With the laps winding down in the Daytona 500, the pushing, shoving and tight-quarter action that defines restrictor plate racing led to the inevitable big one.
“Speedway racing again,” Joey Logano said. “It’s a lot of fun until this happens.”
As the field zoomed down the backstretch at Daytona International Speedway, Brad Keselowski moved from the outside line to the bottom to overtake race leader Ross Chastain. Meanwhile, Alex Bowman and William Byron, who spent the previous laps on the bottom line, got shuffled up to the middle line and worked their way up to the front. The last bump wasn’t squared up and Byron’s car wiggled, hooked Keselowski and triggered a 23-car pileup at the entrance of Turn 3.
It capped off a miserable Speedweeks for the reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion who wrecked his primary car, Thursday, in the Bluegreen Vacations Duels.
“You’re kind of always watching when you’re in there and especially if you’re on top you can kind of watch and see how well their pushes are and it just looked like the 48 kind of got the 24 out of shape and just happened to get the 6 in the right-rear and unfortunately we were in the top lane,” Blaney said.
After the initial hit, he grabbed his wrist.
“I had my initial wreck and then my wheel grabbed something,” he said. “I usually let go of the wheel, but I didn’t think I needed to and it just tweaked it a little bit. It’s all good.”
He and Logano led a combined 57 of 200 laps and were in position to deliver Team Penske its second Daytona 500 victory. On the back of a ninth-month stretch of marquee victories for Roger Penske.
“It’s part of it,” Logano said. “You’re pushing and shoving there at the end. We had the cars that could take it and were doing really well. I had Blaney behind me. I thought, ‘Man, if I could pick one, that’s the one I want. I’m in a great position here’ and just had to find the right opportunity to slip the 1 again because the 6 wasn’t working with us, so I felt if I could keep the 12 with me I’m gonna be in a decent spot, but it just didn’t work out.
For Keselowski, the winningest active plate racer in the Cup Series (seven), he remains winless in his 15th attempt to win NASCAR’s crown jewel.
“It’s just one of those deals,” he said. “We were mixed up in the middle of the soup most of the race. We executed really well in the final stage and put ourselves in position, but that’s just the way Daytona goes.”
“Yeah, I feel really bad about that because I feel like that was — things were getting really intense with the pushes, and I felt like it was getting to the point where I couldn’t handle all the pushes, and you just try to get through those moments,” he said.
Austin Hill rallied from three different circumstances that sent him to the rear of the field to commence a new season of NASCAR Xfinity Series competition on a victorious note three years in a row by winning the rain-postponed United Rentals 300 at Daytona International Speedway on Monday, February 19.
The 29-year-old Hill from Winston, Georgia, led nine of 120 scheduled laps in an event where he shared the front row with new teammate and series newcomer Jesse Love. After being edged by Love at the conclusion of the first stage period, Hill was involved in a multi-car wreck at the start of the second stage period that sent him to the rear of the field. He would rally with cosmetic damage to his No. 21 Richard Childress Racing entry by winning the second stage but would hit another obstacle by being nabbed with a speeding penalty on pit road during the stage’s break period that sent him to the rear of the field for a second time. After rallying from that, he would hit a third obstacle by pitting during a late caution period with approximately 20 laps remaining to address a flat tire to his entry.
Amid the three issues that sent him to the rear of the field, Hill capitalized on two late-race caution periods and late-race carnages to draft Jordan Anderson to the lead during the final restart with three laps remaining before he assumed the lead. He would then fend off late challenges from Sheldon Creed, Chandler Smith and Brandon Jones to muscle away from the field and notch his third consecutive victory in the Xfinity Series’ opener at Daytona.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, February 17, newcomer Jesse Love secured his first Xfinity career pole position after posting a pole-winning lap at 181.079 mph in 49.702 seconds. Joining him on the front row was teammate Austin Hill, who clocked in the second-best qualifying lap at 181.068 mph in 49.705 seconds.
Prior to the event, Dawson Cram and BJ McLeod were sent to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries. In addition, Sage Karam would start at the rear of the field due to an engine change to his No. 26 Sam Hunt Racing entry.
When the green flag waved and the 2024 Xfinity Series commenced, Love muscled his No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet Camaro ahead with the lead from the outside lane and ahead of teammate Hill entering the first two turns. With the field stacked amid two tight-packed lanes through the backstretch, Love, who transitioned from the inside to the outside lane to keep Hill behind him, proceeded to lead the first lap. He would proceed to lead the ensuing laps while keeping teammate Hill behind him amid the draft. By then, a majority of the field migrated to a long single-file line towards the outside wall while some led by AJ Allmendinger raced on the inside lane.
Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Love was leading a bevy of competitors running in a long single-file line towards the outside wall while teammate Hill, Parker Kligerman, Justin Allgaier, Anthony Alfredo, Sammy Smith, John Hunter Nemechek, Sheldon Creed, Jeb Burton and Daniel Suarez were scored in the top 10. Behind, Ryan Truex was in 11th followed by Riley Herbst, Cole Custer, Brandon Jones and AJ Allmendinger while Sam Mayer, Daniel Dye, Parker Retzlaff, Shane van Gisbergen and Hailie Deegan rounded out the top 20.
Just past the Lap 20 mark and with the majority of the field still running in a long single-file line on the outside lane, Love also continued to lead ahead of teammate Hill, Kligerman, Allgaier and Alfredo. By then, Sammy Smith, Nemechek, Creed, Burton and Truex were running in the top 10 ahead of Custer, Brandon Jones, Allmendinger, Dye and Retzlaff while van Gisbergen moved up to 16th as Herbst fell back to 17th.
Then on Lap 22, the event’s first caution flew when Suarez, who stepped off the gas to avoid running into the rear of van Gisbergen, got bumped and turned into the outside wall entering Turn 1, where he then spun back across the track and clipped Sam Mayer as Mayer hit the outside wall head-on. Hailie Deegan and Kyle Weatherman would also be involved, with all four competitors being eliminated early from contention.
During the event’s first caution period, some led by Love remained on the track while others led by Allgaier pitted for service.
With the event restarting for a one-lap dash to the conclusion of the first stage period on Lap 29, teammates Love and Hill dueled for the lead in front of the field that was fanning out to three tight-packed lanes through the first two turns and the backstretch. When the field returned to the frontstretch to complete the first stage period on Lap 30, Love was able to edge Hill by a hair to claim the first stage victory. Hill ended up second followed by Kligerman, Alfredo and Burton while Creed, Nemechek, Allmendinger, Allgaier and Ryan Truex were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, some led by Love pitted while the rest led by Allmendinger remained on the track. During the pit stops, Alfredo was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation.
The second stage period started on Lap 35 as Allmendinger and Allgaier occupied the front row. At the start, Allmendinger received an early push from Herbst to muscle his No. 16 Celsius Chevrolet Camaro ahead with the lead through the backstretch until Allgaier muscled ahead from the inside lane entering Turns 3 and 4. He would be followed by Cole Custer and Blaine Perkins as the field behind fanned out to three lanes.
Then during the following lap, where Allgaier was pinned in a tight three-wide battle for the lead against Custer and Perkins, the caution returned after Love, who was running in the top 10 but mired in the middle lane amid a stacked field, got loose in front of Nemechek, where he spun, clipped Allmendinger and triggered a multi-car wreck that collected van Gisbergen, Kligerman, Daniel Dye, Alfredo, Josh Williams, Frankie Muniz, Jeremy Clements and Hill, who spun towards the backstretch’s infield, but managed to keep his No. 21 Bennett Chevrolet Camaro away from the inside wall as he proceeded with cosmetic damage.
Following the second carnage of the night, the event proceeded under green on Lap 42, where Allgaier muscled ahead on the outside lane from Stewart-Haas Racing’s Custer and Riley Herbst. Not long after, Custer and Herbst pinned Allgaier in a three-wide battle for the lead as Custer muscled ahead in his No. 00 Haas Ford Mustang from the inside lane. Custer would proceed to lead the next lap, Lap 44, as the field fanned out to three tight-packed lanes while Allgaier was trying to regain ground from the inside lane.
On Lap 44, however, Allgaier, who attempted to draw even with Custer for the lead entering the backstretch, went up the track and bumped against Custer sending Allgaier’s No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro spinning towards the backstretch’s infield as Garrett Smithley also spun.
When the race restarted on Lap 48, teammates Parker Retzlaff and Jeb Burton zipped by Custer from the inside lane through the first two turns as Clements tried to follow suit. Burton would then move his No. 27 Golden Corral Chevrolet Camaro in front of Clements to be drafted into the lead from Retzlaff during the next lap, with Retzlaff and Clements getting shuffled out of the lead draft while Hill muscled his way back to the front with a bandaged race car.
Following another caution period on Lap 50, where Nemechek spun his No. 20 Pye Barker Toyota Supra across the frontstretch after losing a left-rear tire as Josh Bilicki also got bumped and spun, the event restarted under green on Lap 56, where Burton maintained a brief lead over Ryan Sieg and Hill before he would be pinned in a three-wide battle with Hill and Sheldon Creed for the lead. Following the battle, Hill was back atop the leaderboard during the following lap.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 60, Hill fended off Sammy Smith and Creed to capture the stage victory. Sammy Smith edged Creed for the runner-up spot while Custer, Sieg, Ryan Truex, Herbst, Allgaier, Allmendinger and Brandon Jones were scored in the top 10.
During the stage break, a bevy of names led by Hill pitted while the rest led by teammate Love remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Hill, who slid through his pit box, was penalized and sent to the rear of the field for speeding while entering pit road.
With 54 laps remaining, the final stage commenced under green as Love and Sammy Smith occupied the front row. At the start, Sammy Smith muscled his No. 8 Pilot Flying J Chevrolet Camaro into the lead from the inside lane while Love was left to battle Creed for the runner-up spot in front of two stacked lanes. Smith would proceed to lead the next four laps until Herbst moved his No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang into the lead from the outside lane, where he would lead the next four laps.
With 45 laps remaining, select names led by Hill and including teammate Love, Leland Honeyman and Kligerman peeled off the racetrack to pit under green before more names led by Allmendinger and including Sammy Smith, Clements, Daniel Dye, van Gisbergen and Jordan Anderson pitted. Over the next several laps, more names pitted while three names led by Natalie Decker and including Ryan Ellis and Garrett Smithley remained on the track to inherit the top three spots with less than 40 laps remaining.
With 33 laps remaining, Ellis assumed the lead followed by Smithley as Decker dropped to third, though all have yet to pit. Meanwhile, Herbst, the first competitor who pitted, was in fourth and leading a bevy of competitors that fanned out to three lanes.
Then with 24 laps remaining, the caution flew after contact from van Gisbergen sent Jeb Burton spinning entering the frontstretch. By then, Ellis, Smithley and Decker remained on the track as the top-three leaders while Ryan Sieg was the lead competitor of those who pitted followed by Herbst, Custer, Chandler Smith, Hill and Truex. During the caution period, some led by Ellis, Smithley and Decker pitted while the rest, led by Sieg, remained on the track. Not long after, Hill would pit under caution due to a flat tire on his entry.
During the next restart with 18 laps remaining, Sieg received a draft from Herbst to muscle away from Chandler Smith and retain the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch. The caution, however, quickly returned after Retzlaff made contact with Clements exiting the backstretch and ignited another multi-car wreck that included Honeyman, Smithley, van Gisbergen and Burton.
The start of the next restart with 11 laps remaining featured Herbst and Sieg dueling for the lead through the first two turns and through the backstretch as the field slowly started to fan out to three lanes by the time the front-runners returned to the frontstretch. Not long after, however, Herbst was penalized for a restart violation, where he was laying back prior to the restart zone.
Two laps later and a three-wide battle between Herbst, Anderson and Chandler Smith ignited, the caution returned after Karam, who was being drafted at full speed by Allmendinger, bumped and sent Custer into the backstretch’s outside wall, where he then veered back to the left and clipped Karam into the wall as another multi-car wreck ensued that collected Poole, Daniel Dye, Allgaier and Custer, where all four were sent sliding and slamming into one another towards the infield’s grass before the former two slid back across the track. By then and with Herbst out of contention by falling back to the tail of the field, Anderson was scored the leader followed by Chandler Smith, Hill, Sieg and Retzlaff.
