MORE: Full starting lineup for 500
RELATED: Can-Am Duel 1 results | Can-Am Duel 2 results
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — As his car idled on pit road before the pace laps, Michael McDowell keyed his radio for a quick prayer before the first of Thursday’s two Can-Am Duel qualifying races for the Daytona 500.
His Circle Sport-Leavine Family Racing team’s reply: “Amen, brother. Let’s do this thing tonight.”
McDowell’s prayers were answered Thursday night with a 14th-place finish, good enough to clinch a starting berth in Sunday’s 58th annual Great American Race (1 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM). McDowell joined eventual third-place finisher Ryan Blaney among the open, non-chartered teams to qualify for the 40-car field in the first 150-miler.
In the second race, teammates Matt DiBenedetto and Robert Richardson Jr. claimed the remaining Daytona 500 starting spots, placing all four BK Racing Toyotas into the feature race.
The result of the first Duel places two cars from the newly merged stable of Circle Sport and Leavine Family in the 500 field. Ty Dillon will start the Daytona 500 in the team’s chartered No. 95 Chevrolet.
“You all know what it means to be in the 500,” McDowell said. “I’ve been on the other side, too, where I’ve been loading up, too, and going home on a Thursday night. I definitely appreciate it when we make the races. …
“To really start out the year well, it’s very important. This is such a huge race. It was nerve‑wracking. It wasn’t an easy one by any means. Pretty much how it goes, you have a plan, you make a plan, then it all changes when you get out there. Tonight was no different than that.”
Josh Wise, Cole Whitt, David Gilliland and Reed Sorenson failed to qualify for the Daytona 500.
McDowell’s run into the field was not an easy one. Blaney was assured a starting berth based on his qualifying speed in Sunday’s Coors Light Pole Qualifying, but was still eligible to claim one of the at-large transfer spots as the highest finisher among the four open teams.
When Blaney made an unscheduled pit stop with a loose wheel and a vibration near the midway point, the race for an at-large spot was wide open. McDowell and Whitt diced side by side for several laps through the middle portions of the 60-lapper.
Once the field made the only exchange of green-flag pit stops, McDowell emerged as the leading open driver, but by himself without any aerodynamic help. Whitt, with minimal aero help in a three-car draft, closed quickly on McDowell, who watched his mirror and disrupted his advances. Whitt spun, damaging his Premium Motorsports No. 98 entry as it scraped along the Turn 1 apron.
Whitt wound up in last place as the qualifying race’s earliest retiree, parked 11 laps from the finish. Earlier in Speedweeks, the Premium team announced it had leased its Charter, which would have clinched a berth in the 500, to the HScott Motorsports No. 46 team and driver Michael Annett.
“If we passed him we’re in the Daytona 500. If I fell behind him, we were probably going to ride behind him for the rest of the race,” said Whitt. “It’s just too hard to pass with the single amount of cars we had, and his car was a lot better than ours. Just tried to do what I could and it didn’t work out.”
Thursday night’s second 150-mile Duel was far less eventful around the transfer position. DiBenedetto was assured a starting berth on the basis of his speed in Sunday’s Coors Light Pole Qualifying, but snagged the at-large spot with a ninth-place run in the second Duel.
That left the final spot based on qualifying time to Richardson, who two weeks ago was working the hay pastures at his ranch in Pilot Point, Texas, just north of Texas Motor Speedway when the phone call for the No. 26 ride materialized.
“Very blessed, very honored to be here,” said Richardson, who finished 18th as the first driver one lap down in Duel 2. “This’ll be my second opportunity to run the Daytona 500, but this one’s a lot more special.”