and sent the driver of the No. 47 JTG-Daugherty Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 team to Victory Lane. In total, Stenhouse led the final 10 of 212 over-scheduled laps.
The starting lineup was determined through two single-car qualifying sessions that occurred on Wednesday, February 15, followed by a pair of Bluegreen Vacations Duels that occurred on Thursday, February 16. For the third time in his career, Alex Bowman started on pole position after posting a pole-winning lap at 181.686 mph in 49.536 seconds. Joining him on the front row was teammate Kyle Larson, who posted the second-fastest qualifying lap at 181.057 mph in 49.708 seconds. Joey Logano and Aric Almirola occupied the second row after both won their respective Duels. The only competitor to drop at the rear of the field was Kyle Busch in a backup car after he wrecked his primary car during the second Duel event.
When the green flag waved and the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season commenced, teammates Bowman and Larson dueled for the lead in front of two tight-packed lanes entering the first two turns. While Larson tried to pull ahead on the inside lane with drafting help from Logano, Bowman muscled away with the lead as he had a stronger draft on the outside lane followed by Almirola entering the backstretch. Larson then tried to pull even to Bowman’s No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 on the inside lane exiting the backstretch as he had Logano drafting him. As the field returned to the frontstretch, Larson managed to pull ahead and lead the first lap by a hair over Bowman as the field remained dead tight through two packed lanes.
Through the first five scheduled laps and with the field remaining in tight formation through two tight-packed lanes, teammates Bowman and Larson remained dead even for the lead followed by Almirola, Logano and Christopher Bell while Austin Cindric, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, Brad Keselowski and Corey LaJoie were in the top 10. Behind, Chris Buescher occupied 11th while Todd Gilliland, Michael McDowell, Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin, Bubba Wallace, Ryan Preece, Zane Smith and Noah Gragson were running in the top 20.
At the Lap 10 mark, Bowman managed to break ahead with the lead followed by teammate Larson, while Almirola, Logano and Cindric were in the top five. By then, names like William Byron, Ross Chastain, Chase Briscoe and Austin Dillon were mired outside the top 20 while Conor Daly, Travis Pastrana, rookie Ty Gibbs and Jimmie Johnson were running towards the rear of the field.
Two laps later and just as Larson managed to break away from the pack with drafting help from Logano, Bell gained a strong run on both front-runners and made his move to the outside lane entering the frontstretch as he challenged Larson for the lead with drafting help from Bowman. He would prevail through the backstretch and clear the field with Bowman remaining right behind his No. 20 DeWalt/Rheem Toyota TRD Camry.
By Lap 25, Bell was scored as the leader despite remaining in a tight side-by-side battle against Larson amid two packed lanes. Bowman, Almiorla, Logano, Cindric, Blaney, Elliott, LaJoie and Keselowski were running in the top 10 while Johnson and Kyle Busch were scored in 26th and 33rd, respectively. A few laps later, Ty Dillon fell off the pace and took his car to the garage following a mechanical issue to his Spire Motorsports entry while the race remained under green flag conditions.
At the Lap 35 mark, Almirola ignited his challenge for the lead as he gained a draft from Cindric on the inside lane to lead a lap for himself ahead of Bell. By then, Conor Daly made a pit stop under green while names like Corey LaJoie, Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin emerged in the top 10. A lap later, however, Bowman navigated his way back into the lead as he had LaJoie pushing him while battling Bell.
Then during the following lap, the Ford competitors led by Almirola and Logano peeled off the track and on pit road for their first service of the event. A bevy of Chevrolet competitors led by rookie Noah Gragson and Bowman would pit during the following lap while the rest of the field that included a multitude of Toyota competitors and Chevrolet competitor Kyle Busch pitted during the following lap. During the final wave of pit stops, newcomer Riley Herbst locked up the front tires and spun his No. 15 SunnyD Ford Mustang behind Busch while trying to enter pit road, but the event remained under green flag conditions. Herbst, however, was assessed a pass-through penalty for a commitment line violation. Despite remaining on track to lead two laps for himself before pitting by himself under green, Pastrana was also penalized with a pass-through penalty for driving his No. 67 Black Rifle Coffee Toyota TRD Camry through too many pit boxes while exiting his pit stall.
By Lap 40 and with the first wave of pit stops being completed under green, Hamlin cycled his way into the lead followed by teammate Bell, Reddick, Briscoe and Almirola while Wallace, Cindric, Truex, Blaney and Kyle Busch were running in the top 10. Soon after, the field returned to competing within two tight-packed lanes as Briscoe drew himself in a side-by-side challenge against Hamlin for the lead.
On Lap 52, early trouble struck for Bubba Wallace, who moved up to the outside lane while battling with Briscoe for the lead before he got bumped by a fast-charging Truex on the backstretch as he slapped the outside wall. Despite keeping his No. 23 McDonald’s Toyota TRD Camry straight, he dropped to the rear of the field, pitted under green and returned on the track as he would eventually lose a lap to the leaders. Amid Wallace’s issue, Truex moved into the lead followed by his Toyota teammates Hamlin, Bell, Tyler Reddick and Gibbs.
By Lap 60, Truex retained the lead ahead of a long line of competitors that included teammates Hamlin and Gibbs while Almirola and Brad Keselowski were scored in the top five. By then, Jimmie Johnson was in eighth in between Ryan Preece and Kevin Harvick while Reddick and Bell were mired back in 12th and 25th, respectively.
When the first stage concluded on Lap 65, Keselowski, who commenced a late drafting charge to the front before overtaking Truex during the stage’s final lap with drafting help from a multitude of Ford competitors, claimed the first stage victory of the 2023 season. Ford competitors Preece, Buescher, Harvick and McDowell followed suit in the top five while Gibbs, Johnson, Almirola, Truex and Todd Gilliand were scored in the top 10, all of whom received the first wave of stage points. By then, names that included Hamlin, Byron, Cindric, Erik Jones, Kyle Busch, Justin Haley, Chase Elliott, Logano, Reddick and Blaney were running in the top 20 as 32 of 40 starters were scored on the lead lap. In addition, AJ Allmendinger received the free pass after managing to remain as the first competitor a lap down ahead of Wallace, Zane Smith and BJ McLeod.
Under the stage break, the entire field led by Keselowski pitted and Preece exited with the lead followed by Keselowski, Harvick, Almirola and McDowell. During the pit stops, Buescher had to back up to get into his pit stall while Hamlin and Logano nearly made contact against one another, with Logano running his car into the grass, while trying to exit pit road amid a tight scramble.
The second stage started on Lap 71 as Preece and Keselowski occupied the front row. At the start, Preece and Keselowski duked for the lead until Keselowski gained a draft from Almirola through the backstretch and moved in front of Preece’s No. 41 Haas Ford Mustang to lead a lap for himself. Almirola, however, was quick to challenge Keselowski on the outside lane as he had Cindric’s No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang drafting him while Keselowski remained in front of Preece and Harvick on the inside lane.
Through the first 80 scheduled laps, Keselowski and Almirola continued to duke for the lead followed by Preece, Cindric and Harvick while Byron, McDowell, Buescher, Truex and Gilliland were in the top 10. Behind, Kyle Busch, Logano, Erik Jones, Hamlin, Blaney, Johnson, Larson, Elliott, Haley and Reddick were running in the top 20 while Gibbs, Bowman, Stenhouse, Ross Chastain, Briscoe, Harrison Burton, Bell, Gragson, Allmendinger and Daniel Suarez were mired in the top 30. Meanwhile, Austin Dillon was scored as the final competitor on the lead lap in 33rd while Wallace was still mired a lap down in 34th in front of Zane Smith and Pastrana.