As the event restarted with three laps remaining, Chandler Smith muscled into the lead on the inside lane followed by Sieg and Truex. Not long after, Anderson was drafted by Hill into the lead through the backstretch. Hill, however, seized an opportunity to veer to the right and overtake Anderson entering Turns 3 and 4 while Chandler Smith, Retzlaff and Truex followed suit amid the draft. Hill would maintain the lead over Chandler Smith, Truex and a hard-charging Brandon Jones during the next lap followed by Creed as the field began to fan out and scramble to the front.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Hill remained as the leader ahead of ex-teammate Creed, who muscled his way into the runner-up spot followed by Sieg and Sammy Smith while Chandler Smith was losing momentum on the outside lane. Then as the field navigated through the first two turns, Sammy Smith and Sieg made contact that resulted with both along with Truex wrecking. The race, however, remained under green flag conditions as Hill remained ahead of Creed and a scattered field with the lead. With Creed unable to gain any draft or momentum for one final turn, Hill was able to smoothly navigate his way around Turns 3 and 4 with a comfortable advantage at full speed before he returned to the frontstretch and claimed his third consecutive checkered flag at Daytona to commence a new season of competition.
With the victory, Hill achieved his seventh NASCAR Xfinity Series career victory in his 82nd series’ start and his fifth on a superspeedway venue as he also became the first competitor to achieve three consecutive Xfinity Daytona opener victories since Tony Stewart made the last accomplishment from 2008-10, with Stewart proceeding to win a fourth consecutive opener in 2011. Compared to his two previous season-opening victories at Daytona that ended under caution, Hill earned this year’s victory under green flag conditions. The Daytona victory was also the ninth overall in the Xfinity circuit for Richard Childress Racing.
“[Tonight’s victory] tops it all,” Hill said on FS1. “Three-peat. You know how hard it is to win at Daytona? God almighty! I don’t know what was going on with me on pit road today, but my guys just kept telling me, ‘Look, man, dig deep; you’re really good at these superspeedways.’ I tried to screw it up on pit road—sped on pit road, slid through the box, about slid through the box on the first stop, but man, this Bennett Chevrolet was fast as Xfinity 10G, that’s for damn sure. I don’t even know what time it is. I know it’s past my bedtime, but we’re about to party tonight, I can tell you that. I am so stoked. This is incredible…it can’t get any better.”
Creed settled in the runner-up spot for the eighth time in his career and in his first event driving for Joe Gibbs Racing while Retzlaff, Jordan Anderson and Chandler Smith finished in the top five.
Herbst rallied his way to finish sixth while Nemechek, Allgaier, Brandon Jones and Allmendinger completed the top-10 finishing order on the track.
Notably, Ryan Ellis ended up 11th after leading 11 laps followed by newcomer Shane van Gisbergen, Cole Custer, Blaine Perkins and BJ McLeod. In addition, Natalie Decker settled in 18th and pole-sitter Jesse Love ended up 20th while Ryan Truex, Ryan Sieg and Sammy Smith ended up 21st through 23rd, respectively, following their last-lap accident.
There were lead changes for different leaders. The race featured cautions for laps. In addition, 22 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the first event of the 2024 Xfinity Series season, Austin Hill leads the regular-season standings by 11 points over Sheldon Creed, 24 over Riley Herbst, 25 over both Parker Retzlaff and Justin Allgaier, and 26 over Jordan Anderson.
Results.
1. Austin Hill, nine laps led, Stage 2 winner
2. Sheldon Creed, two laps led
3. Parker Retzlaff, six laps led
4. Jordan Anderson
5. Chandler Smith, one lap led
6. Riley Herbst, eight laps led
7. John Hunter Nemechek
8. Justin Allgaier, eight laps led
9. Brandon Jones
10. AJ Allmendinger, three laps led
11. Ryan Ellis, 11 laps led
12. Shane van Gisbergen
13. Cole Custer, six laps led
14. Blaine Perkins
15. BJ McLeod
16. Garrett Smithley
17. Patrick Emerling
18. Natalie Decker, seven laps led
19. Brennan Poole
20. Jesse Love, 34 laps led, Stage 1 winner
21. Ryan Truex
22. Ryan Sieg, 12 laps led
23. Sammy Smith, one lap down, six laps led
24. Anthony Alfredo, two laps down
25. Parker Kligerman, two laps down
26. Jeb Burton, two laps down, eight laps led
27. Daniel Dye, three laps down
28. Sage Karam – OUT, Accident
29. Jeremy Clements – OUT, DVP
30. Leland Honeyman – OUT, Accident
31. Dawson Cram – OUT, Accident
32. Josh Bilicki – OUT, Accident
33. Frankie Muniz – OUT, DVP
34. Josh Williams – OUT, Accident
35. Daniel Suarez – OUT, Accident
36. Sam Mayer – OUT, Accident
37. Hailie Deegan – OUT, Accident
38. Kyle Weatherman – OUT, Accident
With the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series season underway, the next event on the schedule is Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia, for the RAPTOR King of Tough 250. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, February 24, and air at 5 p.m. ET on FS1.
In a star-studded and electrifying season-opening event where the Ford and Toyota competitors were deemed as the heavyweight favorites, Chevrolet competitor William Byron and Hendrick Motorsports delivered the final ultimatum that sent them to Victory Lane in the rain-postponed, 66th annual running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on Monday, February 19.
The 26-year-old Byron from Charlotte, North Carolina, led the final four of 200-scheduled laps in an event where he started 18th and was consistent amongst a bevy of competitors running in tight two and three-stacked lanes from start to finish. After dodging a multi-car wreck with eight laps remaining that eliminated a bevy of former Cup Series champions and stars, Byron cycled to the front and made his presence at the front known for the first time during the final restart. With four laps remaining, he fended off late challenges from Ross Chastain and Austin Cindric.
Then as both Chastain and Cindric wrecked before the start of the final lap, Byron managed to start the final lap and emerge in front of teammate Alex Bowman at the moment of caution to emerge as the winner of the Great American Race for the first time in his career and in his seventh full-time campaign piloting the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Hendrick Motorsports.
The starting lineup for the main event was determined through a single-car qualifying session comprising two rounds that occurred on Wednesday, February 14, followed by a pair of Bluegreen Vacations Duels on Thursday, February 15. At the conclusion of both sessions, Joey Logano started in the pole position after posting a lap at 171.947 mph in 49.465 seconds and was joined on the front row by Michael McDowell, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 181.686 mph in 49.536 seconds. Tyler Reddick and Christopher Bell occupied the second row after both won their respective Duel events.
Before the event, the following drivers including Ryan Blaney, Kyle Busch, William Byron, Noah Gragson and Daniel Hemric dropped to the rear of the field in backup cars after each wrecked their primary cars during the Duel events. Kaz Grala also dropped to the rear of the field due to an engine change made to his Front Row Motorsports entry.
When the green flag waved and the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season commenced, Logano gained an early advantage to lead the field entering the first two turns from the outside lane followed by Christopher Bell until McDowell fought back on the inside lane as both fought for the top spot through the backstretch and in front of two packed lanes. With the field still stacked up amid two tight-packed lanes through the frontstretch, Logano led the first lap by a hair over McDowell as both continued to battle side-by-side for the lead during the proceeding laps.
Then on the fifth lap and as the field started to fan out to three lanes as both Logano and McDowell continued to fight for the lead, the event’s first caution flew. Brad Keselowski, who was running within the top 10, got John Hunter Nemechek loose and sent him veering left into Harrison Burton. Burton, who collected rookie Carson Hocevar, was sent spinning across the frontstretch grass before his No. 21 Motorcraft Ford Mustang Dark Horse came back across the track and was T-boned by Kaz Grala, who sent Ryan Preece spinning across the frontstretch. Preece, however, avoided making heavy contact with the inside wall, before Burton was hit by Austin Dillon’s No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 while Jimmie Johnson collided with Hocevar.
During the first caution period, nearly the entire field led by Logano and McDowell pitted while the rest of the field, including Christopher Bell, David Ragan, Daniel Hemric, Ryan Blaney and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., remained on the track. During the pit stops, where a majority of the field opted for only fuel for their respective entries, William Byron received a vehicle interference penalty when he pulled up into the wrong box and nearly collided with teammate Alex Bowman. In addition, Nemechek would be penalized for an equipment violation.
When the race restarted under green on Lap 11, Bell and Blaney dueled for the lead amid two tight-packed lanes through the first two turns as Bell had Logano drafting him on the outside lane while Blaney had Daniel Hemric drafting him on the inside lane. Both Bell and Blaney would continue to compete for the lead in front of two tight-packed lanes during the proceeding laps. By then, AJ Allmendinger served a drive-through penalty through pit road for not lining up properly during the restart.
Through the first 20 scheduled laps, Bell and Blaney continued to battle for the lead in front of two tight-packed lanes while Hemric, Logano, McDowell, Chase Elliott, Brad Keselowski, Austin Cindric, Denny Hamlin and Tyler Reddick were scored in the top 10 followed by Ross Chastain, Alex Bowman, Erik Jones, Riley Herbst, rookie Josh Berry, Chase Briscoe, Chris Buescher, rookie Zane Smith, Daniel Suarez and Justin Haley. Meanwhile, Kyle Busch was back in 21st along with Kyle Larson, Ty Gibbs, Todd Gilliland and Martin Truex Jr. while Bubba Wallace, Nemechek, Corey LaJoie, William Byron and Noah Gragson were running within the top 30 ahead of Ragan, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ryan Preece, Anthony Alfredo and Allmendinger, with Jimmie Johnson scored two laps down in 36th place.
Five laps later, Bell and Blaney remained dead even for the lead in front of the pack as Hemric and Logano followed suit in the second row while McDowell and Elliott were running in the third row ahead of Keselowski, Cindric, Hamlin and Reddick. The field led by both Bell and Blaney would continue to run stacked amid two tight-packed lanes by the Lap 30 mark.
Just past the Lap 35 mark and with a majority of the field migrating to the inside lane while trying to conserve fuel, Blaney had sole possession of the lead followed by Bell, Hemric, Logano and Elliott while Keselowski and Cindric fought for sixth place with Cindric leading a handful of competitors on the outside lane. A lap later, Logano mounted a charge on the outside lane through the frontstretch but was blocked by teammate Blaney entering the first turn. By then, Blaney had his Team Penske teammates Logano and Cindric along with a majority of the competitors following suit on the outside lane while Bell served as the lead competitor on the inside lane, followed by Hemric, Elliott and Keselowski.
On Lap 40, Logano mounted another charge on the outside lane followed by teammate Cindric and overtook him for the lead entering Turns 1 and 2 while teammate Blaney moved to the inside lane in front of Bell. Another lap later, however, the Team Penske competitors along with Bell, Hemric and Keselowski pitted under green, mainly for fuel, while McDowell assumed the lead. Chris Buescher would then pit his No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang Dark Horse by Lap 42 as McDowell was trying to fend off Berry, Hamlin, Elliott and Kyle Busch for the lead. Though he initially prevailed, McDowell was left battling Elliott side-by-side for the lead.
After Berry led a lap on Lap 45, Elliott assumed the lead in his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 during the following lap. He would be followed by Kyle Busch, Bubba Wallace, Martin Truex Jr. and Noah Gragson while Byron, Larson, Hamlin, Bowman and Zane Smith were scored in the top 10 as the field dispersed, with the Team Penske competitors separated as Blaney was losing the draft from teammates Logano and Cindric due to taking extra time in his pit stall for fuel.
Just past the Lap 50 mark, top names that included Bell, Hemric, Blaney and McDowell, all of whom previously pitted, were lapped by the front-runners as Elliott retained the lead followed by Kyle Busch, Wallace, Truex and Gragson while Byron, Larson, Hamlin, Bowman and Zane Smith remained in the top 10 amid a long single-file line towards the outside lane.
