See where your favorite driver will pit for the 64th running of the Daytona 500 on Sunday at Daytona International Speedway (2:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
NASCAR announced Friday that competition officials confiscated the wheels used by Team Penske and Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing at Daytona International Speedway.
Officials indicated that the confiscated parts will be brought to the NASCAR Research & Development Center for further inspection. Any potential penalties would be determined at a later date after the inspection, the NASCAR memo said.
RELATED: Daytona weekend schedule
RFK Racing drivers Brad Keselowski and Chris Buescher swept victories in Thursday night’s Bluegreen Vacations Duels ahead of Sunday’s Daytona 500 (2:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM).
NASCAR officials announced Jan. 24 that a tougher penalty structure would be enforced this season, the first for the Next Gen stock car that debuts in the 2022 Cup Series. The new model uses larger 18-inch aluminum wheels manufactured by German wheel-maker BBS. Those wheels also use a single, center-locking lug nut instead of the five-lug pattern of the former 15-inch wheels.
Editor’s note: Bozi Tatarevic is a professional racing mechanic and pit crew member. He will provide technical analysis for NASCAR.com throughout the 2022 season.
The NASCAR Next Gen car has brought an incredible amount of street-car relevance to the latest generation of Cup Series cars with the implementation of symmetric bodies and the focus on OEM–specific design elements.
Cars on track will look much like what we can find in the showrooms, and that will also extend to the shops as the new composite bodies offer individual panels much like a production car — a departure from the large pieces of sheet metal used in recent generations of the Cup car.
Making the body pieces out of composite materials was only one step of the Next Gen process. The attachment methods analyzed below are going to be very important for races like Sunday’s Daytona 500 (2:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), which will have multiple sessions on track before the main race. We are likely to see teams bringing spare parts versus the entire spare cars they might have brought in years past as they can unbolt certain sections if the vehicles are damaged in practice, or more likely in one of the Bluegreen Vacations Duel races as those often end up being as action-packed as the main race itself.
Chassis
Like the outgoing car, the Next Gen car starts as a chassis. The difference now is that it comes in multiple pieces that are bolted together versus one piece that is welded together. The chassis consists of a center section with front and rear clips bolted to it and bumper supports bolted to those pieces. Once the chassis is assembled, there are brackets that are installed with studs on them that are intended for body mounting, as highlighted in the illustration above.
Closeout panels
The first layer of panels that bolt up to the car are the closeout panels, which are not visible on the outside but are intended to seal the center section from the outside along with separating sections like the wheel well from the fuel cell area. These are roughly the equivalent of internal door panels and wheel well liners on a production street car. They help to separate the driver from outside elements and are also used for secondary purposes in some cases, like the pieces at the front corners of the car which have ducting to cool down the exhaust.
Foam
In addition to the closeout panels that get mounted on the chassis before the full body is assembled, there are also pieces of protective foam that get mounted on each side of the car. The purpose of this foam is to absorb energy in the case of a crash in order to make the center section safer for the driver.
Greenhouse
Some of the studs that we see sticking out of the top of the chassis in the illustration above are intended for the greenhouse, which is the top part of the car that contains the pillars, windows, windshield and roof. We can see where the stud from the front left corner of the car matches up to the spot on the A-pillar of the greenhouse, which is marked in red. The greenhouse assembly is a piece that is shared among all the cars and is built with driver safety and comfort in mind as it contains items like the roof flaps that are intended to slow the car down in case it turns, along with ducting for driver cooling. We even got a view of the chassis and the greenhouse being installed onto the chassis in a Corey LaJoie paint scheme reveal video last week.
She’s ready to go out on that race track. She’s gonna be perfect. Can’t thank my friends at @bar_built enough for their continued support. pic.twitter.com/BWffZMQiVG
— Corey LaJoie (@CoreyLaJoie) February 10, 2022
Body panels
Once we move down to the external body panels of the car, things start to look even more familiar and much more like a street car than what we’ve been familiar with over the last few years. Instead of a large piece of sheet metal for the side we now see individual composite components for each piece. In the same theme as their production car equivalents, we see individual pieces for the bumpers, fenders, hood, doors and quarter panels.
Body mounting
The system of flanges and fasteners used to connect the body panels together is so close to what we see on production cars that a standard body shop would be able to assemble these components together. Most production cars feature a system of hidden flanges and captured nuts behind body panels in order to fasten them together and as we can see in the illustration above, the Next Gen car follows a very similar system.
