After a crash-filled Busch Clash on Sunday, NASCAR rounded out its 120 laps of qualifying races with nearly all of its cars relatively unharmed.
Joey Logano and William Byron each won Duel Races that saw just one caution a piece, with most of the damage from each going to cars that didn’t qualify for the main event.
Logano, Byron win Duels, set Daytona 500 Starting Lineup
Both front row starters, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Alex Bowman, chose to race with the pack and not purposefully fall back to avoid potential accidents, like we have seen some drivers do in the past.
With a pair of laps to go, in fact, Stenhouse Jr. was competing for the checkered flag in the first duel, but eased off the throttle a bit when things got dicey near the end.
No harm, no foul. Each driver is going to start Sunday’s race with no damage on their car, and a bit of extra, superspeedway practice ahead of The Great American Race.
Others that were trying to simply qualify for a spot in the lineup, however, were not as lucky.
Daniel Suarez had a miscommunication with his spotter and collected Ryan Blaney in a wreck as the Ford’s were pitting in the first duel.
J.J. Yeley found himself on the wrong end of a small tap from Corey LaJoie on the backstretch in duel No. 2, ending his night early as well.
Neither Suarez or Yeley will race in the 500 on Sunday.
Blaney, who’s car was the only one locked into the Daytona 500 field with substantial damage, has since requested a waiver from NASCAR to be allowed to run his backup car at Daytona.
Pending #NASCAR approval, Ryan @Blaney team will go to a backup car, crew chief Todd Gordon says.
— Dustin Long (@dustinlong) February 14, 2020
Racing their way into the 500 in the duels was Justin Haley and Brendan Gaughan – who both qualified on time trials, as well as Reed Sorenson and Timmy Hill.
The full lineup for the race can be found below.
The Daytona 500 will kick off on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET televised on FOX. Live updates during the race can be found on Twitter by following @RacingVault.
Daytona 500 Starting Lineup
1. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
2. Alex Bowman
3. Joey Logano
4. William Byron
5. Aric Almirola
6. Jimmie Johnson
7. Ryan Newman
8. Kyle Larson
9. Brad Keselowski
10. Kevin Harvick
11. Bubba Wallace
12. Cole Custer
13. Austin Dillon
14. Erik Jones
15. Martin Truex Jr.
16. Matt DiBenedetto
17. Christopher Bell
18. Kurt Busch
19. Chris Buescher
20. Ross Chastain
21. Denny Hamlin
22. Tyler Reddick
23. John Hunter Nemechek
24. Ty Dillon
25. Chase Elliott
26. Michael McDowell
27. Ryan Blaney
28. Kyle Busch
29. Clint Bowyer
30. David Ragan
31. Ryan Preece
32. Timmy Hill
33. Justin Haley
34. Brennan Poole
35. Quin Houff
36. Corey LaJoie
37. Joey Gase
38. B.J. McLeod
39. Brendan Gaughan
40. Reed Sorenson
Did Not Qualify
Daniel Suarez
Chad Finchum
J.J. Yeley