Four laps later, Zane Smith and Stenhouse pitted under green. Another lap later, a bevy of competitors, mainly Chevrolet competitors, led by Elliott pitted as Wallace cycled into the lead, though Wallace would lead another wave of competitors, mainly Toyota competitors, into pit road for service during the following lap as Gragson cycled into the lead followed by a bevy of Ford competitors. The leader, Gragson, along with teammate Berry, Justin Haley and Todd Gilliland then pitted prior to the Lap 60 mark as Ragan assumed the lead followed by Preece while Kyle Busch, who was leading a bevy of competitors who pitted, was in third and trying to gain ground amid the draft.
With three laps remaining in the first stage period, Ragan and Preece, both of whom were trying to stretch their fuel tanks to the distance of the stage’s conclusion, were overtaken by a wave of competitors led by Kyle Busch, who assumed the lead followed by Byron, Elliott, Suarez and Larson while Bowman, Chastain, Wallace, Truex and Hamlin were mired in the front pack.
At the start of the first stage period’s final lap, Elliott moved to the outside lane as he assumed the lead from Busch followed by teammates Larson, Bowman and Chastain. Then entering the frontstretch, Larson tried to make his move to Elliott’s outside approaching the start/finish line, but Chastain gave Elliott a bump, which propelled Elliott forward as he claimed the first stage victory on Lap 65. Teammate Larson settled in second followed by Chastain while Byron, Bowman, Busch, Hamlin, Wallace, Truex and Suarez were scored in the top 10. By then, Blaney, Bell and Hemric had managed to cycle their way back onto the lead lap while Allmendinger fended off McDowell to emerge as the first competitor scored a lap down, which enabled him to cycle back onto the lead lap during the caution period.
Under the stage break, nearly the entire field led by Elliott pitted while select names that included Keselowski, Riley Herbst and Hemric remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, both Nemechek and Reddick stalled their respective entries. In addition, Kyle Busch was penalized for a safety violation. Herbst and Hemric would pit during the proceeding lap while Keselowski remained on the track, though he pitted to top off of fuel prior to the lead as Larson and Berry cycled into the lead.
The second stage period started on Lap 70 as Larson and Berry occupied the front row. At the start, Larson and Berry dueled for the lead through the first two turns as Berry muscled his No. 4 SunnyD Ford Mustang Dark Horse into the lead before Larson fought back on the outside lane. With both remaining dead even for the lead, Larson led the next scheduled lap as Hamlin and Gilliland followed suit in the second lane.
With the field fanning out to three lanes through the backstretch by Lap 71, both Larson and Berry remained dead even for the lead until Logano mounted a charge from the third outside lane as he rocketed his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse into the lead followed by Chase Briscoe and Haley before Briscoe, who migrated to the inside lane, challenged Logano for the lead as Logano transitioned from the inside and outside lane. With Larson stuck in the middle lane, Logano had drafting help from Haley on the outside lane while Briscoe was trying to regain momentum from the inside lane. As teammates Briscoe and Berry lost momentum and were slowly drifting to the rear of the field, Logano retained the lead followed by Haley, Buescher, Kyle Busch, Preece and Blaney while Larson, who moved in front of Briscoe, was trying to mount forward on the inside lane by the Lap 75 mark.
By Lap 80, Logano was leading followed by Haley, Buscher, Busch and Preece while Blaney, Gilliland, Hemric, Wallace and Zane Smith were in the top 10 followed by Truex, Larson, Alfredo, Reddick, Bell, Elliott, Cindric, LaJoie, Keselowski and Stenhouse. Meanwhile, Byron was mired back in 25th while teammates Berry and Briscoe fell back to 23rd and 27th, respectively, as Chastain was in 29th in between Gragson and Ty Gibbs. In addition, Hamlin was back in 34th place.
Ten laps later, Logano continued to lead followed by Haley, Wallace and Buescher while Todd Gilliland, who was challenging Logano for the lead a few laps earlier, was trying to mount back towards the front on the inside lane as Gilliland, who received drafting help from Wallace earlier, was being drafted by Truex while Reddick tried to join the fray.
A few laps later and as the field lapped McDowell, who was battling gear issues, through the frontstretch, Gilliland steered his No. 38 gener8tor Ford Mustang Dark Horse to the inside lane and battled dead even with Logano through the first two turns before managing to move in front of Logano’s Ford through the backstretch. This allowed Truex to mount a charge on the inside lane as Gilliland retained the lead both on the outside lane and in the overall event ahead of Logano while Truex, Reddick, Haley and Cindric were battling with close quarters for the top spot.
At the halfway mark on Lap 100, Gilliland continued to lead followed by Logano, Truex, Haley and Reddick while Wallace, Cindric, Buescher, Keselowski and Busch were scored in the top 10 amid two tight-packed lanes. By then, 34 of 40 competitors were scored on the lead lap and separated by two seconds. Gilliland would continue to lead the next eight laps until he was overtaken by Bubba Wallace through the frontstretch. Wallace, however, would be overtaken by Kyle Busch exiting the backstretch and through Turns 3 and 4 while Preece mounted a charge to the outside lane as he challenged Busch for the lead while Wallace followed suit.
Then on Lap 111, a second cycle of green flag pit stops commenced as Preece led Logano, Gilliland, Wallace and a bevy of competitors to pit road. Amid the pit stops, Berry was turned by Nemechek as he was trying to enter his pit stall while Preece, who locked up his front tires while trying to enter pit road, was penalized for speeding on pit road. Meanwhile, Busch assumed the lead followed by Larson, Alfredo and the rest of the pack.
Busch would then lead another wave of competitors, mainly Chevrolet competitors, to pit road for service on Lap 114 under green while Larson, who assumed a brief lead, led Blaney, Elliott, Corey LaJoie, Cindric, Byron, Bowman and Chastain to pit road. At the completion of the green flag pit stops, Larson managed to merge back onto the track as the leader followed by teammate Elliott, Blaney and LaJoie while Busch was trying to carve his way back to the front followed by a bevy of competitors. Larson would maintain the lead until Cindric made his way to the front and the lead, followed by teammate Blaney nearing the Lap 120 mark while Busch was in fourth ahead of Elliott, Byron and LaJoie.
Just past the Lap 120 mark, a tight battle for the lead ignited between Cindric and Busch, with Busch receiving drafting help from Byron on the outside lane while Cindric had teammate Blaney drafting him in front of two tight-packed lanes as the top-23 competitors were separated by more than a second.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 130, Blaney, who had been drafting teammate Cindric over the course of the previous 10 laps amid his battle with Busch, made a bold move beneath teammate Cindric to assume the lead through Turns 3 and 4, which enabled him to muscle his No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang Dark Horse ahead of the pack and claim the stage victory. Teammate Cindric followed suit in second along with Suarez while Busch, Reddick, Byron, Wallace, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., AJ Allmendinger and Buescher were scored into the top 10. Amid the battle towards the front, Ty Gibbs managed to fend off Preece and Berry to emerge as the first competitor a lap down as he cycled back onto the lead lap.
During the stage break, nearly the entire field led by Blaney pitted while Keselowski remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Suarez was penalized for equipment interference while Busch had issues for a loose wheel to his entry, but he managed to cycle back to his pit stall to have the wheel issue addressed as he remained on the lead lap. In addition, Keselowkski, Nemechek and Ragan would pit, which cycled Cindric back to the lead.
With 64 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Cindric and Wallace occupied the front row. At the start, Cindric and Wallace dueled for the lead as Cindric had teammate Blaney drafting him on the outside lane while Wallace had teammate Reddick drafting him on the inside lane. Both Cindric and Wallace would continue to battle dead even for the lead during the proceeding laps. Then as the field fanned out to three tight-packed lanes, Allmendinger, who rallied from being mired a lap down earlier, muscled his No. 16 Celsius Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the lead over Wallace followed by Buescher and Truex while Wallace and Cindric slipped out of the top five. A tight battle for the lead then ignited between Allmendinger and Reddick with 60 laps remaining while the field continued to battle amid three tight-packed lanes.
Five laps later, Allmendinger retained the lead from the inside lane followed by teammate Hemric while LaJoie was trying to mount a charge from the outside lane followed by Bell and Truex as Hamlin was leading the middle lane ahead of Kyle Busch. Not long after, Allmendinger would get shuffled out of the lead as LaJoie and Kyle Busch battled dead even for the lead while Hamlin, Bowman, Larson and Bell followed suit with 50 laps remaining. Two laps later, Hamlin muscled his No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry XSE into the lead over LaJoie as Busch tried to fight back on the inside lane.
With 40 laps remaining, Hamlin was leading ahead of LaJoie, Busch, Bell, Logano and the rest of the field. As the field fanned out to three tight-packed lanes while the intensity of the event started to ignite, Logano, who assumed the lead not long after, was leading followed by Ragan, Hamlin, Busch, and Keselowski while Bell, Briscoe, Reddick, Gragson and Chastain were scored in the top 10 amid two tight-packed lanes with 30 laps remaining. Logano would continue to lead ahead of Ragan, Hamlin, Keselowski, Busch and the rest of the field with 25 laps remaining.
Then with 23 laps remaining, another wave of green flag pit stops commenced as Riley Herbst led Hemric, LaJoie and a handful of competitors to pit road. Another wave of competitors, mainly Toyota competitors, led by Bell pitted during the next lap while Hamlin and Busch pitted together with 20 laps remaining. A wave of Ford competitors led by the race leader Logano would pit with 19 laps remaining while a wave of Chevrolet competitors led by Chastain pitted during the following lap. After the pit stops, Ross Chastain would cycle into the lead followed by Stenhouse and teammate Suarez while Logano was trying to weave his way back to the front amid the drafting momentum from his Ford teammates.
Down to the final 15 laps of the event, Chastain was leading ahead of Logano, Stenhouse and a bevy of competitors running tight amid two tight-packed lanes. Shortly after, Suarez would muscle his No. 99 Freeway Insurance Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the lead while Stenhouse was getting shuffled out of the lead draft. Meanwhile, Chastain remained in contention up on the outside lane followed by Logano while Byron tried to mount a charge on the inside lane.
A few laps later, the field fanned out to three tight-packed lanes as Chastain made his move to the outside lane followed by Logano, leaving Suarez pinned on the middle lane and Byron on the inside lane, as he reassumed the lead. Not long after, Byron mounted a charge on the inside lane along with Suarez as all three continued to battle dead even in front of the stacked field with 10 laps remaining.
Then with nine laps remaining, the caution flew after Bowman bumped and got teammate Byron loose, which resulted with Byron veering left and clipping Keselowski’s No. 6 Castrol Ford Mustang Dark Horse into Logano and into the path of both Blaney and Truex exiting the backstretch, which triggered a multi-car wreck that collected Suarez, Stenhouse, Reddick, Hamlin, Ty Gibbs, Preece, Gragson, Hemric, Alfredo, Larson, Briscoe, Buescher and Erik Jones. Amid the wreckage, Chastain barely escaped with the lead followed by Bowman, Byron, Cindric and Elliott as the event was placed in a red flag period for more than 15 minutes.
Once the red flag lifted and the field proceeded under a cautious pace, some led by Briscoe pitted while the rest led by Chastain remained on the track.
Down to the final four laps of the event, the race restarted under green as Chastain and Byron occupied the front row. At the start, Chastain and Byron dueled for the lead through the first two turns as Chastain had Bowman drafting him on the outside lane while Byron had Cindric drafting him on the inside lane. Through the backstretch, Chastain and Byron continued to battle dead even for the lead as the field returned to the frontstretch with three laps remaining.
With two laps remaining, Byron received a strong push from Cindric to muscle his No. 24 AXALTA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 ahead of Chastain from the inside lane through the frontstretch. Byron would then maintain the lead over Cindric, Chastain and LaJoie through the backstretch and approaching the start/finish line to start the final lap of the event.