Fender liner
The closeout panels like the fender liner mount to the car in a similar way and attach to nut plates, which are installed in the body panels behind the liner. The hardware for the fender liners is visible which allows for quick removal in case a component behind the liner needs to be accessed after the car has been assembled. These panels are assembled by pretty standard hardware and are mainly held on with 1/4-28 flat head socket cap screws for the fender liner.
Underwing
The body is finished off with the installation of a variety of smaller pieces up top along with aerodynamic components such as the spoiler. The remaining pieces are on the bottom and they form the assembly known as the underwing. The underwing is a flat floor that completely encloses the bottom of the car; it starts with the splitter at the front leading all the way to the diffuser in the rear. Much like many of the other body components, the pieces of the underwing mount to the chassis using 1/4-28 flat head socket cap screws.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Each time the car rounded Turn 4, team owner Willy Auchmoody moved with it, positioning himself against pit wall to track his No. 50 Chevrolet as it sped down the frontstretch. Once out of view from that vantage point, Auchmoody returned to the back of the pit box, located in Stall 39, which had a clear view of the gigantic video board showing Thursday night’s qualifying race at Daytona International Speedway.
This back-and-forth pacing began shortly after his driver, Kaz Grala, was penalized for speeding on pit road with 24 laps to go in the short, 60-lap event.
“Sorry, guys,” Grala said over The Money Team Racing radio, as Auchmoody listened in.
Responded spotter Joe White: “No, you’re good. We’re still in this.”
DAYTONA 500: Weekend schedule | Betting odds | All-time winners
Until that moment, Grala looked to be the favorite between him and fellow open contender JJ Yeley to advance out of the Bluegreen Vacations Duel 1 and into Sunday’s Daytona 500 (2:30 p.m. ET, FOX). After Grala served his pass-through penalty, though, Yeley was in the transfer spot with 23 laps remaining.
“I thought we were done, I just did,” Auchmoody said. “I mean, you know, we had a mistake. It happens. I mean, everybody, the best of the best, they speed on pit road. I just thought we were done. But like the spotter kept saying: Stick with it, stick with it, stick with it.”
So, Auchmoody stuck with it, continuing his five-foot mini loop in his personal section of the 2.5-mile superspeedway.
With 13 laps left, Auchmoody’s wife, Becky, stepped down from the pit box. She stood by her husband’s side whenever he returned to the video board. Words weren’t spoken, but looks were exchanged.
Grala soon asked on the radio whether he could catch Yeley.
“I don’t believe so with 10 to go,” White said. “But anything can happen. Don’t give up.”
The white flag waved. Willy stepped up onto pit wall, clenching his water bottle in both hands at his stomach.
Grala had caught up to Yeley. Falling in order on the bottom, Grala was able to capitalize on the draft there to pass Yeley, who wound up running the top alone.
The finish line had long been crossed before Grala asked what everyone was thinking — did he make it?
“You’re in,” White responded.
WATCH: Kaz Grala’s final lap to make Daytona 500
Grala finished 18th. Yeley 19th.
Both of Willy’s arms went up. He turned around with a full smile, spiked the bottle to the ground and literally jumped down to hug Becky. There was a lot more jumping and hugging before Willy somehow disappeared amid the crowd.
Questions of Willy’s whereabouts were answered when the video board showed him, no lie, jumping and hugging Grala on pit road.
“Oh my God,” Becky said. “I can’t even talk. This is amazing. It’s always gotta, you know, (happen) right at the end. We got in at the end, literally the last second. I think it’s just the way, just the way to finish it. That’s how we got here — in 35 days.”
Keep that in mind.
The rest of the gang — family relatives, crew members, sponsor representatives — made its way to the car. Different location, same celebration.
Willy was still trying to form full sentences when Becky interrupted and handed him her cell, indicating it was her mother.
“Hey, ma,” Willy said. “We’re in the Daytona 500. I gotta go, I gotta go. I love you.”
***
The Money Team Racing formally announced its team on Feb. 1, just 16 days before Thursday’s race, but its formation has been in the works since February 2020, when Willy worked out an agreement with Floyd Mayweather Jr.
The former boxer would agree to a co-ownership as long as Willy guaranteed sponsorship. Money had to be brought in, not just given. OK, fair. Deal.
