Reddick and Bell Bounce Back After Poor Qualifying to Win Duels, Johnson Makes Daytona 500

As often is the case with Superspeedway racing, everything happened on the last lap at Daytona International Speedway. Tyler Reddick and Christopher Bell took the two Bluegreen Vacations Duel from Daytona wins on Thursday night to lock themselves into the inside and outside of the second row respectively.

Both Duels ended with last-lap scrambles and saw Toyota drivers come out victoriously, who entered the night with disappointing qualification results.

Reddick started Duel No. 1 in 19th position in the 21-car field but by the final few laps, he would battle the Hendrick Motorsports trio of Chase Elliott, Alex Bowman, and Kyle Larson. While leading, Larson lost the draft and was pushed deep in the field to finish ninth. Elliott and Bowman stayed up front to finish second and third.

To kick start his NASCAR Cup career, rookie campaigner Carson Hocevar surged to a fourth-place finish after starting one position behind Reddick in 20th.

Duel No. 1 was the more respectable of the two races. Most drivers were focused on game management to make sure they protected their primary cars so they would not need to drop to the back for the start of the Daytona 500. Logano, who won the pole in Wednesday's qualifying, needed only to protect his No. 22 Team Penske Ford. With the fastest time in that session, he would maintain the pole regardless of how he ran. He finished seventh.

Two drivers in Duel No. 1 had to race their way into the Daytona 500. Anthony Alfredo had a fast enough time in qualification that he could revert to it if he had problems. That left two motorsports legends, Jimmie Johnson and JJ Yeley, to battle for the final spot. Seven-time Champion Johnson and USAC Triple Crown holder Yeley competed in a race within a race for the final Daytona 500 starting spot to be awarded from Duel No. 1.

Johnson dropped to the back of the pack to protect his race car and hold onto a position ahead of Yeley, who was trailing the field when havoc broke out. Daniel Hemric got into the wall after an accordion bump by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. The crash collected three former Daytona 500 winners, Austin Dillon, Stenhouse, and Johnson.

The No. 84 avoided major damage and continued the battle. With four laps remaining, Johnson caught up with Yeley as the drivers jockeyed for 15th and 16th positions.

On the final lap, Yeley went high to avoid contact in the middle of the racetrack and Johnson, with a big push by Martin Truex Jr., was able to move past Yeley for the second transfer spot into Sunday’s big show.

“That was way more pressure than I ever wanted,” Johnson said over radio communication on the cool-down lap.

In Duel No. 2 Michael McDowell had the same task as Logano: to stay out of trouble and keep his bright yellow Ford on the front row of the Daytona 500.

McDowell avoided the mid-race wreck fest and finished 16th in the second Duel of the evening.

While the Fords secured the front row from Wednesday's qualifying records, the Duels belonged to the Toyotas. Bell battled from the 16th starting position to win the second duel. Before the leaders started the pit cycle with 18 laps to go, Bell was already in the second spot behind leader Bubba Wallace.

While coming to 13 laps to go, the first big crash of the week took out defending champion Ryan Blaney. This was the third year in a row that the No. 12 Penske Ford driver has been involved in a big crash during the Duels.

“I have no idea (what happened),” Blaney said after exiting the car. “I saw the replay and it looks like a terrible push once again. Right reared into the wall, I don’t know who it was or who it comes from.

“I’m OK. By the replay, it just looks like awful pushes in terrible spots. That’s usually how these wrecks happen. Three times in a row here I’ve been right-reared by someone else’s awful push, so I’m getting pretty sick of it. People just have to be smart. I don’t know what you’re doing. It’s a duel race.”

Brad Keselowski, Chase Briscoe, BJ McCloud, and William Bryon were part of the wreck and able to carry on.

Blaney, Kyle Busch, Riley Herbst, and Noah Gragson were eliminated.

Like Reddick, Bell made the race-winning pass on the final lap to secure his position on the outside of the second row.

Kaz Grala, who did not complete a single qualifying lap on Wednesday after mistakenly down-shifting at the start, locked into the Daytona 500 with a 12th-place finish.

You Might Also Like

• You Need a Torque Wrench in Your Toolbox

• Tested: Best Car Interior Cleaners

• The Man Who Signs Every Car