Then as the field approached the tri-oval to start the final lap of the event, Cindric, who blocked LaJoie while battling Byron for the lead, veered back to the right and clipped Chastain’s No. 1 Busch Light Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, which sent both spinning through the frontstretch’s grass as Cindric came back across the track and was T-boned by Ragan as Zane Smith was also involved while Chastain slid across the infield and just missed the inside wall.
With the leaders having crossed the start/finish line to start the final lap of the event prior to the caution being displayed that ended the event, Byron emerged out in front of teammate Bowman and the field when the caution flew and was declared the winner of the event.
With the victory, Byron, whose previous best Daytona 500 result was 21st, became the 43rd competitor to win the Great American Race as this season marks the fourth consecutive time where the Daytona 500 featured a first-time winner of the event. In addition, Byron, who achieved his 11th NASCAR Cup Series career victory and second at Daytona International Speedway, delivered the ninth Daytona 500 victory for Hendrick Motorsports and the team’s first since 2014, which occurred with Dale Earnhardt Jr., while also piloting the No. 24 car to a 500 victory for the first time since Jeff Gordon made the last accomplishment in 2005. The 500 victory was also the first for crew chief Ryan “Rudy” Fugle and the 26th overall for the Chevrolet nameplate.
Photo by Patrick Sue-Chan for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“[Daytona 500 champion title] sounds really damn good,” Byron said on FOX. “I’ve so many emotions. Obviously, I hate what happened at the backstretch. I just got pushed and got sideways, but just so proud of this whole AXALTA team, 40th anniversary to the day on Monday [when HMS first competed]. Just extremely blessed and thankful for all the opportunities. We just wanna keep [the early momentum] going. We have a lot to prove this year. This is a good start, obviously. Daytona 500! It’s freakin’ awesome! Let’s go!”
“[We had] Just really good strategy [that got us to the front],” Byron added. “We laid back and tried to save fuel for most of the race. We would get up there at the end of the stages and make some moves. Just thankful for great power under the hood, all of our partners, everybody that allows us to do this. I’m just a kid from racing on computers and winning the Daytona 500. I can’t believe it. [Me and my dad] have been through so much. We sat up in the grandstands together and watched the races. It’s so freakin’ cool.”
In addition to Byron, the 2024 Daytona 500 victory was meaningful for Jeff Gordon, vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports, and owner Rick Hendrick, whose team, Hendrick Motorsports, is celebrating its 40th anniversary of competition in the NASCAR Cup Series.
“I’m telling you, you couldn’t write the script any better,” Hendrick said in Victory Lane. “When we think about coming down here the first time, we didn’t think we should be here, felt so out of place. We win this on our 40th [anniversary] to the day. It’s just… and tied a record now, so that’s awesome.”
“It’s so cool,” Gordon added. “What this is gonna do for this team, for AXALTA and all of our partners, and William Byron. He was already a superstar. He just went to another level being a superstar. I wasn’t driving the car, but I felt like I was making every lap with him out there. It’s just crazy to watch these guys do what they do and do it so well. To watch it from this side of it, it makes me so happy, so proud. We’re gonna celebrate. This is an amazing win. Huge win. Daytona 500!”
Teammate Bowman settled in second place while Bell, Corey LaJoie and Bubba Wallace finished in the top five. For Bowman, the runner-up result was his best in his eighth attempt of winning the Great American Race.
“I was pretty sure Willliam [Byron] had it, but you’re gonna let him debate it, right?” Bowman said. “I think a couple hundred more feet and obviously, we had the run. Just so proud of everybody at Hendrick Motorsports. To get a Hendrick Motorsports 1-2 [finish], have the No. 24 car in Victory Lane. Obviously, I wish it was our Ally No. 48 [car], but it was a great day for us. Proud of everybody. We did everything we could right. [I] Wish it was one spot better, but still, proud of the whole team.”
Allmendinger, John Hunter Nemechek, Erik Jones, Noah Gragson and Chase Briscoe completed the top 10 in the final running order.
Notably, Kyle Larson ended up 11th followed by Kyle Busch, rookie Zane Smith, Chase Elliott and Martin Truex Jr. while Hamlin ended up 19th. Chastain, who was in the position of achieving his first Daytona 500 victory prior to the final lap accident, ended up 21st while Cindric ended up 22nd.
There were 41 lead changes for 20 different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 20 laps. Overall, 20 of 40 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the first event of the 2024 Cup Series season, William Byron leads the regular-season standings by four points over teammate Alex Bowman, 10 over Christopher Bell, 12 over Chase Elliott, 15 over Bubba Wallace and 17 over John Hunter Nemechek, Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch.
Results.
1. William Byron, four laps led
2. Alex Bowman
3. Christopher Bell, 22 laps led
4. Corey LaJoie, one lap led
5. Bubba Wallace, three laps led
6. AJ Allmendinger, nine laps led
7. John Hunter Nemechek
8. Erik Jones
9. Noah Gragson, five laps led
10. Chase Briscoe
11. Kyle Larson, seven laps led
12. Kyle Busch, 12 laps led
13. Zane Smith
14. Chase Elliott, 13 laps led, Stage 1 winner
15. Martin Truex Jr.
16. Daniel Hemric
17. Ty Gibbs
18. Chris Buescher
19. Denny Hamlin, 10 laps led
20. David Ragan, two laps led
21. Ross Chastain, one lap down, 14 laps led
22. Austin Cindric, one lap down, 13 laps led
23. Ryan Preece, one lap down
24. Riley Herbst, one lap down
25. Josh Berry, one lap down
26. Justin Haley, one lap down
27. Anthony Alfredo, two laps down
28. Jimmie Johnson, four laps down
29. Tyler Reddick – OUT, Accident
30. Ryan Blaney – OUT, 12 laps led, Stage 2 winner
31. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – OUT, Accident
32. Joey Logano – OUT, Accident, 45 laps led
33. Brad Keselowski – OUT, Accident, three laps led
34. Daniel Suarez – OUT, Accident, two laps led
35. Todd Gilliland – OUT, Accident, 16 laps led
36. Michael McDowell, 24 laps down, six laps led
37. Austin Dillon, 54 laps down
38. Kaz Grala – OUT, Accident
39. Harrison Burton – OUT, Accident
40. Carson Hocevar – OUT, Accident
With the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season officially underway, the next event on the schedule is the Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, February 25, and air at 3 p.m. ET on FOX.
The 2024 Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway has been postponed until Monday, February 19, at 4 p.m. ET on FOX due to inclement weather that prevented the season-opening event from occurring on Sunday, Feb. 18.
The announcement comes as the amount of rainfall within the Daytona International Speedway circuit that has increased since the start of this weekend, particularly on Saturday, continues to precipitate with no sight of relief until Monday. The weather had already impacted this year’s Daytona Speedweeks events as the 2024 ARCA Menards Series’ opener at Daytona occurred on Friday night instead of Saturday while the Cup Series’ final practice session scheduled for Saturday was canceled, both due to rain.
With the announcement, this will mark the first time since the 2012 season that the Daytona 500 event will commence on a Monday. Previously, the 2020 and 2021 Daytona 500s started on a Sunday but finished on Monday due to rain.
In addition, the Cup Series’ Daytona 500 will be part of a historic doubleheader feature on Monday that will include the Xfinity Series’ season-opening event at Daytona for the United Rentals 300 which was also postponed to Monday, both coinciding on the same day for the first time. The Xfinity opener will occur first at 11 a.m. ET on FS1 before the Daytona 500.
When the event commences on Monday, Joey Logano, a two-time Cup Series champion and the 2015 Daytona 500 champion, will lead the field to the green flag from pole position after he posted a pole-winning lap at 171.947 mph in 49.465 seconds during Wednesday night’s single-car qualifying session. Joining him on the front row will be Michael McDowell, the 2021 Daytona 500 champion who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 181.686 mph in 49.536 seconds.
The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series’ season-opening event at Daytona International Speedway for the 66th annual running of the Daytona 500 is scheduled for Monday, February 19. It will air at 4 p.m. ET on FOX.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series United Rentals 300 at Daytona International Speedway has been postponed to Monday, February 19, at 11 a.m. ET on FS1 due to inclement weather that prevented the 2024 season-opening event from occurring on Saturday, February 17.
The announcement comes as the amount of rainfall within the state of Florida and the Daytona International Speedway circuit, which continues to play a critical factor for the remainder of this year’s Daytona Speedweeks, including Sunday’s 66th annual running of the Daytona 500 for the Cup Series, continues to precipitate with no sight of relief for the remainder of Saturday, but provides some relief throughout Monday.
The Xfinity Series teams and competitors were able to conduct an on-track qualifying session earlier in the day and host driver introductions before the increase in precipitation halted all on-track activities and delayed the event’s start before the decision being made to postpone the event two days later.
This season will mark the first time the Xfinity Series’ season-opening event at Daytona has been postponed to a Monday since the 2004 season, where Dale Earnhardt Jr. would win during the same season where he notched his first Daytona 500 victory. Further announcements regarding plans for Sunday’s 66th running of the Daytona 500 amid weather concerns remain to be determined.
When the Xfinity Series event at Daytona occurs to commence the 2024 season, Jesse Love, a newcomer to the Xfinity Series, will lead the field to the green flag from pole position after he posted a pole-winning lap at 181.079 mph in 49.702 seconds while piloting the No. 2 Chevrolet Camaro for Richard Childress Racing. Joining him on the front row will be teammate Austin Hill, a two-time series’ Daytona season-opener winner who clocked in the second-best qualifying lap at 181.068 mph in 49.705 seconds.
Stanton Barrett, Dawson Cram, Kyle Sieg, CJ McLaughlin, Caesar Bacarella and Joey Gase were the competitors who did not qualify for the event.
The 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series’ season-opening event at Daytona International Speedway for the United Rentals 300 is scheduled to occur this Monday, February 19, and will begin to air at 11 a.m. ET on FS1.
From being involved in an early multi-truck wreck to escaping a final lap multi-truck wreck, Nick Sanchez capped off his roller-coaster evening mired with on-track chaos to claim his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career victory in the Fresh From Florida 250 at Daytona International Speedway on Friday, February 16.
The 22-year-old Sanchez from Miami, Florida, led three times for a race-high 26 of 101 over-scheduled laps in an event where he was involved in a multi-truck wreck on the fifth lap. Despite sustaining cosmetic damage to his No. 2 Gainbridge Chevrolet Silverado RST, Sanchez managed to continue as he methodically remained within distance of the front-runners through the draft. Amid more carnages ensuing, he assumed the lead for the first time with nearly 40 laps remaining and managed to remain upfront amid four additional late-race restarts amid four on-track carnages.
Then during an overtime shootout, Sanchez, who briefly lost the lead to Rajah Caruth, reassumed the top spot with drafting help from Taylor Gray before the final lap. During the final lap, Caruth ignited a multi-truck wreck entering the backstretch that sent a multitude of competitors piling into one another and Gray flipping in the air and on top of two competitors before rolling back on all four wheels. With Sanchez managing to drive away from the field prior to the incident, he was able to cruise back to the frontstretch under a cautious pace and claim his first checkered flag in his 24th series start.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Ty Majeski started on pole position after posting a pole-winning lap at 178.767 mph in 50.345 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Johnny Sauter, who clocked in the second-best qualifying lap at 178.703 mph in 50.363 seconds.
Prior to the event, the following names that included Spencer Boyd, Ben Rhodes and Jason White dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries.
When the green flag waved and the 2024 Craftsman Truck Series season commenced, Majeski and Sauter battled dead even for the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch amid two tight-packed lanes. With the front-runners continuing to battle amid two tight-packed lanes through Turns 3 and 4 and through the frontstretch, Sauter managed to lead the first lap by a hair over Majeski while receiving drafting help from teammate Matt Mills.
Through the next four laps and as the field started to fan out to three lanes amid the draft, Sauter and Majeski duked back and forth for the lead until Sauter managed to muscle his No. 45 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado RST ahead of the pack with both lanes in his control. In the process, Majeski settled in second ahead of Corey LaJoie, Tyler Ankrum and Daniel Dye. Meanwhile, Mills, who sustained significant front nose damage to his No. 42 J.F. Electric/Utilitra Chevrolet Silverado RST by drafting Sauter hard in the early laps, was the lead competitor on the outside lane until he was shoved out of the draft amid a tight three-wide battle towards the front.