Well, the COVID-19 pandemic then began shortly after and the timeline didn’t go as smoothly as hoped. It wasn’t until between Christmas and New Year’s Eve of 2021 that the vision became a reality. Pit Vipers signed as a primary sponsor.
“It took a long time, and then all of a sudden, someone hit fast forward,” Becky told NASCAR.com. “And here we are 35 days later.”
RELATED: Floyd Mayweather Jr. launches The Money Racing Team
Hope that number stayed in mind.
Veteran crew chief Tony Eury Jr., who won two races with Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 2006 and 2008, had even less time to build the team’s Next Gen car. He received a call 15 days before Daytona with the job offer.
“I told them they were crazy,” Eury said. “I still think they’re crazy. But it’s … I don’t know. It’s something I tell people a lot of times, there’s one thing I do miss about the Cup Series. I don’t miss the travel and being gone and not having a family. But I do miss the competitiveness of it.
“The challenge of me building the car in 15 days and being able to come back here and go against these guys, I was like it’d be kind of cool. It’s crazy, but it’s kind of cool at the same time.”
Grala has always been a part of the team, albeit not fully inked until more recent months. He and Willy were transparent with each other throughout the process. Willy made it clear: If a more concrete offer came up before TMT Racing was actually ready to race, Grala should take it. And Grala did have options, but none gave him the same long-term confidence.
VIDEO: Kaz Grala reacts to making Daytona 500 on pit road
TMT Racing plans to run a part-time schedule in 2022 with hopes of a full-time run next year. The number six was thrown around as a possible race count this year, but for starters the group is looking at superspeedways, road courses and tracks close to the Auchmoody’s home in Highland, New York — about 90 miles north of Manhattan.
Speaking of home, seven families made the trip to Daytona Beach, Florida, for the Auchmoodys’ first race. They’re staying in the infield. The Auchmoodys had their three kids in attendance (ages 5, 14 and 17), and Eury’s wife and two adopted sons (4- and 5-year-olds).
There were plenty of sponsor representatives, too. Pit Viper sent JP Gendron, who clarified (yes, really) that he’s the manager of fartnerships rather than partnerships for Speedweeks, his first NASCAR experience. Momento NFT and Mane ‘n Tale also had people on the ground.
“Well, Pit Viper, we’ve always loved going fast, right?” Gendron said. “And rubbing elbows. And just competition. So, NASCAR has always been a good fit for us. We’re full turbo — demand respect and authority — all day, every day.
“But it’s about the right opportunity. We’ve had many opportunities here and there in the past, and we’ve dabbled a bit. But this one was particularly interesting with Floyd’s involvement. Just other categories, other worlds getting into NASCAR. We love that. We love anything to shake it up and (promote) inclusivity.”
PHOTOS: See the scenes from Speedweeks
Brent Johnson, Mayweather’s international business and brand ambassador, was also witnessing his first NASCAR race with his wife and child. He FaceTimed with Mayweather on the pre-race grid, passing the phone off to Grala before he strapped in.
“I’m awed by being part of this culture,” Johnson said. “Because as African-American owners, there’s not many of us. We know the stories, like the Wendell Scotts, Willy T. Ribbs and the racers of African-American descent that came before us. But being a number is kind of weird.
“And also, for me, being a non-famous person, right? Like Brad Daugherty, Michael Jordan, Floyd Mayweather. Oh, me. Really? It’s interesting. But there’s no reason we can’t. The world is not limiting. We can do whatever we want if we put our mind to it and if the opportunity is there.”
No confirmation was given on whether Mayweather will be on site for Sunday’s main event, but Willy did tell Johnson to fire up the jets after the Duel, claiming Grala accomplished his part. Pit Viper will be providing a party regardless apparently, as Gendron revealed his personnel group will be rolling up in a limo wrapped with Grala’s paint scheme (repping a No. 69 rather than 50, though, because it’s Pit Viper).
All this hype because the No. 50 The Money Team Racing Chevrolet, sporting vibrant Pit Viper colors, will indeed line up 35th for the 64th annual Great American Race.
“As you know, if you’re on the starting grid Sunday, anyone can win the Daytona 500,” Grala said. “You got to run a perfect race. Not easy to do it. But anyone could have that perfect race.
“Why couldn’t it be us?”
RELATED: First-time winners in Daytona 500
Another night of modified racing at Florida’s New Smyrna Speedway, another win for Matt Hirschman.
And this one was not easy.
