DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Christopher Bell grabbed the lead on the final lap of Thursday’s Bluegreen Vacations Duel qualifying race for the Daytona 500 to defeat Austin Cindric’s Ford by 0.113 seconds.
Kaz Grala, who finished 12th, took the final transfer position as he finished ahead of B.J. McLeod.
The only lap Bell led was the final lap. The same thing happened in the first duel, with Tyler Reddick being the winner.
“These plate races, I don’t know what to think of them,” Bell said. “My crew chief, Adam Stevens, I always tell him these races come down to luck. I had it today.”
Grala didn’t complete a qualifying lap Wednesday as he upshifted instead of downshifted and blew the engine.
“Oh man, I’m just coming down from it, that was so much more stressful than it needed to be,” Grala said. “I’m just so proud of everybody at Front Row Motorsports. We hope to have fun on Sunday.”
Denny Hamlin’s Toyota was third followed by John Hunter Nemechek in the No. 42 Toyota.
Harrison Burton finished fifth in the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford.
With five laps to go, Michael McDowell and Hamlin were side-by-side. It became a battle of the lanes — inside or outside.
But McDowell got out of line and dropped like an anchor after Hamlin drove in front of McDowell’s Ford to make the block. That pushed McDowell out of line. The driver of the No. 34 Ford, who is already locked into the outside of the front row in the 66th Daytona 500, decided to play it safe and drop to the back.
In the fight for the final transfer position, the three cars in the fight were 13th, 14th and 15th — including BJ McLeod, Grala and David Ragan. Grala would fight his way into the lineup.
The second Duel set the outside lanes in the starting lineup for Sunday’s 66th Daytona 500.
How It Began
McDowell started on the pole and kept his No. 34 Ford in front of the field for the first six laps before William Byron took the lead. It stayed in formation early in the race without any movement for position.
Bubba Wallace of 23XI Racing took the lead on lap 21 and stayed in front of the fairly uneventful race with Bell in second. With eight laps in the race, Wallace led eight cars down pit lane to make their only pit stop. That put McDowell back in the lead.
The Fords pitted on the next lap with five Fords in front of Denny Hamlin’s Toyota in another eight-car pit stop.
McDowell’s No. 34 Ford led Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota with four laps remaining. Austin Cindric’s No. 2 Ford was third as the laps wound down to determine the outcome.
Then, just like that, calamity ensued.
On lap 47, a massive crash was triggered when Byron made the block to maintain position on the frontstretch trioval, but Kyle Busch’s No. 8 Chevrolet ran into his rear as it was pushed by Brad Keselowski’s No. 6 Ford.
Cars crashed into the wall and were scattered across the track.
Defending NASCAR Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney’s No. 12 Ford was on fire, but he was able to get out of the car uninjured. Among the cars involved was McLeod, whose chance at advancing into Sunday’s Daytona 500 was over after his car was hit four times in the crash.
There were at least 11 cars involved.
The race was red flagged with 13 laps to go.
“I have no idea, just got reared once again,” Blaney said. “It’s a shame it got ruined by somebody else.”
Busch gave his side of the story.
“I was getting a push a little bit from the 6 there and the 24 got out of line,” Busch explained. “I was trying to get out of gas but got accordioned. It turned the 24 sideways and caused a wreck. What a frustrating race.”
The race resumed on lap 52 with McDowell in front. Hamlin took the lead on the inside lead before McDowell got a huge push from Cindric’s Ford. However, it was Bell who would celebrate the win in victory lane.