Then just past the fifth lap mark, the event’s first caution flew after Crafton, who was boxed in between Tanner Gray and Christian Eckes amid a stacked two-pack lane within the top 15, received a bump from Eckes into Gray that got Crafton’s No. 88 Menards Ford F-150 loose and bumping into the side of rookie Layne Riggs, which then carried forth into Crafton clipping Tanner Gray, who clipped Stewart Friesen, who then clipped Nick Sanchez through the backstretch. The chain reaction incident ended up triggering a multi-truck wreck that also included Ty Dillon, Thad Moffitt, Rajah Caruth, Lawless Alan, Keith McGee, Enfinger, and Jake Garcia. Amid the incident, Sauter was scored the leader ahead of Majeski, LaJoie, Ankrum and Daniel Dye while Bayley Currey, Taylor Gray, Bret Holmes, Toni Breidinger and Dean Thompson were running in the top 10.
During the caution period, some including Jason White, LaJoie, Grant Enfinger, Timmy Hill, Ben Rhodes, Crafton, Riggs, Mills and Tanner Gray pitted while the rest led by Sauter remained on the track.
When the race restarted under green on Lap 12, Sauter and Majeski dueled for the lead in front of two tight-packed lanes through the first two turns and the backstretch. They remained dead even for the lead through the frontstretch as Sauter tried to edge ahead before Majeski fought back on the inside lane. Amid the tight battle for the lead, Sauter had teammate Currey and Taylor Gray drafting him while Majeski had drafting help from Ankrum as he then muscled ahead with the lead through Turns 3 and 4 during the following lap. Majeski would continue to have both drafting lanes to himself with the lead and with drafting help from Ankrum by the Lap 15 mark.
Shortly after, the caution returned after Lawless Alan, who was involved in the event’s early multi-truck wreck, spun by himself below the apron entering Turns 1 and 2 after he blew a right-rear tire and damaged his front nose after his truck dug into the infield grass before he then spun back across the track and was dodged by oncoming traffic. During the caution period, some including Dye, Stefan Parsons, Cory Roper, Sanchez, Caruth, Codie Rohrbaugh and Boyd pitted while the rest led by Sauter remained on the track.
With a single remaining in the first stage period, the event restarted under green. At the start, Sauter and Majeski again dueled for the top spot through the first two turns until Sauter prevailed on the outside lane with drafting help from teammate Currey to assume the top spot for good through the backstretch. The field then fanned out through the backstretch as both Currey and Majeski tried to mount a late charge for the lead, but their momentum was not enough as Sauter managed to capture the first Truck stage victory of the 2024 season. Majeski and Currey duked for the runner-up spot while Ankrum, Taylor Gray, Holmes, Jack Wood, Eckes, Thompson and Heim were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, some led by Sauter pitted while the rest led by Majeski remained on the track.
The second stage period started on Lap 26 as Majeski and Ankrum occupied the front row. At the start, Majeski and Ankrum dueled for the lead until Ankrum muscled ahead with drafting help from teammate Eckes through Turns 1 and 2. With the field dispersed and the competitors trying to regather into a drafting file, Ankrum retained the lead over teammate Eckes and Rhodes while LaJoie, Crafton, Daniel Dye, Sanchez, Breidinger, Heim and Mills moved up the leaderboard as Majeski dropped out of the top 10.
At the Lap 30 mark, Ankrum retained the lead ahead of a hard-charging Rhodes, who received drafting help from LaJoie on the outside lane to challenge Ankrum for the lead through Turns 1 and 2 while Eckes continued to draft teammate Ankrum on the inside lane. Amid the stacked two-packed field, Crafton and Sanchez battled for fifth while Heim, Dye, Majeski and Breidinger were running in the top 10 ahead of Enfinger, Mills, Caruth, Sauter, Roper and Holmes.
A lap later and as both Ankrum and Rhodes continued to battle dead even for the lead, the caution flew due to debris in the form of a tire carcass from Stewart Friesen’s entry being spotted in Turn 3, with Friesen pitting for fresh tires. During the caution period, some including Sauter, Currey, Thompson, Tanner Gray, Breidinger, Mills and Holmes pitted while the rest led by Ankrum remained on the track.
During the following restart on Lap 37, Ankrum received another strong push from teammate Eckes to muscle ahead with the lead on the inside lane. Crafton and Dye would follow suit while Rhodes fell back into a side-by-side battle with teammate Majeski for fifth place amid the draft and two stacked lanes. With Rhodes picking up LaJoie as a drafting partner through the frontstretch, Ankrum maintained the lead ahead of teammate Eckes, Crafton and Dye through the proceeding lap.
The caution, however, would return on Lap 38 due to reports of mist around the superspeedway venue. With the field being directed to pit road and placed under a red flag period for more than seven minutes to await the track being dried, Ankrum was awarded the Stage 2 victory scheduled to conclude on Lap 40. Teammate Eckes settled in second while Crafton, Dye, Rhodes, Majeski, LaJoie, Enfinger, Sanchez and Heim were scored in the top 10.
Once the red flag lifted and the field proceeded under a cautious pace for the second stage break, nearly the entire field led by Ankrum pitted while the rest led by Bret Holmes and Sauter remained on the track. During the pit stops, Ankrum nearly collided with Spencer Boyd, who was trying to enter his pit stall. In addition, Jason White drove through multiple pit stalls while Majeski was penalized due to his pit crew jumping over his pit stall too soon.
With 56 laps remaining, the final stage commenced under green as Holmes and Sauter occupied the front row. At the start, Holmes marched ahead with the lead from Sauter, where the former moved in front of him to the inside lane before Tanner Gray gained a strong run amid the draft through the backstretch to claim the lead followed by Chase Purdy. Amid Gray’s early efforts, Holmes would maintain the lead amid the draft followed by Sauter for the next two laps before the caution returned as Keith McGee wrecked in Turn 4.
During the caution period, select names that included Sanchez, LaJoie and Cory Roper pitted while the rest led by Holmes remained on the track.
With the event restarting with 49 laps remaining, Sauter and Holmes engaged in another side-by-side battle for the lead and in front of two tight-packed lanes. Five laps later, however, the caution flew after Holmes slipped sideways while battling Sauter entering the frontstretch and spun towards the infield along with Currey, who spun off the front nose of Taylor Gray and made light contact with the inside wall towards the pit road entrance. This resulted in a majority of the field led by Sauter returning to pit road for service while the rest led by Enfinger pitted. Enfinger, however, would pit shortly after along with several other names during the caution period, thus handing the lead to Sanchez
With the event restarting with 39 laps remaining, Sanchez received a strong push from Taylor Gray to muscle away with the lead. As the field fanned out to two and three tight-packed lanes amid the draft, Sanchez had both lanes to his control as he retained the lead followed by Taylor Gray. Three laps later, however, Ben Rhodes received a strong shove from Eckes to march forward into the lead, where he would lead the next five laps before he was challenged by Sauter for the top spot.
Then with 30 laps remaining, Rhodes made an unscheduled pit stop under green due to a tire issue to his No. 99 Ranch Fuel Energy Drink Ford F-150 as a result of an earlier on-track contact with Ankrum, where Ankrum ran into the right side of Rhodes’ entry. Amid Rhodes’ issue, a three-way battle for the lead ensued between Chase Purdy, Sanchez and Eckes for the lead while LaJoie, Parsons, Taylor Gray, Ankrum and Jack Wood joined the battle amid two tight-packed lanes.
Two laps later, Rhodes’ event went from bad to worse after he slipped sideways and spun in Turn 4 while also making contact with Tanner Gray and Breidinger due to another tire issue to his entry. The issue occurred as Rhodes was lapped by the leaders entering Turns 3 and 4. With the damage to his entry, the reigning two-time Truck Series champion concluded his event in his pit stall.
During the proceeding restart with 23 laps remaining, Sanchez received a strong shove from Eckes to assume the lead from LaJoie as Taylor Gray followed suit in third place. Trouble, however, returned during the following lap when Eckes received a bump from LaJoie that sent his No. 19 NAPA Chevrolet Silverado RST sideways and into the side of Parsons while he also got rear-ended by Sauter, whose hood popped up as both he and Eckes spun entering the frontstretch.
The start of the next restart with 16 laps remaining featured Sanchez muscling away from the field on the inside lane with a strong push from Taylor Gray. They would be followed by Jack Wood while the rest of the field engaged to battling in two tight-packed lanes. The following lap, the caution returned after Dean Thompson ran into the rear of Mason Massey entering Turn 4 and slipped sideways while teammate Breidinger was also involved as she ran into the rear of Thompson, slipped up the track and spun her No. 1 Celsius Toyota Tundra TRD Pro.
During the following restart with nine laps remaining, Rajah Caruth received drafting help from teammate LaJoie to move into the lead entering the first two turns. Both Spire Motorsports competitors would muscle away from the field through the backstretch until Sanchez gained a massive draft to reassume the top spot with drafting help from Taylor Gray as they were followed by Wood, Ankrum and Purdy while Caruth and LaJoie briefly separated amid the draft.
Two laps later and as Sanchez and Taylor Gray started to battle dead even for the lead in front of the pack, the caution flew after Ankrum slipped sideways off the front nose of Purdy, with both collecting Eckes before spinning through the backstretch’s grass. The incident was enough to send the event into overtime as Sanchez was scored the leader ahead of Caruth, Taylor Gray, Wood, LaJoie and Crafton.
At the start of the first overtime attempt, Sanchez and Caruth battled dead even for the lead through the first two turns until Caruth assumed the lead from the outside lane as both he and LaJoie rocketed ahead from the outside lane. They then maintained the lead through the backstretch until Sanchez and Taylor Gray gained a run to the outside lane towards Turns 3 and 4, which was enough for Sanchez to reassume the lead entering the frontstretch.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Sanchez was leading ahead of Taylor Gray, Wood, Caruth and Heim as the field started to fan out to three lanes through the first two turns. Then entering the backstretch, a fiery multi-truck ignited after Caruth drove up the track and turned Wood into Taylor Gray, which sent Gray spinning and wrecking against the backstretch’s outside wall before he was T-boned by Daniel Dye and sent upside-down on top of Eckes and Tanner Gray before his No. 17 JBL Toyota Tundra TRD Pro rolled back on all four wheels. With the caution flag flying to end the event as nearly the entire field wrecked in the backstretch, Sanchez, who drove away from the incident, was scored the leader and declared the winner for his first series’ career victory.
With the victory, Sanchez, who claimed the 2023 Truck Series Rookie-of-the-Year title and just missed the Championship 4 cutline amid a winless season, became the 123rd competitor overall to achieve a victory in the Craftsman Truck Series and the seventh to do so at Daytona International Speedway. He also recorded the first victory across NASCAR’s top three national touring series for Rev Racing and the 100th points-paying victory in NASCAR at Daytona for the Chevrolet nameplate, with the Chevrolet nameplate also racking up its fourth victory at Daytona.
Photo by Patrick Sue-Chan for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“[The win]’s Pretty surreal, especially with how the race started,” Sanchez said on FS1. “A big thanks to my team, sticking with me all last year. We were winless. It hurt. We should’ve won, but we redeemed ourselves in the first race possible. [It’s] Definitely gonna be a good year.”
Amid the carnage, Corey Heim ended uo in second place followed by Rajah Caruth, who navigated his damaged No. 71 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Silverado RST to a strong top-three result while Bret Holmes and Spencer Boyd ended up in the top five. Parsons, Crafton, Timmy Hill, Bryan Dauzat and Eckes finished in the top 10.
Taylor Gray, who ended up 19th following his final-lap upside-down wreck, emerged uninjured, though he, LaJoie, Dye, Roper, Thompson and Rohrbaugh were unable to finish.
There were 24 lead changes for 12 different leaders. The race featured 12 cautions for 52 laps.