On Thursday’s Night 7 of the 2022 World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing, the Tour-Type Modified division was back in action. As was the case in Wednesday night’s John Blewett III Memorial 76, Jimmy Blewett and Hirschman on Thursday found themselves at the front of the field in the closing stages of the 35-lap event.
Hirschman passed Blewett with just two laps to go and was able to hold off his rival over the final mile on the high-banked short track.
🏁Winning Move! Matt Hirchman gets by @SHOWTIME6676 late to grab another @NASCARRoots Tour Modified win at @newsmyrnaspdwy!
📺 Live Broadcast: https://t.co/9LWIb2MIiP pic.twitter.com/LyeyxNRlgg
— FloRacing (@FloRacing) February 18, 2022
“I think Jimmy was tight, and actually, once I got ahead of him, I was actually tight,” Hirschman said of the final sequence. “I know one thing, we’re an entertaining group. People sure get their money’s worth with this group. These Modifieds, there’s nothing that compares.”
Hirschman, of course, also won Saturday night’s NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season-opener at New Smyrna on Night 2 of the World Series.
Blewett, Ronnie Williams, Stephen Kopcik and Ron Silk rounded out the top five in Thursday’s Tour-Type Modified race.
The Super Late Models race Thursday night also featured a repeat winner. Sammy Smith, who won Tuesday night’s ARCA Menards Series East season-opener at New Smyrna, won on Thursday ahead of Ryan Preece.
Winners of night 7 at Speedweeks! We have 1 more 100 lapper tomorrow and we’re currently in the points lead. Thanks to the whole team for the hard work all week! pic.twitter.com/wjZC53XBei
— Sammy Smith (@sammysmithSS) February 18, 2022
Preece’s second-place run was a new career high for him in a Super Late Model.
Bubba Pollard, Stephen Nasse and Justin Mondeik rounded out the top five in Thursday night’s Super Late Model race.
- Bryan Kruczek won Thursday night’s Pro Late Model race at the World Series ahead of Cory Hall, Conner Jones, Dylan Stovall and Toni Breidinger. For Breidinger, her top-five run at New Smyrna came on the heels of her pacing the field in ARCA Menards Series practice up the road at Daytona International Speedway earlier in the evening.
- Jerry Symons won Thursday night’s Florida Modified race. Terry Fisher, Wayne Parker, Jared Allison and Alan Bruns rounded out the top five.
Friday night’s action at the World Series of Asphalt features the Hart to Heart PLM 100 and Richie Evans Memorial 100.
Racing starts at 7:30 p.m. ET and can be viewed live on FloRacing.
The Daytona 500 is an unpredictable spectacle of auto racing. The Great American Race has produced surprise winners — just ask last year’s underdog victor, Michael McDowell — yet shut out some of the sport’s biggest names (looking at you, Kyle Busch).
MORE: Daytona 500 surprise winners
While well-trained experts and oddsmakers do their best to predict the unknown each year, we’re taking a different approach this time: throwing every driver’s name into a hat and seeing what happens by total chance, with results generated by a computer.
Just for fun, we’ve included odds from BetMGM in case you’d like to consider taking our generator’s results to the bank — but, if you do, that’s on you. Just remember, no computer can predict what will happen in a NASCAR race.
(Refresh the page to see new results.)
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — NASCAR today announced broadcast rights agreements with Fox Sports Mexico and Bandeirantes to ensure that NASCAR races will be available to race fans across all of Latin America. Both agreements run through 2024, and include all three national series, the NASCAR Mexico Series, and sister properties IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship, IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge and American Flat Track.
FOX Sports Mexico, a longtime NASCAR partner, carries a wide variety of sporting events and sports talk shows across Mexico. A subsidiary of Grupo Multimedia Lauman, Fox Sports Mexico will broadcast all NASCAR Cup Series races beginning this weekend at the 64th running of the Daytona 500. NASCAR Xfinity Series, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, NASCAR Mexico races, and all associated practice and qualifying sessions will also be available all season.
Bandeirantes will carry all NASCAR Cup Series events and associated practice and qualifying sessions on BandSports, their all-sports cable network that launched in 2002. The network will also air select NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Camping World Trucks Series events throughout the season
“Fox Sports Mexico and Bandeirantes are first-class operations with robust sports offerings, particularly in the motorsports space and we are excited to partner with them both to best serve NASCAR fans across the region,” said Nick Skipper, NASCAR managing director, media strategy.
