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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Ryan Blaney and Matt DiBenedetto won’t have to worry about where they finish in Thursday’s Can-Am Duels, guaranteeing themselves starting spots for the Daytona 500 (Sunday, Feb. 21 at 1 p.m. ET, FOX) with solid qualifying laps here Sunday at Daytona International Speedway.
Because 36 teams were already locked in by virtue of owning Charters, Blaney (Wood Brothers Racing) and DiBenedetto (BK Racing) were among the eight drivers vying for the four Open positions available in the 40-car field.
Blaney, fast all week in the No. 21 Ford, finished with the day’s seventh-fastest speed (194.746 mph) in qualifying. He was the only Open driver to advance to the final round which saw the 12 fastest from the opening round vie for the pole position.
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For DiBenedetto, it was the most nerve-wracking of experiences.
“Man, I can sleep well this week finally,” the 24-year-old said after locking in his No. 93 Toyota. “I’ve done a lot of things in my career, (but) I was more nervous for that than probably my first Sprint Cup race last year.
“I was really nervous all night, between me and Michael McDowell really is where it seemed like it was going to fall. We were really close in our practice speeds. We kept kind of bouncing back as to who was quicker.”
As it turned out, DiBenedetto (192.686 mph) narrowly edged McDowell (192.604), who is in a second Circle Sport-Leavine Family Racing Chevrolet for this week.
McDowell, Robert Richardson Jr., Cole Whitt, David Gilliland, Josh Wise and Reed Sorenson can race their way into next Sunday’s race by finishing highest among the Open teams in Thursday’s Duel qualifiers. If either Blaney and/or DiBenedetto finish highest in their respective qualifiers, the final two positions would be based on Sunday’s qualifying speeds, meaning McDowell (27th) and Richardson (38th) would be awarded the final two spots.
“This is just a testament to my team,” DiBenedetto, who will be making his Daytona 500 debut, said. “They stayed here until 9:30 last night. The latest they could stay here, we’ve been here. I’m really thankful to those guys, thankful just to be here this season and most importantly, thankful to be racing in my first Daytona 500. This was a team effort; I’m just glad to get them in the Daytona 500. This is more about them, not me.”
DiBenedetto finished the day 26th-fastest. His BK Racing team used an engine from Toyota Racing Development for qualifying, but will switch to a Triad-built engine for Thursday’s Duel.
Qualifying for the season-opening Daytona 500 differs from how the starting lineup is determined for the remaining NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races. Only the two fastest from Sunday’s qualifying lock in positions for next week’s 58th running of the race. Chase Elliott (Hendrick Motorsports) and Matt Kenseth (Joe Gibbs Racing) were first and second, respectively, to earn those positions.
Starting positions 3-38 will be determined by Thursday’s Can-Am Duel qualifying races, with four spots awarded to Open teams. Those four will consist of the two fastest in qualifying (in this instance, Blaney and DiBenedetto) along with two that either finish highest in their Duel (should they finish ahead of Blaney or DiBenedetto) or based on their qualifying speeds if they do not.
Blaney is making the move to full-time status with Wood Brothers Racing this season. Although the legendary team was not one of the 36 awarded Charters earlier this week, meaning Blaney will have to make the race each week based on his qualifying results, officials noted speed wasn’t a problem in ’15.
And, as Blaney said, it wasn’t an issue on Sunday either.
“We knew we had a really fast race car yesterday from single-car runs,” he said. “I knew we had a good shot to get locked in. But you never know what can happen. It’s such a big relief to be locked in early. Now we can go racing on Thursday night (in the Duel).”