Following the first event of the 2024 Truck Series season, Tyler Ankrum, who finished 11th at Daytona, leads the regular-season standings by a single point over Sanchez, four over Eckes, five over both Holmes and Crafton, seven over both Heim and Majeski and eight over Caruth.
Results.
1. Nick Sanchez, 26 laps led
2. Corey Heim
3. Rajah Caruth, one lap led
4. Bret Holmes, 13 laps led
5. Spencer Boyd
6. Stefan Parsons
7. Matt Crafton
8. Timmy Hill
9. Bryan Dauzat
10. Christian Eckes, one lap led
11. Tyler Ankrum, 16 laps led, Stage 2 winner
12. Jason White
13. Bayley Currey
14. Stewart Friesen
15. Ty Majeski, six laps led
16. Tanner Gray, one lap led
17. Grant Enfinger, two laps led
18. Jack Wood
19. Taylor Gray – OUT, Accident
20. Corey LaJoie – OUT, Accident, five laps led
21. Daniel Dye – OUT, Accident
22. Cory Roper – OUT, Accident
23. Codie Rohrbaugh – OUT, Accident
24. Dean Thompson – OUT, Accident
25. Mason Massey, one lap down
26. Matt Mills, two laps down
27. Tony Breidinger, four laps down
28. Chase Purdy – OUT, Accident, one lap led
29. Johnny Sauter – OUT, Accident, 24 laps led, Stage 1 winner
30. Ben Rhodes, – OUT, Accident, five laps led
31. Keith McGee – OUT, Accident
32. Lawless Alan – OUT, Overheating
33. Layne Riggs – OUT, DVP
34. Jake Garcia – OUT, Accident
35. Ty Dillon – OUT, Accident
36. Thad Moffitt – OUT, Accident
With the 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season underway, the next event on the schedule is the Fr8 208 at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, February 24, and air at 2 p.m. ET on FS1.
Having very little success on superspeedway venues throughout his racing career, Christopher Bell gained an early advantage in his pursuit of winning his first Daytona 500 title by scoring a victory in the second of two Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona International Speedway on Thursday, February 15, following a final lap overtake on teammate Denny Hamlin.
The 29-year-old Bell from Norman, Oklahoma, led the final lap of 60 scheduled laps in an event where he started 16th and methodically carved his way to the front while also dodging a late multi-car wreck that collected a bevy of stars, including last year’s NASCAR Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney. During an eight-lap dash to the finish, Bell, who drafted teammate Denny Hamlin into the lead, gained a huge drafting run from Harrison Burton on the final lap to feign a move on Hamlin and overtake him through the backstretch. He would then fend off a final lap charge from Austin Cindric to achieve his first Daytona Duel career victory.
Amid Bell’s Duel victory, Kaz Grala rallied from his mechanical issues during Wednesday’s single-car qualifying session and starting at the rear of the field to claim a transfer spot into this year’s Daytona 500 over BJ McLeod.
Prior to the event, Michael McDowell, who claimed a front-row starting spot for this year’s Daytona 500, started on the pole and was joined on the front row by Austin Cindric. In addition, Kaz Grala dropped to the rear of the field due to an engine change after he had dealt with a mechanical issue during Wednesday’s single-car qualifying session.
When the green flag waved and the second Duel event commenced, McDowell muscled his No. 34 Love’s Ford Mustang Dark Horse ahead with the lead from the inside lane while Austin Cindric, William Byron, Kyle Busch and Harrison Burton followed suit. With a majority of the field opting to run on the inside lane, McDowell proceeded to lead the first lap. He would maintain control of both lanes and the field throughout the early stages of the event while Riley Herbst was trying to generate a run from the outside lane.
Through the first five scheduled laps, McDowell was then being challenged for the lead as William Byron made his move to the outside lane and drew his No. 24 AXALTA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 even with McDowell through the backstretch. McDowell, however, would maintain his ground and position from the inside lane, though Byron kept in toe with McDowell from the outside lane as he had Kyle Busch drafting him.
Nearing the Lap 10 mark, Byron, who assumed the lead for the first time on the seventh lap, was leading from the inside lane and by a hair over a hard-charging Riley Herbst while Kyle Busch, Noah Gragson, McDowell, AJ Allmendinger, Austin Cindric, Bubba Wallace, Christopher Bell and Harrison Burton were running in the top 10 amid two tight-packed lanes. Meanwhile, BJ McLeod was running in a transfer spot in 13th place, three spots ahead of David Ragan, while Kaz Grala was mired in 21st place, dead last.
By Lap 20, Herbst, who led six laps in the process, and Noah Gragson were dueling for the lead as Herbst had drafting help from Wallace and Bell while Allmendinger, who led two laps earlier, was drafting Gragson along with Byron amid a stacked two-packed field. By then, McLeod was running in the top 10 while Ragan and Grala were mired at the rear of the field.
At the halfway mark on Lap 30, Wallace, who led for the first time on Lap 21, was leading in his No. 23 McDonald’s Toyota Camry XSE ahead of Bell and rookie Zane Smith while Herbst fell back to fourth place in his No. 15 Monster Energy Ford Mustang Dark Horse in front of Gragson, McLeod, Justin Haley, Allmendinger, McDowell and Byron. By then, Kyle Busch was back in 12th while Ragan and Grala were still mired in 20th and 21st, respectively.
Then with 19 laps remaining, pit stops under green commenced as some led by Wallace pitted, mainly for fuel. Another wave of competitors led by McDowell would pit during the following lap while a select few, led by Harrison Burton, remained on the track. With the rest of the lead lap competitors led by Burton pitting with 17 laps remaining, McDowell would manage to blend back as the race leader with 15 laps remaining as he had Denny Hamlin following suit along with Cindric, Chase Briscoe, Byron and Kyle Busch.
Then with 13 laps remaining, the caution flew after Busch bumped and sent Byron sideways through the tri-oval, where he clipped Ryan Blaney and sent Blaney’s No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang Dark Horse head-on into the outside wall as Blaney’s car went up in flames. The carnage also collected Brad Keselowski, Gragson, Briscoe, Herbst, Burton, Wallace, Haley and McLeod. Amid the carnage, all competitors, including Blaney, emerged uninjured as the event was placed in an eight-minute red flag period to have the carnage cleared.
Once the red flag lifted and the remaining competitors proceeded under a cautious pace, the event resumed under green flag conditions with eight laps remaining. At the start, McDowell received a strong push from Cindric’s No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang Dark Horse on the outside lane through the frontstretch to maintain a brief advantage until Hamlin came roaring back on the inside lane with drafting help from Bell, with the latter muscling ahead. McDowell, however, fought back through the backstretch and through Turns 3 and 4 as he maintained the lead followed by Cindric, Keselowski and Grala while Hamlin was trying to regain his momentum.
Two laps later and amid a stacked two-packed field at the front, Hamlin drew his No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry XSE into another side-by-side battle against McDowell’s Ford for the lead. While McLeod was trying to draft his way towards Ragan and Grala for a transfer spot into the Daytona 500, Hamlin and McDowell continued to battle dead even for the lead and in front of Bell and Cindric.
Then with four laps remaining and while Hamlin transitioned from the inside to outside lane to block McDowell, McDowell was bumped out of line by Cindric and drifted to the rear of the field. This resulted with Bell drawing even and challenging teammate Hamlin for the lead while Cindric and John Hunter Nemechek followed suit. As the field continued to run in two tight-packed lanes, however, Hamlin managed to clear Bell and assume the lead under his control. By then, Grala was racing within the top 10 and in a transfer spot for the Daytona 500 ahead of Ragan and McLeod.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Hamlin remained as the leader over teammate Bell, Nemechek, Zane Smith and Burton, who was gaining a draft from Cindric and Keselowski to march his way to the front. Amid Burton’s strong run from the outside lane through Turns 1 and 2, Bell moved his No. 20 DeWalt/Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry XSE in front of Burton as he gained a run on Hamlin entering the backstretch. It was then when Bell feigned a move to Hamlin’s inside as Hamlin transitioned to the inside lane, which allowed Bell to storm into the lead on the outside lane while being drafted by Burton and Cindric. Cindric then moved Burton out of the draft to challenge Bell for the lead, but Bell executed two blocks on Cindric entering the frontstretch, which were enough for him to claim the checkered flag first and win the first Duel event of his career.
With the victory, Bell, whose previous best Duel results were a pair of runner-up results from 2021 and 2023, was awarded a handful of championship points and the fourth-place starting spot for this year’s 66th running of the Daytona 500 as he also recorded the 11th Daytona Duel victory overall for Joe Gibbs Racing. With 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick winning the first Duel event, this season marks the first time since 2014 that Toyota competitors swept both Daytona Duel events.
The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season is set to mark Bell’s fifth as a full-time competitor and fifth attempt of winning his first Great American Race on Sunday, Feb. 18.
“Yeah, it feels good,” Bell said. “These [superspeedway] races, man. I don’t know what to think of ’em. Me and Adam Stevens, my crew chief, we have a running joke: I say these races are 100% luck. I know that’s not true, but it seems like we’ve been struggling to get to the end of it. I know I’ve been a common denominator in a lot of the wrecks. Feels good to do everything right today.”
Cindric, the 2022 Daytona 500 champion, settled in second place in a Duel event for a third consecutive season while Hamlin, Nemechek, Harrison Burton, Zane Smith, Keselowski, Byron, Briscoe and Justin Haley finished in the top 10 on the track.
Meanwhile, Kaz Grala, who needed to finish ahead of both David Ragan and BJ McLeod on the track to make the starting grid for this year’s Daytona 500, accomplished his feat after finishing in 12th place, two spots ahead of McLeod and three spots over Ragan, though the latter is also in this year’s Great American Race based on his qualifying speed from Wednesday night’s single-car qualifying session while McLeod failed to qualify for the main event.
With his accomplishment, Grala, who is piloting a third Front Row Motorsports entry, will make his third career appearance in the Daytona 500. He will attempt to achieve both his first Cup Series and 500 victory on Sunday.
Photo by Patrick Sue-Chan for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“Just really proud of everybody at Front Row Motorsports,” Grala said. “They worked so hard the last 24 hours to get the car ready to race today. Some trouble yesterday. Really cool to be able to get it in the show for them. Real big opportunity for me. Excited to be here on Sunday again.”
There were 13 lead changes for nine different leaders. The event featured one caution for four laps.
Results.
1. Christopher Bell, one lap led
2. Austin Cindric
3. Denny Hamlin, five laps led
4. John Hunter Nemechek
5. Harrison Burton, one lap led
6. Zane Smith
7. Brad Keselowski
8. William Byron, five laps led
9. Chase Briscoe
10. Justin Haley
11. Bubba Wallace, 21 laps led
12. Kaz Grala
13. AJ Allmendinger, two laps led
14. BJ McLeod
15. David Ragan
16. Michael McDowell, 17 laps led
17. Josh Berry – OUT, Fuel pump
18. Ryan Blaney – OUT, Accident, one lap led
19. Kyle Busch – OUT, Accident
20. Riley Herbst – OUT, Accident, seven laps led
21. Noah Gragson – OUT, Accident
With the starting lineup for this year’s 66th running of the Daytona 500 officially set, the main event is set to commence on Sunday, Feb. 18, which will also mark the official start of NASCAR’s 76th season of premier series competition. The coverage for this year’s Great American Race is scheduled to start at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX.
After posting the 36th-fastest qualifying lap during Wednesday night’s single-car qualifying session for this year’s Daytona 500, Tyler Reddick responded with vengeance and in dramatic style after executing a final lap pass on Kyle Larson to storm to the victory in the first of two Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona International Speedway on Thursday, Feb. 15.
The two-time NASCAR Xfinity Series champion from Corning, California, led only the final lap of 60 scheduled laps in an event where he rallied from starting towards the rear of the field to methodically carve his way to the front. After nearly getting in a wreck following a bump by Martin Truex Jr. during the event’s lone cycle of green flag pit stops with nearly 20 laps remaining, Reddick would draft his way from the top 10 toward the front during a six-lap shootout before overtaking Larson on the final lap to win his first Duel event at Daytona of his career.
