William Byron crosses the finish line to win the NASCAR Cup Series Bluegreen Vacations Duel 2 at Daytona International Speedway. [Credit: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images]
By Joe Jennings
DAYTONA BEACH – Joey Logano and William Byron were victors in a pair of Bluegreen Vacations Duel races at the Daytona International Speedway on Thursday evening. Each race was for 60 laps or 150 miles.
Joey Logano celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Bluegreen Vacations Duel 1 at Daytona International Speedway. [Credit: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images]
Logano drove the Shell Pennzoil Ford and Byron was behind the wheel of the Axalta ‘Color of the Year’ Chevrolet.
The start of Duel 1 was delayed nearly an hour when a brief rainstorm blanketed the track.
When the green flag dropped, Daytona 500 pole winner Ricky Stenhouse Jr. took off and led the opening laps until the Chevrolet contingent pitted for fuel on lap 23.
One lap later, the Toyota squadron pitted with the Ford group holding back for seven laps. When they did, Ryan Blaney didn’t get the word and he made contact with Daniel Suarez, who needed a strong finish to gain a spot in the D500 starting field. Unfortunately, he crashed and was eliminated from competition.
Once the race restarted, Logano shot to the front pushed by Aric Almirola and using the outside lane they held fast until the checkered flag dropped.
Said Logano, “We won because of the numbers. Six Fords beat out one Chevrolet. Winning any race is important to me as I am a very competitive guy and to win at Daytona is really big.”
Logano won a Duel for the second year in a row, giving Team Penske its fifth Duel win.
The Fords of Almirola, Ryan Newman and Brad Keselowski were close behind with Bubba Wallace in fifth.
Trailing them were Austin Dillon, Martin Truex Jr., Stenhouse, rookie Christopher Bell and Chris Buescher.
The top 15 cars were separated by three quarters of a second.
Riding the bubble was Reed Sorenson, who finished 18th and made the starting field in the small Premium Motorsports Chevrolet team.
“I want to thank the guys from this team for putting this car together for me. We were nervous going in for a small team and this run put the icing on the cake,” said the emotional Sorenson.
In Duel 2, Kevin Harvick looked to be headed for victory lane until Jimmie Johnson and Byron hooked up with the latter scoring his first-ever NASCAR Cup Series victory. The young driver led just once for the last 3 circuits.
“We went out there and raced,” noted Byron. “We are going to use this momentum going forward. I feel we did not luck into this. We built this over the last year, working with Chad (Knaus, the crew chief). I have grown up a lot and Chad has helped me a lot.”
The last lap thrilled the crowd with dicing, drafting and fender scraping active.
Johnson held on for second with Kyle Larson, Harvick and rookie Cole Custer next in line. Harvick led 34 of the 60 laps.
Erik Jones, Matt de Benedetto, Kurt Busch, Ross Chastain and Tyler Reddick rounded out the top-10 finishers.
Cup champion Kyle Busch ended up 13th.
Timmy Hill finished 16th and that’s all he needed to put his Carl Long Ford team into the D500. For Hill, it was a dream come true as the 500 will be his debut event after previous attempts have come up short.
“This is my 10th year in NASCAR and my very first time in making the race,” Hill said while sporting a huge smile. “The thought crossed my mind that I may never make this race because it costs so much money to come here, so this may well be my last chance. For an unchartered team, it will be impossible going forward (with the new cars).”
One yellow slowed the action and paralleled Duel 1 when J. J. Yeley, in an unsponsored Ford, was running 17th and hopeful of making the D500 field, was bumped from behind by Corey LaJoie, crashing the former USAC champion out of the event.