Ten laps later, Keselowski continued to lead on the inside lane followed by Preece and Harvick while McDowell and Almirola battled for fourth place in front of two tight-packed lanes.
At the halfway mark on Lap 100, Keselowski retained the lead ahead of the pack and a long line of competitors running on the inside lane. By then, Preece remained behind Keselowski in the runner-up spot followed by Harvick, McDowell and Erik Jones while Johnson, Larson, Reddick, Stenhouse and Truex were running in the top 10. By then, Kyle Busch was trying to launch a second drafting lane on the outside lane as he was just scored outside of the top 10 while 33 of 40 starters were scored on the lead lap.
Eight laps later, a multitude of competitors led by Kyle Busch and including a majority of Chevrolet competitors pitted under green for a second time while the rest of the field led by Keselowski remained on the track. Following the first wave of pit stops, Busch was assessed a pass-through penalty for speeding on pit road. Shortly after, a small wave of competitors led by Keselowski pitted for service under green. A wave of Toyota competitors including Ford competitor Harvick, followed suit during the next lap before Logano led the final wave of competitors down to pit road by the Lap 110 mark.
Once the green flag pit stops completed, Logano cycled into the lead followed by Buescher and Blaney. All three, however, were quickly caught by the field led by Reddick entering the frontstretch and chaos nearly ensued when Blaney and Buescher tried to stall the run from the pack. Once the field settled through two packed lanes, Logano retained the lead followed by teammate Blaney while Truex, Gibbs and Larson were in the top five. By then, Erik Jones, Buescher, Byron, Reddick and Harvick occupied the top 10.
Then on Lap 118, the caution flew when Harvick bumped and got Reddick’s No. 45 Monster Energy Toyota TRD Camry loose in Turn 4 as he clipped Blaney while barely missing Truex before both veered sideways and hit the outside wall. While the oncoming competitors behind scrambled to avoid the carnage, Erik Jones veered sideway below the apron along with Larson before he spun backwards and was hit by Elliott while Suarez also made contact against Elliott. While Blaney continued despite falling off of the lead lap category, top names that included Elliott, Jones and Reddick were eliminated from contention. During the caution period, some led by Buescher pitted while others led by Logano remained on the track.
With six laps remaining in the second stage, the race proceeded under green as Logano and Chastain occupied the front row. At the start, Logano rocketed away with the lead on the inside lane followed by Truex while Chastain was locked in a battle with AJ Allmendinger for third place. A lap later, Chastain drew his No. 1 AdventHealth Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 alongside Logano as he proceeded to lead a lap for himself before Logano returned the favor during the next lap. Chastain would then manage to reassume the lead and have both lanes to his control while Bowman and Logano dueled for second.
When the second stage concluded on Lap 130, Chastain edged Bowman by 0.015 seconds to claim the second stage victory. Logano settled in third while Stenhouse, Logano, Cindric, Truex, Byron, Allmendinger, Buescher and Bell were scored in the top 10 as the field fanned out to three lanes while streaking across the start/finish line.
Under the stage break, nearly the entire field led by Chastain, except for Wallace, pitted for service and Almirola exited with the lead after only opting for fuel followed by Buescher, Byron, Larson and Cindric. During the caution period, Chastain was penalized for speeding while entering pit road along with Gragson, who was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation. Bell was also penalized for running over his air hose.
With 63 laps remaining, the final stage started under green as Wallace and Almirola occupied the front row. At the start, Wallace jumped ahead with the lead as he had both lanes to his control through the first two turns. Through the backstretch, he moved from the bottom to the top lane to remain in front of Byron. This, however, allowed Almirola to gain the draft and move into the lead on the inside lane followed by Buescher as Larson also moved up to third.
Two laps later, the caution returned due to debris in the form of a right-front tire that came off in Turn 2 and off of Blaney’s damaged No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang. During the caution period, names that included Larson, Byron, Briscoe, Logano, Gragson, Truex, Cody Ware, Allmendinger, Stenhouse, Gilliland, Zane Smith, Bowman, Logano and Kyle Busch pitted, mainly for fuel. During the pit stops, Bowman endured a slow pit service to have his car repaired after making contact with Gragson while trying to enter his pit stall.
During the following restart with 57 laps remaining, Wallace and Almirola dueled for the lead for a second time before Almirola quickly pulled away on the inside lane as he was being drafted by Buescher and Harvick while Wallace had Cindric drafting him. During the following lap, Cindric along with a majority of competitors running on the outside lane overtook Wallace as Wallace lost the draft while being stuck in the middle of three packed lanes and fell back to 16th. Meanwhile, a side-by-side action for the lead was occurring between Almirola and Buescher.
With 50 laps remaining, Buescher was leading ahead of teammate/owner Keselowski followed by Almirola, Hamlin and Harvick while LaJoie, Cindric, Haley, Preece and Johnson were in the top 10. Shortly after, Hamlin drew his challenge for the lead beneath Buescher’s No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang, but the latter remained within contention.
Under the final 40 scheduled laps, the top-33 competitors on the track were separated by less than two seconds and within two packed lanes as Buescher continued to lead with drafting help from Keselowski while Almirola, Cindric and Preece settled in the top five ahead of Harrison Burton, McDowell, Hamlin, Suarez and Larson.
Down to the final 30 laps of the event, Buescher retained the lead followed by a long line of competitors running on the outside lane, which included seven Fords occupying the top-seven spots that included Keselowski, Almirola, Cindric, Preece, Burton and McDowell. A lap later, Wallace pitted for fresh tires and fuel under green.
Then with 25 laps remaining, a wave of competitors led by Buescher pitted under green, mainly for fuel, as Suarez took over the lead. The Toyota competitors led by Hamlin and Truex would pit during the following lap before a group of five led by McDowell pitted during the ensuing lap. More competitors led by Suarez would then pit with 21 laps remaining as Burton emerged with the lead. Shortly after, Burton pitted along with a handful of competitors including Logano. During the pit stops, Stenhouse was penalized for speeding while exiting pit road.
Then with 19 laps remaining, the caution flew when a stack-up on the outside lane entering Turns 1 and 2 resulted with McDowell hitting and sending Preece sideways as Preece spun below the track and hit the right side of Johnson’s car before he shot back up to the wall and ignited a multi-car wreck that collected Truex, Briscoe, Gibbs and Harvick. At the moment of caution, Burton, who had just pitted under green, cycled into the lead followed by Logano, Byron, Kyle Busch and Larson while Austin Dillon, Suarez, Allmendinger, Keselowski and Gragson were running in the top 10.
Down to the final 13 laps of the event, the race restarted under green as Burton and Logano occupied the front row. At the start, Burton and Logano battled dead even for the lead. As Burton tried to pull ahead through the backstretch, Logano gained the upper hand on the inside lane as he assumed the lead followed by Byron, Allmendinger and Larson. Then through the frontstretch, Logano’s car dipped below the double yellow lines. This caused a brief stack up as Byron was left in the middle of a three-wide battle and began losing spots after losing the draft. Then through the backstretch, Allmendinger forced his way below Logano as he took the lead followed by Larson as Logano was losing spots on the outside lane while nearly making contact with Burton.
As the field fanned out and jostled for positions toward the front with 10 laps remaining, Keselowski cycled his way back into the lead followed by Buescher, Allmendinger, Larson and Busch. Busch would soon move up to third followed by teammate Austin Dillon and Byron while Allmendinger was slowly losing ground after losing the lead pack.