In the midst of Reddick’s victory, Jimmie Johnson rallied from being involved in a late multi-car wreck to overtake JJ Yeley on the final lap and claim a transfer spot into this year’s Daytona 500.
Prior to the event, Joey Logano, the 2024 Daytona 500 pole winner, started on the pole position and was joined on the front row by Kyle Larson.
When the green flag waved and the first Duel event commenced, Logano and Larson dueled for the lead through the first two turns and through the backstretch until Larson started to muscle ahead from the outside lane with drafting help from Austin Dillon. Then through Turns 3 and 4, Larson managed to muscle ahead and clear the field as he managed to fend off Logano to lead the first lap in his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 while Logano was locked into a side-by-side battle with Dillon amid a tight packed lane fanning out two lanes.
During the proceeding laps, Larson continued to lead as he also remained on the outside lane while receiving drafting help from Austin Dillon while Logano remained as the first competitor leading the inside lane with drafting help from Chase Elliott. The outside lane, however, would continue to gain the advantage through the straightaways as Larson, who then transitioned from the outside to the inside lane, maintained the lead while Todd Gilliland battled Dillon for the runner-up spot. In addition, Chris Buescher was in fourth while Logano was mired in fifth as he was battling Daniel Suarez, Erik Jones and Elliott, with the field battling amid two tight-packed lanes.
Through the first five scheduled laps, Erik Jones was the leader ahead of Daniel Suarez, who overtook Larson for the lead during the previous lap. With Jones and Suarez dueling for the lead amid two tight-packed lanes, Jones had Martin Truex Jr. drafting him on the outside lane while Suarez had Larson drafting him on the inside lane.
At the Lap 10 mark, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. made his way into the lead by 0.069 seconds over Jones while Truex, Corey LaJoie, Suarez, Jimmie Johnson, Larson, Ty Gibbs, Gilliland and Alex Bowman were running in the top 10. By then, Logano had fallen back to 15th while JJ Yeley, who was battling Johnson for a transfer spot into this year’s Daytona 500, was mired back in 17th. In addition, Anthony Alfredo, who guaranteed himself a starting spot for the Daytona 500 based on his qualifying speed from Wednesday night’s single-car qualifying session, dropped back to 21st place, dead last, to preserve his primary car for the main event.
Not long after, a side-by-side battle for the lead ignited between Stenhouse and LaJoie as Stenhouse had Jones’ No. 43 AdventHealth Toyota Camry XSE drafting him for the lead on the inside lane while LaJoie had drafting help from Johnson’s No. 84 Carvana Toyota Camry XSE on the inside lane. Stenhouse, however, would receive another strong shove from Jones through the backstretch to muscle away from LaJoie and clear the field to gain sole possession of the lead ahead of the pack nearing the Lap 15 mark.
A few laps later, the top three competitors led by Stenhouse and including Jones and Truex cleared the field while the rest of the field led by a side-by-side battle between Suarez and Johnson were stacked in two tight-packed lanes.
By Lap 20, Stenhouse maintained the lead ahead of Jones, Truex and Suarez while Johnson tried to ignite another run to the front from the outside lane. Meanwhile and as the field slowly started to fan out to three lanes, LaJoie, who was battling towards the front, was drifting to the back of the field after he was placed in the middle of a three-wide battle and lost the draft.
Six laps later and with the field returning to running in two tight-packed lanes, Truex gained a huge run through the backstretch to draft his way into the lead from the outside lane followed by Larson and Johnson while Stenhouse, who transitioned from the outside to inside lane to keep Erik Jones drafting him, fell back to within the top five. Two laps later, however, Stenhouse fought his way back from the inside lane as he drew Truex into a side-by-side battle exiting the frontstretch and through the backstretch.
At the halfway mark on Lap 30, Truex was drafted into the lead from Larson ahead of Stenhouse while Johnson, Jones, Ty Gibbs, Suarez, Tyler Reddick, Bowman and Chastain were battling in the top 10. By then, Johnson was in a transfer spot ahead of JJ Yeley, who was mired back in 14th, while Logano was scored in 18th behind Austin Dillon and rookie Carson Hocevar.
With 25 laps remaining, Truex was leading from the outside lane in his No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry XSE as he had Larson drafting him along with Johnson while Stenhouse remained on the inside as he had Jones drafting him while he continued to keep Truex within his sights. By then, Alfredo, who pitted under green, was penalized for speeding on pit road, which dropped him out of the lead lap category.
Then with 21 laps remaining, pit stops under the green flag commenced as the Toyota competitors Johnson, Reddick, Jones and Ty Gibbs pitted. Prior to the pit stops, Truex bumped and nearly sent Reddick sideways into Ty Gibbs as Reddick was trying to make the turn to pit road while Austin Dillon nearly got turned in the middle of the pack as he barely squeezed Gilliland up against the outside wall. The following lap and with the field dispersed, Austin Dillon and Stenhouse pitted under green while Larson was leading ahead of Chastain, Suarez, Bowman and Elliott.
Then with 17 laps remaining, a majority of the field, led by Larson, pitted under green as Todd Gilliland assumed the lead. During the pit stops, Chastain was penalized for speeding on pit road and was forced to make another trip to pit road to serve a pass-through penalty. Shortly after, the following names that include Gilliland, Logano, Ryan Preece and Buescher pitted under green.
Following the pit stops, Larson rocketed his way back into the lead followed by Chevrolet teammates Suarez, Elliott and Bowman while Logano, who tried to blend in front of the Chevrolet competitors, fell back to fifth. Amid the completion of pit stops, Johnson continued to run in a transfer spot within the top 10 with less than 15 laps remaining in the event.
Then with 10 laps remaining, the first Duel’s first caution flew after Daniel Hemric, who briefly stepped off the gas as the field briefly checked up in front of him while fanned out to nearly four lanes, was bumped by Stenhouse, which sent Hemric’s No. 31 Cirkul Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 sideways and head-on into the outside wall in Turn 3. Amid Hemric’s wreck, Stenhouse, Austin Dillon and Johnson made contact that sent all three spinning below the apron. Amid the incident, Hemric retired while Stenhouse, Dillon and Johnson continued, with the latter now locked in a tight battle with Yeley to claim a transfer spot for Sunday’s Daytona 500.
With the race restarting with six laps remaining, Larson and Suarez dueled for the lead ahead of Elliott and Ty Gibbs while Johnson, who pitted during the caution period, was trying to regain speed to keep pace with Yeley towards the rear of the field. As the field continued to jostle and battle amid two stacked lanes from the backstretch and through the frontstretch, Larson and Suarez remained dead even for the lead followed by Ty Gibbs, Elliott, Hocevar and Logano as the event reached its final five-lap mark remaining.
As the laps continued to dwindle, Larson and Suarez remained dead even of one another for the race lead ahead of the pack while Johnson was trying to keep pace and remain ahead of Yeley towards the rear of the field, but with a starting spot for the Daytona 500 up for grabs.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Larson was scored the lead as he started to muscle ahead of teammate Elliott, Suarez and the field through the frontstretch. Entering Turns 1 and 2, Elliott transitioned from the outside to the inside lane as he was drafted into a brief lead by Hocevar before Larson fought back with drafting help from Reddick. Then through the backstretch, Reddick seized an opportunity by veering to the left and making his move beneath Larson for the lead, which he executed as Larson got loose off the front nose of teammate Bowman and lost the draft.
With Larson losing ground as the field fanned out entering the frontstretch, Reddick was able to muscle his No. 45 Nasty Beast Toyota Camry XSE away from the field and beat a hard-charging Elliott by 0.056 seconds to win the first Duel event.
With the victory, Reddick, whose previous best Duel result was eighth, was awarded a handful of championship points and the third-place starting spot for this year’s 66th running of the Daytona 500 that is set to occur this upcoming Sunday, February 18. Reddick also became the first Toyota competitor to win a Daytona Duel event since his owner Denny Hamlin made the last accomplishment in 2017 as he also recorded the first Duel victory for 23XI Racing. The 2024 Cup Series season is set to mark Reddick’s fifth full-time campaign in NASCAR’s premier series and sixth consecutive attempt to win his first Great American Race.
Photo by Patrick Sue-Chan for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“It’s a great way to start off the weekend,” Reddick said on FS1. “Man, this [car] is a beast. It’s a great way to kick off a brand-new product. Go out and get some Hard Tea, have a good time tonight. I know we are.”
Chase Elliott settled in second place followed by teammate Bowman, Hocevar and Erik Jones while Suarez, Logano, Ty Gibbs, Larson and Chris Buescher finished in the top 10 on the track.
Meanwhile, Jimmie Johnson was also left smiling after rallying from his late incident to race his way into the Daytona 500 after overtaking JJ Yeley entering the frontstretch and crossing the finish line in 12th place while Yeley ended up in 16th place, which left him and NY Racing out of this year’s Daytona 500 field.
With his accomplishment, Johnson will make his 21st career start in the Great American Race at Daytona, his second in a row as a driver/co-owner of Legacy Motor Club and his first piloting a Toyota Camry XSE stock car. He will also pursue a third Daytona 500 victory.
Photo by Patrick Sue-Chan for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“I’ve never been in a position like this before and I have such a greater appreciation for everyone before me that’s tried to race their way in,” Johnson said. “It’s very stressful. I’m very thankful we got this Carvana Toyota into the race. I knew the first half of the race was going too easy. I knew there’d be a challenge thrown at us and we got it just in time. Hats off to JJ Yeley. He put up a heck of a fight in a very competitive car. We were just in the right spot at the right time when the checkered [flag] fell.”
There were 15 lead changes for nine different leaders. The event featured one caution for four laps.
Results.
1. Tyler Reddick, one lap led
2. Chase Elliott
3. Alex Bowman
4. Carson Hocevar
5. Erik Jones, five laps led
6. Daniel Suarez, two laps led
7. Joey Logano, one lap led
8. Ty Gibbs
9. Kyle Larson, 20 laps led
10. Chris Buescher
11. Ross Chastain
12. Jimmie Johnson
13. Ryan Preece
14. Martin Truex Jr., 14 laps led
15. Corey LaJoie
16. JJ Yeley
17. Todd Gilliland, one lap led
18. Austin Dillon
19. Anthony Alfredo, one lap down
20. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – OUT, DVP, 15 laps led
21. Daniel Hemric – OUT, Accident
The second Bluegreen Vacations Duel at Daytona International Speedway is underway and will complete the starting lineup for the 66th running of the Daytona 500 scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 18, at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX.
Joey Logano saved his best qualifying lap for last and the result netted him the Busch Light Pole Award for this year’s 66th annual running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway following the event’s single-car, two-round qualifying session on Wednesday, Feb. 14.
The qualifying format that determined the front row and pole winner of this year’s Daytona 500 event was based on two qualifying rounds 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.
During the qualifying session, Logano, who was the fastest qualifier during the first qualifying round, repeated his strong, early performance by claiming the pole position for this year’s Great American Race. He posted a pole-winning lap at 181.947 mph in 49.465 seconds in his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse, which was enough to outperform Michael McDowell, who qualified with the second-fastest qualifying lap at 181.686 mph in 49.536 seconds.
With his accomplishment, Logano, a two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and the 2015 Daytona 500 champion, became the 45th competitor to claim the pole position for the Great American Race as he also notched his 29th Cup Series career pole and first on a superspeedway venue.
Logano also snapped Chevrolet’s 11-year pole-winning streak by achieving Ford’s first 500 pole since Carl Edwards in 2012 and he became the first non-Hendrick Motorsports competitor to win the pole position for the 500 since Ricky Stenhouse Jr. made the last accomplishment in 2020. As a result, Logano also recorded the first Daytona 500 pole award for Team Penske as he strives to battle for his second Great American Race victory this upcoming Sunday, Feb. 18.
“This [pole] is all about the team,” Logano said on FS1. “I’d like to take credit, but I can’t today. The guys have done such an amazing job working on these cars. This superspeedway qualifying is a hundred percent the car. There’s only so much a driver can do, so I’m really proud of [the team]. It’s a big win for our team, for everyone at Team Penske, Ford with the new Dark Horse Mustang. Being able to come down here and put in on the pin. Finally, someone else wins the pole. That part feels good. I’ve never even been close to a superspeedway pole before, so it’s my first pole in a speedway. It couldn’t be at a cooler event [than], obviously, Daytona 500. Huge deal for Team Penske.”
