Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)
By Aaron Bearden

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.. — Post-race review and analysis from the NASCAR Cup Series qualifying races at Daytona International Speedway. 

Who Won? 

Joey Logano and William Byron. Logano held on in Duel 1 with help from Aric Almirola on the final lap, while Byron surged to the front with two laps remaining for en route to his first win of any kind in the NASCAR Cup Series.

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Solid Starts and Manufacturer Muscle

It didn’t take Joey Logano and Paul Wolfe long to find themselves together in victory lane.

After earning separate championships for Team Penske during the 2010s — Wolfe with Brad Keselowski in 2012, and Logano alongside Todd Gordon in 2018 — the duo were paired up entering 2020 as part of a shakeup amongst the Penske teams. Gordon joined Ryan Blaney on the No. 12 team, while Blaney’s former crew chief Jeremy Bullins was paired with Keselowski and the No. 2 team.

The new partnerships got off to a rocky start on Sunday. Logano and Kyle Busch set off a wreck that eliminated Keselowski in the Busch Clash, sending the veteran on rants about “stupid” blocks that were not-so-subtlely directed at Logano. The two discussed the incident and moved on early in the week, but there was still an awkwardness lingering in the air as the two strapped into their machines for the opening Bluegreen Vacations Duel.

Thankfully for Team Penske, it proved to be short-lived. If there were any lingering issues in the Ford camp, they didn’t show it on Thursday. Logano surged to the lead with help from Aric Almirola and led a Ford sweep of the top-four at the checkered flag, with Ryan Newman and Keselowski completing the quartet.

“This is awesome,” Logano said. “What great teamwork by the Ford’s, especially Aric Almirola, my goodness. He was a great pusher at the right time and we were able to hold off the bottom when we needed and hold off the Chevy’s and showed the speed that the Ford’s have here.

“That is something I am proud to be a part of. I am proud to be driving that Blue Oval and these Roush Yates motors. We are ready to rock and roll. I can’t wait for the 500.”

Chevrolet bounced back to lead the way in Duel 2, taking the top three spots after a late surge to the front. The group’s winner: William Byron, who finally topped a Cup Series event after two winless years with Hendrick Motorsports. He joins Jeff Gordon and Chase Elliott as drivers in the No. 24 Chevrolet that earned their first Cup win in a Duel.

Soon-to-be retired champion Jimmie Johnson and Chip Ganassi Racing star Kyle Larson followed the young Byron across the line for Chevrolet.

“We didn’t really have Chevy orders or anything like that,” Byron said. “We just did a good job of working together. Kurt (Busch) was a great pusher and a great helper and I really had a lot of trust in him. I was really trying to go with one to go, but I had enough momentum out of the tri-oval just watching old races; that’s just kind of where the momentum kind of lines up.”

Both Duel rundowns were the result of manufacturer teammates playing nice in the pivotal moments, working together to ensure their brand won in races where they had the numbers advantage at the front of the field. Faced with fewer contenders, the Toyota camp failed to place anyone higher than fifth in either race.

Will the same numbers games play out in Sunday’s Great American Race?

It’s possible, but don’t count on it. The high attrition of Daytona and Talladega Superspeedway means that remaining competitors will likely be forced to work with whoever remains in the waning moments of Sunday’s race.

Daniel’s Devastation

Daniel Suarez’s quest to make the Daytona 500 ended in the infield grass.

Suarez entered Thursday’s qualifying races needing to be the top finisher among the non-chartered “Open” teams in his Duel after failing to secure a spot on speed in Sunday’s qualifying session.

Three seasons removed from an Xfinity Series title, and just months after nearly securing a playoff position with Stewart-Haas Racing, Suarez had arrived at Speedweeks with a late full-season deal arranged with Gaunt Brothers Racing. The move was a significant step down from his previous stints at Joe Gibbs Racing and SHR, but it gave Suarez a chance to stay relevant and in the field while serving as a reunion with Toyota.

While GBR doesn’t have a charter, despite efforts to acquire one, the slim fields in modern NASCAR mean that Suarez will likely be able to make most races. But he needed to qualify his way into the Daytona 500, with 43 entries vying for 40 positions.

For a time, it appeared he would do just that. Suarez led all open entries heading into the Duel’s lone round of green-flag pit stops, and even after losing the draft of his Toyota teammates on the ensuing run he had a chance to make it with a timely caution.

But a miscommunication soon sent things awry. Suarez found himself among the Ford camp after losing the Toyotas, but the Blue Ovals hadn’t pitted. When they did, a surprised Ryan Blaney made a late move from the second lane to join his teammates.

Suarez was to his inside.

 

The two drivers collided twice, and Suarez’s No. 96 was sent sailing into the outside wall.

