Daytona International Speedway (Daytona Beach, Fla.) — Typically, NASCAR drivers scratch their heads after races at drafting tracks, wondering about a questionable move from one of their opponents.
But Thursday after the Duels at Daytona, drivers got out of their cars wondering why they were so out of control as they competed in the pair of 150-mile races — Joey Logano won the first, while Chase Elliott won the second — determining the 2026 Daytona 500 lineup for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series season opener.
“The Daytona 500 could be a total wreck-fest because if you think about the duels, it’s a heat race, and everyone is like, ‘Don’t tear up your car, get what you can out of it, but don’t crash,’” Logano said at his post-race news conference.
“We wrecked a lot of stuff. That’s everyone not racing for the Daytona 500, so … say a prayer. It’s going to be crazy.”
Here are my takeaways from the Daytona 500 qualifying duels:
(Photo by Jeff Robinson/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
The final two spots in the Daytona 500 went to Casey Mears in the first duel and BJ McLeod in the second duel. Both drivers had to finish ahead of two other drivers without guaranteed Daytona 500 spots in their duels, but the way McLeod did it was unique.
Anthony Alfredo dominated over McLeod and JJ Yeley in their duel, but Alfredo was disqualified as his car didn’t pass post-race inspection. NASCAR officials said Alfredo had two hoses — a transaxle cooling hose and a driver comfort hose — that were not attached as required following the event. They would have been attached prior (with tape), but they likely came unsealed during the race. Moran said the decision was automatic and up for an appeal.
“[The hose] needs to be airtight, needs to be fastened,” Moran said during a news conference where he showed the transaxle cooling hose. “We have many rules, as you all know, that no parts can fall off the car for obvious reasons. We don’t say what the intent is, that these parts have to be fastened properly, and unfortunately, one piece wasn’t on the right side, and there was also another hose disconnected for driver cooling.”
It didn’t appear that Mears would get the spot in his duel, but Corey LaJoie was turned on the final lap. Mears, who also had damage, was able to complete the final lap ahead of both LaJoie and the already-damaged Chandler Smith.
“The whole race, I was thinking that was out of our grasp,” Mears said at his post-race news conference. “There’s a lot of prayers said, for sure, just for opportunity. It opened up, we took advantage of it.”
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2. Corey LaJoie Feels Defeat
LaJoie thought he had a Daytona 500 spot in his grasp, as he ran near the front for most of his race. He was turned by Daniel Suárez, and his bid to put a fourth RFK Racing car into the Daytona 500 ended with a trip to the infield medical center.
“I just got turned. … I’m really dejected because I don’t know if there’s another one,” LaJoie told me and other reporters outside the care center. “This is it, unless there’s anything else. So who knows?”
Suárez told me he was pushed into LaJoie from behind by Shane van Gisbergen: “It was like an accordion effect and somebody was going to pay the price in that accordion effect. And unfortunately, that was the [No.] 99 [of LaJoie].”
3. Daytona Experience Matters
Both duels were won by drivers with plenty of experience. Logano is the 2015 winner of the Daytona 500 and a three-time Cup champion. Elliott, the 2020 Cup champion, has four career wins on drafting tracks but none at Daytona.
(Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images)
But Elliott got maybe an unexpected assist as Carson Hocevar pushed him hard and helped him control the lanes to the finish.
“I certainly owe him an appreciation for just kind of sticking with it, also pushing me well,” Elliott said during his television interview on the frontstretch after the race. “It’s real easy to get people out of control.”
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4. Crashes or Not, It’s Out of Control
Logano said the wreck-filled first duel was the result of cars being surprisingly out of control: “I don’t know what’s different to make the whole field that way. … It’s interesting to see the whole field like that.”
The second duel did not have any wrecks, and yet, the drivers said it felt just as sketchy.
“That’s the most I’ve ever seen a Next Gen car out of control here,” Daytona 500 front-row starter Chase Briscoe told me after the second duel.
“I don’t know what’s so different this time around, but they’re a handful for sure. … Granted, the cars should drive a little bit better [in the 500] just because you can take those qualifying adjustments out. But they were a handful tonight.”
4 ½. What’s Next
(Photo by Jeff Curry/Getty Images)
Teams will get 50 minutes of practice Friday and another 50 minutes Saturday. Expect most teams to practice Friday but several to sit out the Saturday session to protect their cars.
At least three teams will go to back-up cars because of crashes in the duels: two-time defending Daytona 500 winner William Byron, Chris Buescher, Daniel Suárez and Ross Chastain.
“We’ve won this race with a backup car, so I’m not super worried about that aspect, but it does suck that you put a lot of work into the primary, and you don’t get to race it,” Byron told me.