Joining Logano on the front row for this year’s Daytona 500 and for the first time in his career is Michael McDowell, the 2021 Daytona 500 champion who qualified in his No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Front Row Motorsports. Ironically, this year’s Daytona 500 marks the first time Ford competitors have swept the front-row starting spots since Edwards and Greg Biffle in 2012. McDowell’s win at last year’s Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course enabled him to qualify for the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs and strive to contend for a second Daytona 500 victory.
Kyle Larson, the 2022 Daytona 500 pole winner and the 2021 Cup Series champion, posted the third-fastest qualifying time of 181.550 mph in 49.550 seconds and 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, Feb. 15. Austin Cindric and Chase Elliott completed the top five in qualifying time and speed while William Byron, Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch, Ross Chastain and Harrison Burton, all of whom advanced to the second and final qualifying round, rounded out the top 10 on the qualifying chart.
Todd Gilliland, who was one of 32 competitors who did not transfer to the second qualifying session, posted the 11th-fastest qualifying time of 180.339 mph in 49.903 seconds followed by Riley Herbst, Ryan Preece, Chase Briscoe, Chris Buescher, Noah Gragson, Alex Bowman, Ryan Blaney, Daniel Suarez and Anthony Alfredo.
Alfredo and David Ragan were also victorious along with Logano and McDowell as both achieved guaranteed starting spots for this year’s Daytona 500 by being the two fastest non-chartered qualifiers of six on the leaderboard.
Alfredo ended up being the fastest non-chartered competitor on the leaderboard after posting his qualifying lap at 179.648 mph in 50.098 seconds, which was enough to claim 20th place on the leaderboard. With his accomplishment, Alfredo, a full-time Xfinity Series competitor for Our Motorsports and a part-time Cup competitor in Beard Motorsports’ No. 62 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry this season, will make his second career start in the Daytona 500 after making his first with Front Row Motorsports in 2021. In addition, Beard Motorsports, who did not make the 500 field last season, will appear in the 500 for a sixth time this upcoming Sunday.
Photo by Patrick Sue-Chan for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“This is insane,” Alfredo said. “We were just talking about every possible scenario we might find ourselves in today, tomorrow and obviously, Sunday, but to make it to Sunday’s a challenge. It was such a competitive field of open cars and drivers behind the wheel. I’m just really thankful for the Beard family [for] giving me this opportunity and Death Wish Coffee coming on board. We have, clearly, a fast Chevrolet Camaro. To know that we’re in [the Daytona 500] and cannot have to race in tomorrow [via the Duels] and just remove ourselves from some of the sketchy circumstances and focus on Sunday is just an amazing feeling.”
Ragan posted the 27th-fastest qualifying lap at 179.283 mph in 50.200 seconds, which was enough for him to outperform Jimmie Johnson, who posted the 35th-fastest lap at 178.845 mph in 50.323 seconds. With his accomplishment, Ragan, who is piloting Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing’s No. 60 Ford Mustang Dark Horse as part of the team’s #Stage60 program, will make his 17th appearance in the Great American Race this Sunday and his first since the 2022 season. This year’s Daytona 500 will mark his first Cup start as a Roush competitor since the 2011 season as Ragan will also be pursuing his first 500 victory.
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“It’s always big to be in the Daytona 500 and the whole week, I’ve just been trying to make sure we didn’t have any mistakes,” Ragan said. “I really feel like we were gonna have a shot at a top-10 or top-12 starting spot, but it just shows all the hard work this BuildSubmarines.com Ford team has done. I’m really proud for [crew chief] Derrick [Finley] and proud for the whole [Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing] guys. I appreciate [owners] Brad Keselowski and Jack Roush [for] giving me an opportunity to come down here to try to win a Daytona 500.”
The remaining open competitors including Jimmie Johnson, BJ McLeod, JJ Yeley and Kaz Grala will compete for the final two open spots for this weekend’s Daytona 500 through Thursday’s Duels.
Next on the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is a pair of Bluegreen Vacations Duels that will determine the rest of the starting lineup for this year’s 66th running of the Daytona 500 scheduled for Feb. 18 at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX. First, on Thursday, Feb. 15, 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 at 8:45 p.m. ET on FS1.
Seventy days after the final checkered flag of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season flew, the time until the first green flag of the 2024 Cup Series season displays is four days away from occurring. For the teams and competitors who enter this season with the desire to gain a competitive edge over one another, the long regular-season battle to the Playoffs commences with this weekend’s 66th annual running of the Great American Race.
The Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway, with the event’s iconic Haley J. Earl Trophy, is up for grabs and epic bragging rights to forever be labeled a Daytona 500 champion.
Before this year’s Daytona 500 occurs, however, the teams and competitors will have to battle amongst one another through the event’s iconic two-day qualifying procedure that would enable them to achieve and earn a starting spot as high as possible over one another. What makes the Daytona 500’s qualifying procedure iconic?
In comparison to 35 of 36 scheduled events where the starting grid for a Cup Series event is determined one day before the main event, the qualifying format for the Daytona 500 is distinct, where it once took a week until the starting lineup for the Daytona 500 is determined. Since the 2021 season, it would take between three and four days until the official starting grid for the Great American Race would be determined.
The qualifying format for this year’s Daytona 500 commences with a single-car qualifying procedure on Wednesday, February 14, where each of the registered competitors (42 total in 2024) will run one timed lap around the 2.5-mile superspeedway venue. The single-car qualifying procedure will span two rounds, with the second round featuring the top 10 fastest competitors to contend for the pole position for the Daytona 500. At the conclusion of the second qualifying session, the competitor who generates the fastest lap time will be awarded the Busch Light Pole Award for the Daytona 500 while the competitor who generates the second-fastest lap time will be awarded the second-place starting spot for the 500-mile season opener, thus guaranteeing both front row starting spots for the main event.
The single-car qualifying procedure/sessions on Wednesday will also be a night of epic rewards for two competitors competing in open-chart (“open”) entries, meaning that their respective cars are not guaranteed a starting spot for the Daytona 500 due to not having a charter. At the conclusion of the single-car qualifying procedure, the top two open-chartered competitors who post the top two fastest qualifying times compared to the remaining open-chartered competitors will be guaranteed starting spots for the Great American Race based on their qualifying speed.
The rest of the competitors, including the open-charted teams currently not guaranteed a starting spot, will battle one another for their official starting spots for the Daytona 500 through a pair of Bluegreen Vacation Duels at Daytona that will occur on Thursday, February 15.
The first Bluegreen Vacation Duel at Daytona will consist of competitors who qualified in the odd positions during Wednesday’s single-car qualifying procedure, including the Daytona 500 pole winner, with the event spanning 60 laps. The second Duel event that will follow suit and also span 60 laps will consist of competitors who qualified in the even positions during the qualifying procedure, including the Daytona 500 second-place starter.
At the conclusion of both Duel events, the winning competitor in each Duel will be awarded the second-row starting spots, third and fourth place, for the Daytona 500. In the scenario where the Daytona 500 pole winner or second-place starter wins their respective Duel events while also retaining the front-row starting spots for the Great American Race, the third- and fourth-place starting spot will be awarded to the runner-up finisher between both Duel events.
Each finishing result in the first Duel event will determine the official starting lineup for the odd (“inside lane”) row for the Daytona 500, with the winner starting in third place for the 500, second starting fifth, third starting seventh, etc., in the respective order, while the finishing result in the second Duel event will determine the lineup for the even (“outside lane”) row for the 500, with the winner starting in fourth place, second starting sixth, third starting eighth, etc. In addition, the top-10 finishing competitors between both Duel events will be awarded points that count towards the regular-season stretch but not towards the Playoffs, with the winning competitor receiving 10 points while the 10th-place finisher receives just one.
Lastly and transitioning back to the theme of open-charter teams, the highest-finishing non-chartered competitor between both Duel events will secure a starting spot for the Daytona 500. If the highest-finishing non-chartered competitor in a Duel happens to be a competitor who is already guaranteed a starting spot for the 500 based on Wednesday’s single-car qualifying procedure, the next fastest non-chartered competitor will be awarded a spot in the Great American Race.
Upon completion of both Duel events, the starting spots 1st through 40th for this year’s 66th annual running of the Daytona 500 will be officially determined in preparation for the main event that will occur on Sunday, February 18. Even before the main event, the qualified Cup Series teams and competitors will then practice around Daytona once on Friday, February 16, at 5:35 p.m. ET on FS1 before practicing for the second and final time on Saturday, February 17, at 10:30 p.m. ET on FS1.
The 2024 Daytona 500 entry list features 42 competitors registered to battle for 40 starting spots for the main event, meaning that two non-chartered competitors will not make the main event on Sunday, February 18. This year’s open-chartered competitors feature Anthony Alfredo, Kaz Grala, Jimmie Johnson, BJ McLeod and David Ragan. NY Racing, a non-chartered team, is also entered for this weekend’s event, though a driver has yet to be named. From this list of six, two names will have their names locked into the 500 after Wednesday’s single-car qualifying procedure and two more will be locked in after Thursday’s Duels.
Currently, Johnson is the only non-chartered competitor from last season to return for another bid to claim a starting spot for this year’s 500. The seven-time Cup Series champion and two-time Daytona 500 champion from El Cajon, California, raced his way into last year’s 500 based on his qualifying speed and during his first event as a driver/co-owner of Legacy Motor Club. Returning for his first of nine planned Cup events this season, Johnson, who was also inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in mid-January, will bid for his 21st start and potentially his third victory in the Great American Race.
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Earlier on Tuesday, February 13, the qualifying order for Wednesday’s single-car qualifying procedure was determined based on a random draw, where the ordered competitors will roll off of pit lane to post a single qualifying lap and contend for pole position for the Daytona 500. Following the random draw, newcomer Carson Hocevar will qualify first followed by Anthony Alfredo, Zane Smith, Ryan Preece, Justin Haley, David Ragan, AJ Allmendinger, BJ McLeod, John Hunter Nemechek and Riley Herbst.
This past season, Alex Bowman notched his third pole award and his sixth consecutive front-row starting spot for the Daytona 500 after the Tucson, Arizona, native posted a pole-winning lap at 181.686 mph in 49.536 seconds, where he shared the front row with teammate Kyle Larson. Bowman’s 2023 Daytona 500 pole also marked the eighth 500 pole award in nine years for Hendrick Motorsports and the 11th consecutive year where the Chevrolet nameplate achieved a pole for the Great American Race. Bowman will attempt to join Buddy Baker, Bill Elliott and Cale Yarborough in achieving the most Daytona 500 poles with four entering the 2024 season while Larson will attempt to win his second 500 pole after winning his first in 2022.
During the 2023 Daytona Speedweeks, Joey Logano and Aric Almirola each won a Bluegreen Vacations Duel while Ricky Stenhouse Jr. would proceed to win the 65th running of the Daytona 500 amid two overtime shootouts and emerging out in front of Logano and the field prior to a final multi-car wreck. Stenhouse’s victory made him the 42nd different competitor to win the Great American Race as he also delivered the first 500 victory for JTG-Daugherty Racing and veteran crew chief Mike Kelley. Stenhouse and Logano, the 2015 Daytona 500 champion, are set to contend for this year’s 500 event as full-time Cup Series competitors for JTG-Daugherty Racing and Team Penske, respectively, while Almirola has scaled back to the Xfinity Series on a part-time basis with Joe Gibbs Racing.
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The 2024 Daytona 500 Qualifying session is scheduled to occur on Wednesday, February 14, and air at 8:15 p.m. ET on FS1. The Bluegreen Vacations Duel at Daytona will follow suit on Thursday, February 15, and air beginning at 7 p.m. ET on FS1. The 66th running of the Daytona 500 is scheduled to commence on Sunday, February 18, and air at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX.
