Daytona Beach, Fla. — We learned on Wednesday night that Alex Bowman will start on the Pole and his Hendrick teammate Kyle Larson will join him on the front row in the Great American Race. The other 38 spots were decided on Thursday in the Duel at Daytona.
In the first duel, defending NASCAR Cup Series champ Joey Logano captured his third duel win since 2019. Logano will start third in Sunday’s Daytona 500.
In the second duel race, Kyle Busch got turned by the No. 99 car Daniel Suarez with twenty laps to go. Todd Gilliland had the chance to win the race late, but former UCF student Aric Almirola ended up taking the checkered flag.
Almirola will start fourth in the Daytona 500 on Sunday.
Defending Truck Series champ Zane Smith qualified for the Daytona 500 on Sunday. This will be the first time the reigning Xfinity Series champ (Ty Gibbs), the reigning Truck Series champ and the reigning Cup Series champ (Joey Logano) are all racing in the same Daytona 500.