NASCAR, along with agency partner IMG, has made NASCAR racing available to over 190 countries and territories. Races are broadcast in over 25 languages and reach over 600 million households to start 2022. Live NASCAR races can be seen in some of the largest countries in the world, including China, Brazil and Russia. Additionally, live broadcast coverage reaches key markets across the Americas and Europe, such as Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy and Spain.
In addition to best-in-class partners around the world, NASCAR racing is available via NASCAR’s Direct-To-Consumer (DTC) offering, NASCAR Trackpass. Beyondlive racing, the NASCAR International Production group also delivers nearly 200 hours of on-demand content to partners annually.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Rarely does a last-lap pass for 18th place have such major implications. Thursday night, it was the difference in making the Daytona 500 field and going home.
Kaz Grala eked his way into the Great American Race, bypassing JJ Yeley by that single spot in Thursday’s first Bluegreen Vacations Duel qualifying race. Greg Biffle took the final berth in the 500 field in the second Duel, denying Timmy Hill, Yeley’s MBM Motorsports teammate.
RELATED: Duel 1 results | Duel 2 results
The results mean that The Money Team Racing will make its NASCAR Cup Series debut with Grala in Sunday’s 500 (2:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Biffle will make the first Daytona start for team owner John Cohen under the NY Racing Team banner.
Grala struggled to find drafting help throughout the 150-mile qualifier, then overcame a pit-road speeding penalty with 24 laps remaining. After the checkered flag, he expressed his relief over the team radio as his thanked his No. 50 Chevrolet crew.
“It went from puke to puke, puking nervous to puking excited at the end,” Grala said. “I was worried as we rode by (Yeley) on that last lap, I didn’t know if he was going to try something, try to block, shoot down in front of us. There wasn’t a hole for him, but I was worried about whatever he might try because you’ve got to try. That’s all we did.”
RELATED: Kaz Grala reacts to making Daytona 500
Yeley was aiming for his seventh Daytona 500 start, and his first since 2015. He indicated that he become disconnected from the drafting help of Kaulig Racing’s Daniel Hemric late in the race, when Hemric moved his No. 16 Chevrolet to the high lane to allow the lead pack to pass by.
“It really hasn’t sunk in yet,” Yeley said behind the MBM No. 55 hauler. “I’ll probably go watch this Duel. I can’t get too crazy because we have Xfinity practice tomorrow. I’ve been doing this long enough that you have to take it with a grain of salt, but it definitely stings knowing that we were so close and then not making it.”
MBM team owner Carl Long took some exception to Hemric’s tactics, lamenting after the first race that breaking up their draft allowed Grala to make the pivotal late-race gains.
“You have sponsorship, you have stuff you put together and come out here for it, and because another team decided to drag the brake on us and slow us up up there,” Long said. “Everybody’s got their own people that they work with, but it just messed us up.”
MORE: Daytona weekend schedule | At-track photos
Hemric, the defending Xfinity Series champ who is running a partial Cup Series slate this year, said that his move wasn’t intended to thwart Yeley’s hopes or help another Chevrolet team make the field.
“No. No, no, no. I literally asked coming down pit road, I said, ‘who got in?’ ” Hemric said. “I didn’t think about it till I saw the 50 up on the screen there. So yeah, I just wanted to make sure that I got Kaulig Racing, everyone on this team in the Daytona 500 with this particular race car, and that’s what we did.”
Long also predicted in between Duels that Hill’s goals would be an uphill task, saying “that car hadn’t shown the speed that we needed.” Duel 2 proved him right early on, as Hill’s No. 66 Ford was off the pace and out of the draft just five laps in. Hill went a lap down by Lap 14, then another lap down near the race’s halfway mark.
The lack of speed cleared the way for Biffle to clinch a Daytona 500 starting spot despite an eventful Duel. A lengthy pit stop slowed the No. 44 Chevrolet on Lap 33, and he reported to his team that he was out of fuel as he approached the white flag. Biffle’s car sputtered, but he kept it running to a 13th-place finish, one lap in arrears.
“It feels really good. I’ll tell you, I have not slept much in the last couple days just trying to keep a cool composure,” said Biffle, who will be the oldest driver in the field at age 52, making his first Cup Series start since 2016. “I’ve been nervous about this race because there’s so many things that can happen and so many ways it can go.”