Suarez waited in the car for a moment in the wreck’s aftermath, but ultimately climbed out – his Daytona 500 effort over earlier than he ever could have anticipated.

“The (No.) 2 (Brad Keselowski) car, he started getting his hand out of the window super, super late and I didn’t see him,” Suarez said. “When I started going out, the (No.) 12 (Ryan Blaney) was there.”

“I don’t know, man. I’m getting tired of this.”

Blaney continued on with a damaged No. 12, but came home a quiet 14th as his Ford teammates swept the top four spots at the front of the field. He’ll go to a backup car for Sunday’s Great American Race due to the damage.

“We got lucky,” he said. “We should have never been in that spot in the first place. It was just an error on my part and kind of a little lack of communication that didn’t end well.”

Suarez isn’t as lucky.

Had circumstances played out differently last fall, he would still have been with SHR and would have pitted with the Fords on the lap that his crash occurred.

Instead he crashed with them. Now his Speedweeks is over three days early, and Gaunt Brothers Racing will have a serious point and financial setback to overcome starting next Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“I have a lot of frustrations, a lot of frustrations,” Suarez said afterward. “I have a broken heart. I busted my ass to make this happen and it didn’t work.”

The Best of the Rest

While Suarez was left out, two drivers’ Daytona 500 dreams came true.

Reed Sorenson and Timmy Hill each locked their way into the Great American Race with their runs in the Thursday’s Duels.

Sorenson’s run was nothing pretty – a lap-down finish in 18th after falling out of the draft on the final run to the checkered flag. But it proved serviceable for the veteran to clinch his seventh Daytona 500 start and his first since 2017.

Thursday’s result was big for Sorenson, but perhaps even bigger financially for his Premium Motorsports team.

“The money that comes in from this race for a small team is a big deal to kind of get the ball rolling financially,” Sorenson said. “Yeah, these guys worked really hard over the winter. This is probably the best motor I’ve had to try to race my way in. So, I was excited about that, that we were able to put the effort in to have an engine here.”

Now that he’s locked into Sunday’s show, Sorenson hopes his team can find sponsorship to adorn his blue, blank machine. But regardless the former Chip Ganassi Racing competitor is just happy to have the opportunity to contest NASCAR’s biggest race.

“(We’ve) got a pretty blue car and maybe we can put some decals on it now with sponsors,” Sorenson said. “Just really happy to be in the 500, and everything that happens from this point is icing on the cake, so we’re going to try to go have fun and drive hard on Sunday.”

Similar to the Sorenson-Suarez situation from the first Duel, a timely crash helped Timmy Hill secure his first Daytona 500 start in Duel 2.

Hill found himself mired in a battle with JJ Yeley for the final spot when Yeley was crashed off of the nose of Corey LaJoie’s No. 32 Ford. The incident eliminated the former Joe Gibbs Racing competitor from contention, allowing Hill and MBM Motorsports to claim the final position on the grid.

In the eight years since his NASCAR Cup Series debut, Hill has made 92 starts at the discipline’s top level. Sunday’s start will be his first in a points-paying event at NASCAR’s most iconic track.

“The thought crossed my mind that I may never have a shot at this,” he said of running Daytona. “Coming to the Daytona 500 takes a lot of preparation, takes much more money to prepare a car to come here, let alone make the race.

“The thought crossed my mind with the new Cup car coming next year.  If they didn’t put the deal together this year, as a non-charter car, I may never have a shot at this.  This could very well be my last chance at it.  I’m very happy that it ended up with us making this race.” 

Other Notes

  • Hidden among the Duel results were the first NASCAR Cup Series points in the careers of Cole Custer, Christopher Bell and Tyler Reddick. Custer came home fifth in Duel 2 to score six points, while Bell finished ninth in the opening Duel en route to two points for his No. 95 Leavine Family Racing team. Reddick tacked on a single point for himself with a 10th-place run in the second Duel.
  • Brendan Gaughan and Justin Haley each guaranteed themselves a starting spot in Sunday’s race through qualifying, but they were also the top finishing open cars in their races. Of course, Haley’s run was worse than he managed last summer – he won the rain-shortened Coke Zero 400 last time NASCAR was in Daytona.
  • Jimmie Johnson admitted to wanting to win his Duel, but his second-place run in the second race was still notable. It was just Johnson’s second top-five in his past seven Duel performances.
  • Only twice in his first 12 Duels did Kyle Busch finish outside of the top-10, yet he’s done just that in three of his past four qualifying races at Daytona. Since winning a Duel in 2016, Busch has had an average finish of 11.75 in the annual qualifying races. He finished 13th in Duel 2 on Thursday.
  • Corey LaJoie will join Ryan Blaney at the back of the field on Sunday. His crash forced Go Fas Racing to a backup car for the Great American Race.
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