Down to the final five laps of the event, Keselowski was leading teammate Buescher while Busch settled in third as he had teammate Dillon and Byron drafting him while Stenhouse, Logano, Cindric, Bell and Larson in top 10.
Then with four laps remaining, Busch dropped the hammer through the backstretch as he moved to the outside lane and was drafted into the lead followed by Dillon, Byron and Stenhouse while Keselowski and Buescher were stuck on the inside lane with no additional help as they dropped to fifth and sixth. Then as Busch led the field towards the frontstretch with the start/finish line within sight, the caution flew with two laps remaining and the event was sent into overtime when Suarez got turned and spun towards the frontstretch before getting his No. 99 Tootsies Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 stuck on the frontstretch grass.
At the start of the first overtime attempt, Busch, who started on the outside lane alongside Dillon, jumped ahead before crossing over in front of Dillon’s No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Club Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to get the draft from his Richard Childress Racing teammate while Logano tried to rally on the outside lane. Logano would gain the upper hand through the backstretch as he had Stenhouse, Larson and Bell pushing him while Busch had to save his No. 8 3CHI Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 from going off the track after getting bumped by Dillon. Then, Stenhouse moved to the inside of Logano as he took the lead followed by Larson. Not long after, however, the caution returned and the field was sent into a second overtime attempt when Dillon got bumped and turned by Byron exiting the backstretch as he bumped into Hamlin before sending himself and Byron for a spin. Both Dillon and Byron then veered back up the track and ignited another multi-car pileup in Turn 3 that involved Haley, Gilliland, Cindric, Burton, Gragson, Chastain, Zane Smith, Herbst and Johnson, whose strong run came to an end with a wrecked race car. In the midst of the carnage, Busch, who lost his teammate and drafting partner, fell back to sixth behind Logano and Allmendinger.
At the start of the second overtime attempt, where Stenhouse and Larson occupied the front row, Stenhouse retained the lead despite receiving pressure from Logano, Larson, Busch and a pack of cars through double lanes through the backstretch and entering the frontstretch.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Stenhouse remained as the leader before being overtaken by both Logano and Larson exiting the frontstretch. Entering Turns 1 and 2, however, Stenhouse received a push from Bell on the inside lane to mount his way back to the front and draw himself alongside Logano. Then through Turns 1 and 2, Pastrana got bumped by Almirola as he clipped Larson and sent Larson’s No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 head-on into the outside wall. The contact triggered a massive wreck on the final lap that included Busch, Blaney, Cindric, Wallace, Keselowski, Hamlin and Allmendinger. The wreck on the final lap was also enough for NASCAR to conclude the event under caution and Stenhouse, who was low on fuel in overtime, emerged as the winner as he was out in front when the caution was displayed ahead of Logano and Bell.
With the victory, Stenhouse became the 42nd different competitor to win the Daytona 500 as he notched his third NASCAR Cup Series career victory and snapped a 199-race winless drought, with his last victory occurring at Daytona in July 2017. He also recorded the second Cup career victory for JTG-Daugherty Racing, which celebrated a Daytona 500 pole with Stenhouse in 2020, as co-owners Jodi Geschickter and Brad Daugherty became the first female and African-American duo as co-owners of a car to win the 500. Stenhouse’s victory also occurred in his first race being reunited with veteran Mike Kelley, who led Stenhouse to back-to-back Xfinity Series championships in 2011 and 2012.
Photo by Patrick Sue-Chan for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“I think this whole off season [period], [crew chief] Mike [Kelley] just preached how much we all believed in each other,” Stenhouse, who celebrated by climbing the frontstretch catchfence, said on FOX. “[The team] left me a note on the car that said they believe in me and to go get the job done tonight. I made a few mistakes. We were able to battle back. This Kroger/Cottonelle team worked really, really hard this off-season. Great pit stops, Hendrick engines, glad a Chevy won. Man, this is unbelievable. This is the sight of my last win back in 2017. We worked really hard. We had a couple shots last year to get a win and fell short. It was a tough season, but man, we got it done. Daytona 500.”
“I knew I was gonna take the top [lane for the second overtime],” Stenhouse added. “I was hoping [Logano] was gonna follow and he did. He was able to push us out. I went to the bottom [lane]. [Busch] and [Logano] got a huge run. [Larson] split me in the middle, but another fellow dirt racer with Bell gave me a good shot down the little short chute into [Turn] 1. Man, we were out front when the caution came out. We were out of fuel, so the fuel light was going crazy, but man, I hope you all [fans] had fun. That was a heck of a race!”
While Stenhouse celebrated the victory, Logano, the reigning series champion, settled in a disappointing second place while Bell, Buescher and Bowman finished in the top five.
“Second’s the worst, man,” Logano said. “You’re so close. Leading the white flag lap there, I was up front. Kyle gave me a good push and you’re watching in the mirror and you’re three wide across there…You think you’re racing to the checkered flag and you put yourself in the best position to try to win at the start/finish line, and just caution came out. You wish you could race to the end. Obviously, you can’t when they wreck that much. Congratulations to Ricky. There’s nothing like winning the Daytona 500. That’s why it stings so much finishing second, but still proud of the team, still proud of the effort coming off the championship last year and bringing this Shell/Pennzoil Mustang back toward the front and getting a Ford close to the front. Wish it was in Victory Lane, though.”
“If you would’ve told me pre-race I was gonna run third, I would’ve jumped up and down and smiling ear to ear,” Bell said. “I am very happy and very, very thankful that I would get this Rheem and DeWalt Camry a good solid finish, but man, just so close to a crown jewel. I feel like if [the race] would’ve stayed green, I would’ve been on offense. Who knows, who knows, but very proud and thankful to be here at Joe Gibbs Racing. That’s really cool. Very, very happy for Ricky.”
Allmendinger, who was involved in the final lap multi-car melee, rallied to come home in sixth place while Suarez, Blaney, Chastain and Riley Herbst achieved top-10 results. Notably, Pastrana finished 11th in his Cup debut, Harvick finished 12th in his 22nd and final Daytona 500 career start in front of Zane Smith, Hamlin fell back to 17th while Larson, Kyle Busch, Wallace, Almirola, Keselowski and Cindric ended up 18th through 23rd, respectively, after wrecking on the final lap. In addition, Conor Daly and Johnson ended up 29th and 31st, respectively, in the final running order.
There were 53 lead changes for 21 different leaders. The race featured eight cautions for 38 laps. At 212 laps (530 miles), this season marked the longest-ever running of the Daytona 500 in distance.
Following the first event on the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series schedule, Joey Logano leads the regular-season standings by two points over Chris Buescher, four over Ricky Stenhouse Jr., eight over Christopher Bell, 11 over Alex Bowman and 14 over Ross Chastain.
With the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season underway, the competitors and teams will be embarking on a three-race West Coast swing, beginning at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, which will mark the sport’s final competition at the two-mile speedway venue. The event is scheduled to occur on next Sunday, February 26, at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX.
The 2023 NASCAR season is set to mark a new beginning for Kaz Grala, who will be competing as a full-time Xfinity Series competitor for the first time in his career with Sam Hunt Racing. This season will also mark his eighth season with at least one start across NASCAR’s top three national touring series, in which he is primed to achieve a milestone start. By competing in this weekend’s Xfinity Series season-opening event at Daytona International Speedway, Grala will achieve 100 national touring series career starts.