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Joey Logano accepted the blame for his involvement in a last-lap crash in Thursday’s second Bluegreen Vacations Duel qualifying race, an incident that left his No. 22 Team Penske Ford severely damaged at Daytona International Speedway.
Logano led a race-high 33 of the 60 laps in the 150-miler, but his attempt to block the advancement of fellow Ford driver Chris Buescher went awry at the exit of Turn 2. Logano’s car slid and nosed into the outside retaining wall, and the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing entry driven by rookie Harrison Burton caught some of the contact in the multi-car tangle.
RELATED: Duel 2 results | At-track photos: Daytona
“I mean, I knew as a leader, I was a bit of a sitting duck,” Logano said after he was released unhurt from the infield care center, “but at worst I was gonna finish fourth and was gonna try to let it kind of play out and didn’t think the 17 (Buescher) was gonna get a run that quick. He didn’t fall back that far, and it came to me so fast. I reacted to try to block it and I should have just let it happen and tried to race from there. I just messed up.
“The worst part is I put our team in a bad spot trying to fix this thing or get another car. I got the 21 too in it, so it’s a dumb mistake. That’s all there is to it. I’m not perfect.”
Buescher was declared the winner after the field’s running positions were frozen for the only caution flag of the night. The victory sealed a sweep of the qualifying races for RFK Racing.
RELATED: RFK Racing sweeps Bluegreen Vacation Duel races
Logano finished ninth, the first driver scored one lap down. He walked back to his garage stall after his care center visit to debrief and apologize to his crew for the incident. The team worked to unload and prepare a reserve No. 22 Ford not long after the checkered flag.
“It doesn’t help, but we’ll try to make it as best we can,” Logano said about the team’s outlook before Sunday’s Daytona 500 (2:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM). “We’ve got a couple days of practice to work on it and get it good and we’ll move on. There’s nothing I can do now. I wish I could reverse time, but I can’t. Like I said, it was just a mistake. We’ve got to move forward.”
The incident marked the first superspeedway crash for the Next Gen car design that makes its competition debut this season. Logano said he was encouraged by how his car performed in the high-speed wreck.
“I feel OK. I feel fine. I got out and I feel fine. That’s a good sign,” Logano said. “I hit the wall fairly hard and got out no problem. That part is good if there’s a positive to it. I don’t want to be the crash test dummy, but definitely was today.”
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Roush Fenway Keselowski teammates Brad Keselowski and Chris Buescher swept Thursday night’s Bluegreen Vacation Duels, but a last-lap collision in the second race wiped out then-frontrunner Joey Logano and spoiled a perfect night for the Ford Performance entries.
Running second to Logano, Buescher made a move to the inside on the backstretch on Lap 60. Logano moved down to block, and contact between the cars sent Logano’s No. 22 Team Penske Ford into the outside wall, crippling the car.
RELATED: Daytona 500 lineup | Duel 1 results | Duel 2 results
The accident caused the only caution of the night, with Buescher in the lead when the field was frozen at the moment of the yellow flag. Defending Daytona 500 winner Michael McDowell was second and Harrison Burton was credited with third after nosing into Logano’s Ford.
In contrast, the first Duel — the first points-paying event with the NASCAR Cup Series’ new Next Gen race car — ran without incident, and Keselowski led a 1-2-3-4 Ford sweep with a pass of Ryan Blaney with four laps left. Austin Cindric was second, followed by Blaney and Chase Briscoe.
In that race, Kaz Grala rallied from a pit road speeding penalty and advanced to the Daytona 500 with a pass of JJ Yeley on the final lap. In the second Duel, Greg Biffle claimed the final spot in Sunday’s race with a 13th-place finish, eliminating Timmy Hill, who ran 20th.
Biffle, 52, was competing in his first Cup event since 2016.
But the excitement was reserved for the final lap of the final race, with Logano acknowledging the mistake that broke up another 1-2-3-4 Ford finish.
RELATED: Logano after wreck: ‘I just made a mistake’
The beneficiary was Buescher, who finished off the first sweep of the Duels by one organization since Hendrick Motorsports accomplished the feat in 2015 with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson.
“Yeah, what a way to start Speedweeks out here, to put both RFK Ford Mustangs in Victory Lane, give Fastenal their first win on a Cup car,” Buescher said. “It’s not the big show, but we’ve got a really good hotrod here.
