Joey Logano led a four-Ford breakout and held off the Toyota of Christopher Bell to win the Bluegreen Vacations Duel No. 1 at Daytona International Speedway on Thursday night in Daytona Beach, Fla.
Running fifth behind four Fords, Bell made a move at the east end of the 2.5-mile superspeedway on the last lap and maneuvered outside of Logano’s No. 22 Ford. With the help of teammate Ryan Blaney, Logano edged his Team Penske car to the checkered flag for his third career qualifying win.
“The execution of this race is everything,” said Logano, the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series champion who led the last 29 laps of his Duel. “You know most likely there won’t be a caution, so you have to do a good job on pit road.
“I was sitting there as the leader and was like, ‘I’m a sitting duck, this is not where you want to be.’ … I was hoping they’d start racing back there, which they did. It ended up working out for me.”
Blaney led a race-high 30 laps in the caution-free qualifier and finished third behind Logano and Bell. Chris Buescher and Michael McDowell rounded out the top five. The finishers set the inside row for the Daytona 500.
Zane Smith, one of the open, non-charter drivers, raced his way into the field for the Daytona 500.
“Once we got to 10 (laps) to go, I was like, ‘Please, no cautions,'” said Smith, the 2022 truck series champion.
In the opening qualifier for the 65th running of the Great American Race, polesitter Alex Bowman — locked into the top spot for Sunday’s 200-lapper — was passed immediately by the No. 12 of Blaney after the first 21-car field took the green flag.
With little to gain and more risk than reward at stake, Bowman moved his No. 48 Chevrolet to the back of the pack, and hard-charging Ross Chastain soon passed Blaney for the lead.
The 60-lap length of the race made it necessary for at least one pit stop. Blaney, Bubba Wallace, Logano, Harrison Burton and Buescher made up the top five at the race’s halfway mark and pitted on Lap 31.
On Lap 40, the Ford pack led by Logano, Kevin Harvick, Blaney and Buescher pulled out to an eight-second-plus lead over the trailing Chevrolet bunch to set up the finish.
–Field Level Media