A native of Boston, Massachusetts, Grala, whose racing career started with go-karts at X1 Boston at the age of four before moving up to Bandoleers, legends cars and stock cars, made his inaugural presence within NASCAR’s top three national touring series at Martinsville Speedway in April 2016, where he campaigned on a part-time basis in the Truck Series for GMS Racing. By then, he was coming off two full-time seasons in the ARCA Menards Series East, where he finished in seventh place in the standings during both seasons. During his Truck debut at Martinsville, Grala started 19th and finished 31st after being involved in an early single-truck incident. He proceeded to make eight additional Truck starts between GMS Racing’s Nos. 24 and 33 entries, where he recorded a total of three top-10 results and a season-best result of seventh place at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in September. His final start of the season occurred at Phoenix Raceway in November, where he started 11th and finished 28th after being involved in a late incident.
The 2017 season produced Grala’s first and only full-time campaign to date within NASCAR’s top three national touring series as he was assigned to a full-time driving role of the No. 33 GMS Racing Chevrolet Silverado in the Truck circuit. He commenced the season on a high note by becoming the youngest competitor to win a pole position and a race at Daytona International Speedway in February at age 18 years, one month and 26 days. The victory occurred after Grala dodged a final lap multi-truck wreck to claim his first NASCAR Truck career victory and claim a guaranteed spot to the 2017 Playoffs. He went on to claim five additional top-10 results throughout the 16-race regular-season stretch, including a runner-up result at Dover Motor Speedway in June and a third-place result at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in September despite getting bumped and spun out of the way for the lead by Austin Cindric on the final lap. At the start of the Playoffs, however, Grala was eliminated from title contention following respective finishes of 10th, fifth and 29th during the Round of 8. Nonetheless, he went on to finish in the top 10 in three of the final four scheduled events before finishing in seventh place in the final drivers’ standings.
Coming off a strong Truck Series campaign, Grala graduated to the Xfinity Series for the 2018 season as he started the season as the driver of the No. 24 JGL Racing Ford Mustang. Despite commencing the season with a fourth-place run at Daytona in February, the Boston native was left without a ride after JGL ceased his entry following the first 10-scheduled events. A few days later, however, Grala managed to secure a part-time Xfinity ride in the No. 61 Ford Mustang for FURY Race Cars, beginning at a Charlotte Motor Speedway in May. Making a total of 12 starts with FURY for the remaining 23-scheduled events, he finished in the top 10 four times, which included a strong fifth-place result at Daytona in July.
In 2019, Grala made only five national touring series starts, all occurring in the Xfinity Series behind the wheel of the No. 21 Chevrolet Camaro for Richard Childress Racing. His first start with RCR occurred at Texas Motor Speedway in March, where he finished 18th. He went on to finish 14th during his next three scheduled starts at Richmond Raceway in April, Dover in May and at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in July. He then capped off his five-race run with RCR by finishing fifth at Road America in August.
The 2020 season witnessed Grala competing in a total of seven national touring series events: one in the Cup Series, five in the Xfinity Series and one in the Truck Series. His first start of the season occurred in the Xfinity circuit at Kansas Speedway in July, where he returned for a second part-time stint with RCR and finished 13th. He went on to post his best result of the season at Road America in August, where he finished fourth, followed by back-to-back ninth-place results during a Richmond Raceway doubleheader feature in September. His final Xfinity start of the season occurred at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course in October, where he ended up in 31st place due to a suspension issue despite winning the first stage. In August, Grala served as an interim competitor for Austin Dillon in RCR’s No. 3 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE entry in the Cup Series at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course in August. The news of Grala substituting for Dillon came after Dillon tested positive for COVID-19 leading up to the event as Grala made his first career start in NASCAR’s premier series. During the event, the Boston native recorded a strong seventh-place result. For the Truck Series, he made his lone start at Talladega in October, where he piloted the No. 44 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado to a ninth-place result.
For the 2021 season, Grala competed in a total of three Cup events, two Xfinity events and three Truck events. In the Cup circuit, he competed on a part-time basis for Kaulig Racing that commenced by making his Daytona 500 debut after earning a transfer spot for the main event based on his qualifying speed. During the 500, he led 10 laps before falling back to 28th place in the final running order due to being involved in a late incident. He then went on to post a strong sixth-place finish at Talladega in April and a 35th-place result at Daytona in August after being involved in a late multi-car wreck. In the Xfinity circuit, Grala made a total of two starts for Jordan Anderson Racing, where he finished 18th at Road America and 15th at Texas Motor Speedway, respectively. In the Truck circuit, he made a total of three starts for Young’s Motorsports, all of which occurred on road course venues, as he finished in the top 12 during all his starts. The highlight of his three-race Truck effort occurred during the inaugural event at Circuit of the Americas in May, where he finished second after overtaking Tyler Ankrum in the closing laps.
This past season, which marked his third consecutive season of making select starts across NASCAR’s top three national touring series, Grala made three starts in the Cup Series, nine in the Xfinity Series and 12 in the Truck Series. His best result in the Truck circuit was a seventh-place result in the series’ inaugural event at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in July, with all of his scheduled starts occurring with Young’s Motorsports. In the Xfinity circuit, he competed between Alpha Prime Racing, Big Machine Racing, Jesse Iwuji Motorsports and Sam Hunt Racing, with his best result being fifth at Watkins Glen International in August. In the Cup circuit, Grala teamed up with the newly formed Money Team Racing and embarked on a part-time campaign that commenced in the 64th running of the Daytona 500 in February. After earning a transfer spot for the main event through the first Bluegreen Vacations Duel, he ended up in 26th place in the 500 despite losing his right-front tire on Lap 40. His other two Cup starts were at Circuit of the Americas in March and in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May, where he finished 25th and a season-best 23rd, respectively.
A month after the 2022 NASCAR season concluded, Grala was announced as a full-time competitor of the No. 26 Toyota Supra for Sam Hunt Racing, which he competed for and finished 23rd at Phoenix in November, for the 2023 season as he will contend for the series’ championship for the first time in his career.
Through 99 previous starts across NASCAR’s top three national touring series, Grala has achieved one victory, one pole, 11 top-five results, 30 top-10 results and 75 laps led while competing for 12 different organizations.
Grala is scheduled to make his 100th NASCAR national touring series career start in the Xfinity Series season-opening event at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, February 18. The event’s coverage is slated to occur at 5 p.m. ET on FS1.
After spending a majority of the night engaged in side-by-side battles for the lead, Aric Almirola managed to pull away and beat the field of 21 to win the second of two Bluegreen Vacation Duels at Daytona International Speedway on Thursday, February 16.
The 38-year-old Almirola from Tampa, Florida, led five times for 17 of 60-scheduled laps and managed to fend off late charges coming from Kyle Larson, Austin Cindric and Todd Gilliland in the closing laps to capture his second checkered flag in a Daytona Duel event and commence the 2023 campaign on a strong note after going winless during the previous NASCAR Cup Series season.
The second Duel victory awarded Almirola a handful of championship points and a starting spot on the second row in fourth place for this year’s Daytona 500 as he will contend for his first victory in his 13th career start in the Great American Race.
Prior to the event, Kyle Larson, who claimed a front row starting spot for the 65th running of the Daytona 500 on Wednesday night, started on the pole and was joined on the front row with Aric Almirola. Meanwhile, BJ McLeod dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to his entry.
When the green flag waved and the first Duel event commenced, Larson and Almirola dueled for the lead until Larson received a draft from Chase Briscoe to break away from the pack and have both lanes to his control through the backstretch. As Briscoe moved up to second, Almirola was left to battle Kyle Busch for third place on the outside lane as Larson proceeded to lead the first lap.
During the second lap, the outside lane led by Almirola’s No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang gained ground on Larson entering the frontstretch as Almirola led the following lap by a hair. While Almirola was leading the competition, he could not control both lanes as a pack of competitors led by Larson on the inside lane fought back.