“Just hats off to everybody back at the shop. I know it’s been a hectic off season for everybody in our sport, but we’ve had a lot of changes going on, and it’s cool to see it play out.”
A rueful Logano gave a succinct post-mortem of the wreck that will force him to a backup car for the Daytona 500.
“Driver screwed up,” Logano said. “That’s really all there is to it. “I thought I was still clear, and the run (from Buescher) came a lot quicker than I thought it would.
“I tried to block it a little bit and just got a tag in the left rear, and off it went. It’s my fault. It stinks because it tore up our car and kind of puts us in a spot as a race team. It’s just a dumb mistake.
In the first Duel, new team co-owner Brad Keselowski passed his former teammate Ryan Blaney to notch his first victory as a principle at Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing. NASCAR Hall of Fame owner Jack Roush joined Keselowski in Victory Lane after the race with smiles all around at the newly-reorganized Ford team’s first points-paying outing.
RELATED: Keselowski takes checkered flag in first Duel race
Cindric, Blaney and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Briscoe crossed the line three-wide .264-seconds behind Keselowski, giving Ford the four-car sweep.
“It sure is (a great start),” said Keselowski, who will now start third in the Daytona 500. “I felt pretty good about our car in practice on Tuesday.
“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’’ said Keselowski, whose No. 6 Ford carried a sticker honoring his father Bob, a former NASCAR competitor who passed away Dec. 2, 2021.
“This is special,” Keselowski said.
Daytona 500 polesitter and reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson led a race-best 34 of the 60 laps in Duel No. 1 but lost the lead when he and his Chevrolet teammates took four tires on the race’s only pit stop. The Ford teams took only two tires.
The first Duel set the inside line of the 40-car Daytona 500 — with cars lining up on the inside of the grid behind pole winner Larson according to their finish in the qualifying race. Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott, Erik Jones, Larson, Tyler Reddick, Kurt Busch and Ross Chastain rounded out the top 10 from the opening Duel.
RELATED: Buescher: ‘We’re in a good spot here’ | Keselowski reacts to win
The second Duel determined the order of the outside row, with drivers lining up according to finishing order behind Alex Bowman, who secured the second starting spot in Wednesday night’s qualifying session. Kyle Busch finished fourth behind the three Fords, with Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Christopher Bell and Martin Truex Jr. behind him.
Bubba Wallace ran seventh and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. eighth. Logano was credited with a lead-lap finish in ninth but will start from the rear on Sunday in his backup car.
Grala earned the transfer position from Duel 1 with a stunning last-lap pass of J.J. Yeley to put the No. 50 TMT Racing Chevrolet in the big show—much to the delight of Grala and his new The Money Team Racing team owner, boxer Floyd Mayweather.
“It’s a relief I can tell you that,” Grala said. “I thought we weren’t going to make it for a bit.
“But got the hiccups out the way, and hopefully will have a smooth Sunday,” he added, thanking Kurt Busch for allowing him to re-join the field’s established racing line after receiving a pit road speeding penalty with 24 laps to go.
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After the penalty, Grala ran behind Yeley but said he never gave up hope and never got off the gas. He was able to make the pass coming out of Turn 2 on the final lap.
“Right down to that last lap, there was no relief,” Grala said. “The key was our line staying formed up and being able to roll by him and him not having a chance to hop down in front of anybody.
“Definitely took years off my life.”
Biffle had a much easier time than Grala, given that Hill fell off the lead lap early.
“It feels really good,” said Biffle, who returned to the Cup Series to drive for the NY Racing Team headed by John Cohen. “I’ll tell you, I have not slept much in the last couple days just trying to keep a cool composure.
“I’ve been nervous about this race because there’s so many things that can happen and so many ways it can go.”
Cup Series teams will have two more chances to tweak their race cars with Friday’s third practice session at 6 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, followed by Saturday’s final practice session at 10:30 a.m. ET on FS2 (coverage moves to FS1 at 11 a.m. ET).
Notes: Already locked into the Daytona 500 on speed, the Open car of Jacques Villeneuve had an issue with its throttle cable and was late to the pace laps for the second Duel. Villeneuve quickly lost the draft and fell behind, then retired from the race in 21st place on Lap 39.
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Post-race inspection in the NASCAR Cup Series garage was completed with no issues. All cars cleared inspection and results are official. The No. 6 RFK Racing Ford of Brad Keselowski and the No. 17 RFK Racing Ford of Chris Buescher are officially the winners of both Duels.