DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – In his first race as owner/driver of RFK Racing, Brad Keselowski took the lead late and held on to win Thursday’s first Bluegreen Vacations Duel at Daytona qualifying race for the Daytona 500.
Keselowski defeated the driver of his old car, the No. 2 Ford from Team Penske now driven by Austin Cindric, who finished second. Ryan Blaney was third and Chase Briscoe fourth, all in Fords. Cindric, Blaney and Briscoe crossed the finish line three-abreast behind Keselowski’s winning Mustang.
“I felt pretty good about our car in practice on Tuesday,” Keselowski said. “I’ve got to give credit to the other Fords. We worked really well together, Ryan Blaney, Chase Briscoe. We had great strategy, Austin Cindric, and we stuck together and drove away and got ourselves in position where we could control the finish of this race, and I’m happy to see all those Fords up front. Good job to all those guys.
“Great start for our Kohler Generators Ford team. This is special.”
RESULTS: Bluegreen Vacations Duel No. 1
Chase Elliott was best in class as the highest non-Ford driver. Elliott’s No. 9 Chevrolet was fifth, 2.518 seconds behind the winner.
Kaz Grala, who earlier in the race was nailed for a pit road speeding penalty and fell two laps back, was able to pass J.J. Yeley on the last lap to earn his spot in Sunday’s 64th Daytona 500.
“I made it happen, not the way I wanted to,” Grala said. “I made a mistake on pit road, but I was not going to give up. We were making fast lap times and hoping the timing would be right.
“We made it up and I passed the No. 55. It took a few years off my life. We’re going to have fun. This is going to be a fun ride together all year and I’m glad to be part of it.
“We had to start from scratch, and we made the Daytona 500. That’s cool and we are going to celebrate tonight.”
Kyle Larson started on the pole and led most of the race before the field began hitting pit road.
The Chevrolets, led by Larson, come to the pits with 25 laps to go. That put Blaney in the lead. With 24 laps to go, the Fords, led by Blaney, took their turn on pit road. While most of the Chevrolet teams took four tires, the Ford teams took two tires, allowing them to catapult to the front of the field.
After pit stops were completed, it was a five-car pack that was five seconds ahead of the next group of cars. Blaney was ahead of Keselowski, with Cindric, Briscoe and Tyler Reddick also in tow. Reddick eventually faded from the group of fast Fords, leaving them to settle things at the front.
With four laps to go, Keselowski made his move through turns one and two on the outside to take the lead from Blaney with Briscoe right behind him. Blaney was able to get back by Briscoe for second a few laps later, but he was unable to execute a pass on Keselowski despite a valiant effort on the final lap.