With the event reaching its first five-lap distance, Larson reassumed the lead ahead of a hard-charging Almirola followed by Briscoe, Cindric and Busch while Daniel Suarez, Chase Elliott, Ryan Preece, Brad Keselowski and Martin Truex Jr. were in the top 10.
A lap later and as Larson and Almirola continued to duke for the lead, the first caution of the event and between the two Duels flew when a side window from Justin Haley’s No. 31 Cirkul Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 came off and laid on the backstretch. During the first caution period, nearly the entire field led by Almirola and Larson pitted amid mixed strategies while Haley and BJ McLeod remained on the track. Haley and McLeod would eventually pit prior to the restart and give the top-two spots back to Almirola and Larson. During the caution period, Briscoe and Tyler Reddick, who stalled his car while trying to exit his pit stall, returned to pit road to top off on fuel.
When the race proceeded under green on Lap 10, Larson and Almirola dueled for the lead once again until Larson managed to break away far from the pack after receiving a push from Kyle Busch exiting the backstretch. Shortly after, however, Busch launched his challenge for the lead on Larson as the competitors towards the front battled in a tight pack within two lanes.
Through the first 20 scheduled laps, Busch, who engaged in a series of side-by-side battles against Larson for the lead earlier, was out in front by a hair over Suarez followed by Larson, Almirola and Cindric while Chase Elliott, Corey LaJoie, Todd Gilliland, Truex and rookie Noah Gragson were in the top 10. By then, 19 of 21 starters were separated by two seconds. In addition, Austin Hill was running in a transfer spot to make the Daytona 500 in 16th place while Conor Day, another competitor who was trying to make the 500, was in 20th behind Travis Pastrana, who holds a guaranteed spot to make the main event based on Wednesday’s qualifying speed.
At the halfway mark on Lap 30, Busch continued to lead ahead of Suarez, Larson, Almirola and Cindric while Elliott, LaJoie, Gilliland, Truex and Gragson remained in the top 10. Meanwhile, Haley was in 11th followed by Ryan Preece, Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski and Reddick while Hill, Riley Herbst, Pastrana, Briscoe, Daly and McLeod rounded out the 21-car field.
With less than 25 laps remaining, Busch retained the lead ahead of a bevy of competitors that included Suarez, Larson, Almirola and Cindric while Elliott, LaJoie, Gilliland, Truex and Gragson were running in the top 10. Meanwhile, Hill remained in position to make the Daytona 500 in 15th in between Preece and Reddick while Daly, who lost the draft earlier, was mired back at the rear of the field in 21st place and a lap down.
Then with 20 laps remaining, the caution flew when Suarez bumped and turned Kyle Busch’s No. 8 3CHI Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, which was leading, into the outside wall on the backstretch and with heavy damage. Busch’s wreck ignited a multi-car crash that also collected Haley, Preece, Herbst, Pastrana and Hill, who limped his No. 62 Bennett Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 back to pit road but was unable to continue as his hopes of making the Daytona 500 came to an end. With Hill out, Daly, who was a lap down, now found himself in prime position to make the 500.
During the caution period, nearly the entire field led by Suarez pitted mainly for fuel while Briscoe remained on the track, though he eventually pitted after the field did. During the pit stops, Suarez slid through his pit stall as Larson reassumed the lead followed by Almirola and Brad Keselowski.
Down to the final 14 laps of the event, the race restarted under green. At the start, Larson and Almirola battled for the lead with Keselowski, Cindric and the rest of the field keeping the two leaders within reach amid a tight two-lane pack.
With 10 laps remaining, Almirola was leading by a hair over Larson followed by Keselowski, Cindric and Truex while Gilliland, LaJoie, Gragson, Elliott and Hamlin were in the top 10. Soon after, Cindric ignited his bid for the win as he contested against Almirola and Larson for the lead along with Gilliland.
Down to the final five laps of the event and with the competitors towards the front beginning to jostle through two tight-packed lanes, Cindric was out in front by a hair over Almirola followed by Gilliland, Larson and LaJoie as 14 of 21 starters were separated by more than two seconds. By then, Daly was back in 17th place, a lap down but in position of making the Daytona 500.
Then with three laps remaining, Gilliland moved into the lead followed by Almirola, Larson and Cindric as the intensity towards the front crescendoed.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Almirola, who gained a run to the outside of Gilliland, was leading by a nose over Gilliland as both competitors battled dead even in front of the pack. Then in Turn 1, Gilliland, whose car was shaking and getting loose, slipped sideways towards the apron following a bump from Larson. Miraculously, Gilliland kept his car straight and continued. He, however, lost his momentum as Almirola pulled away through the backstretch followed by Cindric and LaJoie. While the front-runners formed a long single file line behind Almirola through Turns 3 and 4, they could not gain a draft nor a final lap charge on Almirola as the Floridian managed to cycle back to the finish line and beat Cindric by 0.122 seconds to win and cap off the Duels on a high note.
The second Duel victory marked Almirola’s second career Duel win, his first since 2021 and the fourth Duel victory overall for Stewart-Haas Racing. It also marked his first checkered flag in NASCAR’s premier series since winning at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in July 2021 as he aims to rebound following a disappointing 2022 campaign where he missed the Playoffs.
“I did have my hands full,” Almirola said on FS1. “[Crew chief] Drew [Blickensderfer] said this Smithfield Ford Mustang was going to be fast, but he said I’d probably have my hands full. We kind of went for it from qualifying, put all the speed in the car and kind of sacrificed some handling. As you could see tonight, it was a handful, but man, this is so cool. Daytona’s such a special place to me. I want that [Daytona 500 win] on Sunday. I know Sunday’s the big one. We’re gonna keep focused on that one. The job’s not finished.”
Cindric, the reigning Daytona 500 champion, settled in second behind Almirola in the final running order while Chase Elliott, Keselowski, Corey LaJoie, Larson, Gilliland, Truex, Denny Hamlin and Preece earned top-10 finishes on the track.
Meanwhile, Conor Daly, who came into the Duels with a “one in a million shot” of making the Daytona 500 after failing to post a qualifying lap on Wednesday, crossed the finish line in 17th place, a lap down, and raced his way into the main event. Daly’s accomplishment will enable him to make his second career start in the Cup circuit on Sunday and his first in the Great American Race as the Money Racing Team will compete in the Daytona 500 for a second consecutive season.
Photo by Patrick Sue-Chan for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“We were inherently lucky for the last 36 hours, but we got luck,” Daly said. “I wished I could’ve said that I drove [the car] in on pure pace, but it was crazy. When we went out there, the car was bouncing around. I had no idea what was going on. I thought the drive train was broken and [crew chief] Tony [Eury Jr.] just made it better every time we got lucky with the yellows [flags] to try to get some experience. It is pretty crazy. This race, I’ve watched it for so many years and so much crazy stuff can happen. Thankfully, we were on the right side of the craziness.”
With Austin Hill and Beard Motorsports failing to qualify for the 500, Travis Pastrana, who was eliminated late in the event due to the multi-car wreck that involved Kyle Busch, will implement his qualifying speed set on Wednesday to make the main event.
There were 15 lead changes for six different leaders. The event featured two cautions for nine laps.
Results.
1. Aric Almirola, 17 laps led
2. Austin Cindric, three laps led
3. Chase Elliott
4. Brad Keselowski
5. Corey LaJoie
6. Kyle Larson, nine laps led
7. Todd Gilliland, one lap led
8. Martin Truex Jr.
9. Denny Hamlin
10. Ryan Preece
11. Noah Gragson
12. Daniel Suarez, two laps led
13. Tyler Reddick
14. Justin Haley
15. Chase Briscoe
16. BJ McLeod
17. Conor Daly, one lap down
18. Austin Hill – OUT, Accident
19. Kyle Busch – OUT, Accident, 28 laps led
20. Riley Herbst – OUT, Accident
21. Travis Pastrana – OUT, Accident
With the starting lineup for the 65th annual running of the Daytona 500 set, the main event is set to commence on Sunday, February 20, which will also mark the start of NASCAR’s 75th season of premier series competition. The coverage for the event is scheduled to start at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX.
The reigning two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano prevailed in a final lap duel against Christopher Bell to win the first of two Bluegreen Vacation Duels at Daytona International Speedway on Thursday, February 16.
The first Duel victory for Logano occurred as he led the final 29 of 60 scheduled laps, with his first opportunity of leading occurring following the first and only cycle of green flag pit stops just past the halfway mark. Then on the final lap, he fended off a brief challenge from teammate Ryan Blaney and Kevin Harvick entering the backstretch before he came under fire from Bell entering the frontstretch. Locked in a side-by-side battle with Bell coming to the finish line, Logano was able to pull ahead and edge him by 0.018 seconds to win a Daytona Duel event for the third time in his career.
The Duel victory also awarded Logano a handful of championship points and the third-place starting spot for this year’s 65th annual running of the Daytona 500 as he will contend for his second victory in the Great American Race.
Prior to the event, Alex Bowman, who claimed the pole position for the 65th running of the Daytona 500 on Wednesday night, started on the pole for the first Duel event and was joined on the front row by teammate William Byron. Meanwhile, newcomer Chandler Smith dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to his Kaulig Racing entry.
When the green flag waved and the first Duel event commenced, teammates Bowman and Byron dueled for the lead early through the first two turns. As Byron peeked ahead on the inside lane, Bowman fought back on the outside lane through the backstretch as he had drafting help from Ryan Blaney and Bubba Wallace. Shortly after, Blaney ducked his No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang below Bowman’s No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 through Turns 3 and 4 as he assumed the lead followed by Wallace’s No. 23 McDonald’s Toyota TRD Camry. As the field returned to the frontstretch, Blaney led the first lap followed by Wallace, Bowman, Ross Chastain and Byron as the field started to fan out to three lanes. Shortly after, Bowman dropped to the rear of the field to preserve his pole-winning car as Chastain launched his early bid for the lead against Blaney.
Through the first five scheduled laps, Blaney and Chastain were engaged in a side-by-side battle for the lead while rookie Ty Gibbs, Wallace, Christopher Bell, Byron, Jimmie Johnson, Joey Logano, Erik Jones and Harrison Burton were in the top 10 amid the field being stacked up and competing through two lanes. By then, all but one of 21 starters were separated by nine-tenths of a second while Bowman was mired all the way at the rear of the field in 21st place.
At the Lap 10 mark and with the front-runners settling in a single-file line, Blaney was leading ahead of Wallace, Byron, Logano and Burton while Chris Buescher, Kevin Harvick, Michael McDowell, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Chastain were in the top 10. Meanwhile, Zane Smith and Chandler Smith, who were battling for a transfer spot for Sunday’s Daytona 500, were in 11th and 14th, respectively.
By Lap 20, Blaney continued to lead ahead of Wallace, Byron, Logano, Burton, Buescher, Harvick, McDowell, Stenhouse and Zane Smith while Bell, Gibbs, AJ Allmendinger, Erik Jones, Austin Dillon, Chastain, Chandler Smith, Cody Ware, Johnson, Ty Dillon and Bowman rounded out the 21-car field.
A lap later, green flag pit stops ensued as all the Chevrolet competitors pitted. Following the pit stops, however, Stenhouse and Chandler Smith were penalized for speeding on pit road as they were forced to serve a drive-through penalty through pit road under green.
At the halfway mark on Lap 30, Blaney retained the lead ahead of Wallace, Logano, Burton, Buescher, Harvick, Bell, McDowell, Zane Smith and Gibbs, with the top-nine competitors being separated by a second while the Chevrolet competitors led by Byron in 12th were trailing the leaders by more than 45 seconds. By then, Zane Smith occupied a transfer spot in 10th while Chandler Smith was mired back in 20th.
Shortly after, a host of competitors led by Blaney pitted under green. Following the pit stops, Gibbs was penalized with a pass-through penalty for speeding on pit road. When the field returned to the track under green, Logano cycled his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang into the lead followed by Harvick and Blaney.
Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Logano was leading a nine-car breakaway that included Harvick, Blaney, Buescher and Bell while Burton, Wallace, McDowell and Zane Smith while Byron was mired back in 10th. By then, the top-nine competitors who pitted on Lap 31 were leading 10th-place Byron and a host of Chevrolet competitors who pitted on Lap 22 by more than nine seconds. In addition, Zane Smith, who opted only for fuel during his green flag pit stop, was running in a transfer spot in ninth while Chandler Smith was mired towards the rear of the field in 21st place and a lap down.
With 10 laps remaining, Logano continued to lead ahead of Harvick, Blaney, Buescher and Bell while Burton, Wallace, McDowell, Zane Smith and Byron remained in the top 10. Logano would also retain the lead ahead of Harvick and a bevy of competitors with five laps remaining.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Logano remained as the leader ahead of Harvick as Blaney, Bell and Wallace moved to the outside lane in their bids to challenge Logano for the win. Just past the frontstretch, Harvick pulled up to block Blaney’s momentum, but Blaney ducked to the inside lane as he tried to challenge Harvick for second place. Harvick, however, fought back on the outside lane with drafting help from Bell and Wallace while Blaney was slowly losing ground and the draft.
Then through the backstretch, Bell pulled his No. 20 DeWalt/Rheem Toyota TRD Camry below Harvick’s No. 4 Busch Ford Mustang as he moved into second place. Shortly after, he made his move to the outside of Logano through Turns 3 and 4. Entering the frontstretch, Bell and Logano remained dead even for the lead until Logano, who had teammate Blaney gaining ground on him in the draft, managed to pull his Ford on the inside lane and edge Bell by 0.018 seconds to win the first Duel event.
Logano’s Duel victory was his first since 2020 and also the seventh overall for Team Penske as the Ford nameplate has achieved at least one Duel victory for a seventh consecutive victory.
“Just a great job by the Shell/Pennzoil team,” Logano said on FS1. “The execution of this race is everything. You know most likely there won’t be a caution, so you got to do a good job on pit road, cycle yourself to the front, but then, I’m sitting there as the leader. I’m thinking, ‘Man, I am a sitting duck. This is not where I want to be.’ I was hoping they started racing back there, which they did, which ended up kind of working out for me. When [Bell] got to me, I saw Blaney was behind me and I was like, ‘There’s my buddy. I gotta stick with him.’ I knew [Bell] would make the run to the outside [lane] and I probably wasn’t going be able to defend that. [I] Waited for [Blaney] to push me through there, so good Penske effort there to get a Duel win. Much better than what happened last year. I’m glad to have a nice start over here to this season.”
Bell settled in second place followed by Blaney, Buescher and McDowell while Harvick, Bubba Wallace, Zane Smith, Harrison Burton and Byron finished in the top 10 on the track.
Meanwhile, Zane Smith was also left smiling on pit road after finishing in eighth place and racing his way into the Daytona 500 for the first time in his career. The 500 event will mark his second career start in NASCAR’s premier series and the first of select Cup starts for the Californian as he is set to compete in this year’s Craftsman Truck Series season to defend his series title.
Photo by Patrick Sue-Chan for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“Once we got to about 10 [laps] to go, I’m like, ‘Man, please, please, no caution,” Smith said. “Just a huge shoutout to my whole [Front Row Motorsports] team. Our Wellcare Mustang was good enough to get in, which there was a lot of really good open cars. Just so proud of everyone. Just unbelievable to be in the Great American Race.”
As a result, Chandler Smith, who could not recover from his early pit road speeding penalty, finished 21st and failed to qualify for Sunday’s Daytona 500. Nonetheless, he is set to compete on a full-time basis for Kaulig Racing in this year’s Xfinity Series season along with select Cup events throughout the year.
“Before [the race], I said I’m fine if I don’t make it, but it’d be awesome if I made it,” Smith said. “I’m a believer. I had a lot of fun right there. Even from that one Duel, I just learned so, so much, which was awesome taking that in. We weren’t able to get it this year, but hopefully, we can come back next year, make another attempt and get in on time.”
Amid the battles between the two Smiths, Jimmie Johnson, who finished 14th, claimed his starting spot for the 500 based on his qualifying speed from Wednesday night.
There were four lead changes for three different leaders. The event featured no cautions.
Results.
1. Joey Logano, 29 laps led
2. Christopher Bell
3. Ryan Blaney, 30 laps led
4. Chris Buescher
5. Michael McDowell
6. Kevin Harvick
7. Bubba Wallace
8. Zane Smith
9. Harrison Burton
10. William Byron
11. Ross Chastain, one lap led
12. Erik Jones
13. Austin Dillon
14. Jimmie Johnson
15. AJ Allmendinger
16. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., one lap down
17. Alex Bowman, one lap down
18. Chandler Smith, one lap down
19. Ty Gibbs, one lap down
20. Cody Ware, one lap down
21. Ty Dillon, one lap down
The second Bluegreen Vacations Duel is underway at Daytona International Speedway, which will complete the starting lineup for the 65th running of the Daytona 500 scheduled for Sunday, February 19.
With the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season three days away from commencing at Daytona International Speedway, Trackhouse Racing solidified its full-time driver lineup for the foreseeable future by inking Ross Chastain and Daniel Suarez to multi-year contract extensions in a span of two days.
It all started on Wednesday, February 15, prior to the Daytona 500 pole qualifying session when Trackhouse announced that Suarez will be remaining as a driver for the organization in a new multi-year contract extension. Now on Thursday, February 16, and ahead of a pair of Bluegreen Vacations Duels, Chastain scratched his name off the free agency list after inking himself a new multi-year deal to remain with the organization.
The news comes as Trackhouse Racing is coming off its second and finest season to date in NASCAR Cup Series competition, where both Chastain and Suarez achieved their first career victories in NASCAR’s premier series and qualified for the 2022 Cup Playoffs. While Suarez finished in a career-best 10th place in the final driver’s standings, Chastain advanced all the way to the Championship 4 round at Phoenix Raceway in November and contended for a first NASCAR Cup title for himself and the organization, where he went on to notch a career-best second place in the title standings.
For Suarez, the 2023 season is set to mark his seventh full-time campaign in the Cup Series. The 31-year-old Suarez and a former Xfinity Series champion from Monterrey, Mexico, served as Trackhouse’s first competitor during the team’s inception in 2021, where he piloted the No. 99 entry a single top-five result, four top-10 results, led 74 laps and recorded an average-finishing result of 20.1. This past season, he claimed his first career victory at Sonoma Raceway in June following a dominant performance and became the first Mexican-born competitor to win in NASCAR’s premier series. He also accumulated career-high stats of six top-five results, 13 top-10 results, 280 laps led and an average-finishing result of 16.5 throughout the season as he claimed a berth to the Playoffs for the first time in his career.
With a total of 215 career starts in the Cup Series to his resume, Suarez has previously competed for Gaunt Brothers Racing, Stewart-Haas Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing. He has also racked up a total of three Xfinity victories and one Craftsman Truck Series victory.
“Trackhouse is my home and I am very happy with this announcement,” Suarez said. “We are building something special on the No. 99 team and at Trackhouse Racing. We can’t wait to get the season started on Sunday.”
“Obviously, everyone at Trackhouse Racing is pleased with the performance and professionalism of Daniel both on and off the track,” Justin Marks, owner of Trackhouse Racing, added. “Culture has been of prime importance since the idea of Trackhouse existed only on a whiteboard in an office. Daniel has fulfilled every expectation, and we look forward to the future. The best is yet to come.”
For Chastain, this upcoming season is set to mark his third consecutive full-time stint in NASCAR’s premier series having made a total of 151 series career starts. The 30-year-old Chastain who is also an eighth-generation watermelon farmer from Alva, Florida, joined Trackhouse for its second season in 2022 after the team acquired Chip Ganassi Racing’s NASCAR assets, where Chastain had been competing in part of a journeyman career scaling back to 2014. Piloting the No. 1 entry, Chastain notched his first two Cup career victories at Circuit of the Americas in March and at Talladega Superspeedway in April following two dramatic last lap passes. Once in the Playoffs, he recorded enough points to transfer through the first two Playoff rounds. Then at Martinsville Speedway in October, which served as the third round’s finale, he executed a bold daring move while scraping the outside wall to overtake five competitors and race his way into the Championship 4 field. Ultimately, he went on to finish in third place on the track during the finale and in second place in the final championship standings.
In addition to his first two career victories and a runner-up result in the final standings, Chastain capped off the 2022 campaign with career-high stats of 15 top-five results, 21 top-10 results, 692 laps led and an average-finishing result of 13.3 as he bids for another opportunity for his first series title. To go along with his two Cup victories, the Floridian has two Xfinity victories and four Truck wins to his resume.
“It’s taken a lot of years, a lot of hard work and sacrifice, plus a lot of help from a lot of people, but I can safely say I have found a home at Trackhouse Racing,” Chastain said following the announcement of his contract extension. “There is nowhere in the world I would rather be and nothing I would rather do than race the No. 1 Chevrolet in NASCAR for Justin and the people at Trackhouse Racing.”
“Ross Chastain is the type of driver and type of person we want representing Trackhouse Racing, our employees, and our corporate partners,” Marks added. “You saw what Ross did with us in just our first year together and we think the future is even brighter. He brings a determination, dedication, and commitment to his job on and off the track that uplifts everyone in our shop. I’m proud he is part of our organization.”
Trackhouse Racing made its inaugural presence in NASCAR at the start of the 2021 season when former driver and team owner Justin Marks created a team of his own with Armando Christian Perez, going by the stage name Pitbull, assuming an ownership role with the team. Ty Norris, a former executive at Dale Earnhardt Inc., also joined the organization during its inception.
In two seasons, Trackhouse Racing has achieved three victories, 22 top-five results, 38 top-10 results and 280 laps led in a combined 109 career starts in the Cup circuit. Along with the Nos. 1 and 99 entries, the team debuted Project 91, a part-time entry that would be fielded for international competitors to compete in a Cup event, at Watkins Glen International in August with former Formula One champion Kimi Räikkönen serving as the project’s first competitor. Project 91 will be returning for select Cup events that have yet to be determined along with the team’s choice of drivers.
With its future set, Trackhouse Racing shifts its focus on a pair of Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona International Speedway that will occur on Thursday, February 16, beginning at 4 p.m. on FS1 before launching its 2023 NASCAR Cup Series campaign on Sunday, February 19, for the 65th annual running of the Daytona 500 that will commence at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX.
For the eighth time in nine seasons, Hendrick Motorsports captured the spotlight in a Daytona 500 pole qualifying session as Alex Bowman muscled his way to win the pole position for this year’s 65th annual running of the Great American Race at Daytona International Speedway on Wednesday, Feb. 15.
The qualifying format that determined the front row of this year’s 500 event was based on two qualifying sessions comprised of a single-lap session for each competitor. Following the first round, the top-10 fastest qualifiers from a total of 42 transferred to the second and final single-lap round to contend for the pole and a front-row starting spot.
In the end, Bowman, who was the antepenultimate competitor during the first session and the final competitor during the second session rolled his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 on the track to post a qualifying lap. He secured the Busch Light Pole Award after posting a blazing pole-winning time of 49.536 seconds at 181.686 mph, which was enough to knock teammate Kyle Larson off the top of the qualifying chart. It was the 11th consecutive Daytona 500 pole for Chevrolet and the 16th overall for Hendrick Motorsports.
With his accomplishment, the 29-year-old Bowman from Tucson, Arizona, notched his fourth NASCAR Cup Series career pole and his third in the 500, which placed him in a tie with Fireball Roberts, Ken Schrader and Dale Jarrett for the second-most 500 poles in the series history. He also extended a personal record by claiming a front-row starting spot in the 500 for a sixth consecutive season. Bowman’s third 500 pole occurred in his first Cup points-paying qualifying attempt with his new crew chief Blake Harris, who replaced veteran Greg Ives after Ives retired from being a crew chief at the conclusion of the 2022 season. It also occurred after Bowman inked a three-year contract extension to remain at Hendrick Motorsports earlier in the day as he now attempts to win his first 500 in what will be his seventh start this Sunday.
“That’s the trick, right? We’ve, obviously, not been able to [win the Daytona 500] for the last five years,” Bowman said on FS1. “[We’re] Just trying to make the right decisions and transfer everything over to race trim for Sunday the best we can. Just so proud of Hendrick Motorsports, the engine shop, all the guys. This Ally No. 48 Camaro’s, obviously, really fast. I don’t have a lot to do with qualifying here. Just fortunate to qualify some really fast race cars. Really cool to see Hendrick Motorsports one, two, three. I’ll take it. It’s pretty cool.”
Joining Bowman on the front row will be his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson, who posted the second-fastest qualifying time of 49.708 seconds at 181.057 mph as Hendrick competitors swept the front row for the 500 for the eighth time in 14 seasons. This season will mark both the second consecutive season and second overall where Larson will start on the front row for the Great American Race after winning his first 500 pole a year ago. Like Bowman, Larson will vie for his first 500 victory with this season marking his 10th career start in the Great American Race.
“[Owner Rick Hendrick]’s, obviously, really excited,” Larson said. “I think this is a big deal for him and everybody at Hendrick Motorsports, the engine shop at Hendrick. Really cool for the No. 48 team. That’s awesome. That’s pretty incredible, so hats off to that team. Congrats to Alex. Proud of everybody on the No. 5 team as well. It’s really awesome to be on the front row and know if you just finish the Duels tomorrow and don’t have to go to a backup car, you get to start on the front row on Sunday. Really looking forward to the Duels, getting some more laps, getting comfortable and then, get to race it on Sunday.”
William Byron, the 2019 Daytona 500 pole winner, posted the third-fastest qualifying time of 49.799 seconds at 180.727 mph as he will be one of the remaining 40 competitors to vie for their official starting spots for the 500 through a pair of Bluegreen Vacations Duel that will take place on Thursday, February 16. Veterans Aric Almirola and Joey Logano completed the top five in qualifying time and speed while Chase Briscoe, Ryan Blaney, Austin Cindric, Harrison Burton and Kyle Busch, all of whom advanced to the second and final qualifying round, rounded out the top 10 on the qualifying chart. Busch originally posted the sixth-fastest qualifying lap, but his time was stripped by NASCAR after he went below the yellow line boundary on the backstretch to complete his qualifying lap.
Bubba Wallace, who was one of 32 competitors who did not transfer to the second round, posted the 11th-fastest qualifying time of 49.997 seconds at 180.011 mph followed by Daniel Suarez, Chris Buescher, Chase Elliott, Ross Chastain, Ryan Preece, Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, rookie Ty Gibbs and Tyler Reddick.
Meanwhile, Jimmie Johnson and Travis Pastrana were left celebrating on pit road with their respective teams and with each other after both achieved guaranteed spots for this year’s Daytona 500 by being the fastest two qualifiers competing for non-chartered teams.
Johnson, a seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and a two-time Daytona 500 champion with 83 career wins, emerged as the fastest competitor competing for a non-chartered team after posting the 23rd-fastest qualifying time of 50.202 seconds in 179.276 mph, which was enough to lock himself and his No. 84 Carvana Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 team into the field. The accomplishment comes as Johnson enters the 2023 season as a part-time owner and competitor of Legacy Motor Club, rebranded from Petty GMS Motorsports, following a two-year absence from NASCAR competition. Sunday’s Daytona 500 will mark his 20th start in the Great American Race and the first of select events that have yet to be determined aside from the inaugural Cup event at the Chicago Street Course for Johnson.
“It feels great,” Johnson said. “Just a massive thank you to everyone at Legacy Motor Club. It’s been a lot of work to get three cars here, especially with how late this opportunity came along for me. That was stressful. It was hard to tell inside the car if it was a good lap or not. The RPM range is much different than the last time I was in a car and it just sounded flat and felt slow, but we’re sitting in a great spot as the fastest unchartered car. Very thankful for that.”
Photo by Patrick Sue-Chan for SpeedwayMedia.com.
Pastrana, a former NASCAR and stunt competitor with championship-winning and X Games gold medals across supercross, motorcross and rally competition, posted the 25th-fastest qualifying time of 50.208 seconds in 179.254 mph, which was enough to fulfill a childhood dream by securing his No. 67 Black Rifle Coffee Toyota TRD Camry team owned by 23XI Racing into Sunday’s main event. With his accomplishment, he will make his inaugural presence in NASCAR’s premier series during Sunday’s main event as he has previously made 42 career starts in the Xfinity Series and five in the Craftsman Truck Series. Pastrana’s previous NASCAR national touring series career start to date occurred during the Truck Series Playoff event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in September 2020, where he finished 21st.
“I tell you what, qualifying for the 500, this is literally a dream come true,” Pastrana exclaimed. “This is bigger than big. Thank you so much to Black Rifle [Coffee], Dixon for giving me the opportunity to be here and for Denny [Hamlin], Michael [Jordan], everyone at the 23XI team for giving me a great car. I was sweating having to go to tomorrow. Like Kurt Busch said, now we go to tomorrow, now we learn. Now, the work starts.”
The remaining four open competitors that include Zane Smith, Austin Hill, Chandler Smith and Conor Daly will compete for the final two open spots for this weekend’s Daytona 500 through Thursday’s Duels. Smith, who was the first competitor to roll off of pit road to post his qualifying lap, rallied from stalling his car due to a mechanical issue with his No. 13 Quick Tie Inc. Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 that forced the Georgian to return to pit road before he returned two competitors later to post his qualifying lap. Daly was the only competitor who did not post a qualifying lap due to an oil line issue to his No. 50 BitNile Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 as he will start his Duel at the rear of the field.
Next on the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series schedule are a pair of Bluegreen Vacations Duels that will determine the rest of the starting lineup for this year’s 65th annual running of the Daytona 500 scheduled for February 19 at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX. First, on Thursday, the first Bluegreen Vacations Duel is slated to commence at 7 p.m. ET on FS1 while the second Duel event will follow suit at approximately 8:45 p.m. ET on FS1.
