DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Bubba Wallace finally found the path to victory at Daytona Int’l Speedway as the 23XI Racing Toyota driver won Thursday night’s first Blue Green Vacations Duels at Daytona.
“I’ve always wanted one of those,” Wallace screamed into the radio. “Let’s go.”
Wallace led six times for 20 laps, more than any other driver in the field.
“Man, what a night,” Wallace said. “Crowd was loud tonight. Hope they enjoyed the race. Our McDonald’s Toyota Camry was really fast.
“I’ve wanted one of these Duel wins for so long. Tyler Reddick, my teammate, got one. Now, I have one, too.
“We know these Toyotas will race good. All in all, a good night.”
Justin Allgaier finished ninth and put Dale Earnhardt, Jr.’s JR Motorsports Chevrolet into Sunday’s 67th Daytona 500 as the lone transfer into the biggest race of the NASCAR Cup Series season.
“The emotions right now is really how much these guys really wanted it,” Allgaier said. “His lips were quivering, and his hands were shaking before the race, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen that out of Dale Jr. You could tell how much he wanted this and how much the whole shop wanted this.
“There were so many faces involved in this car and now JR Motorsports is in the Daytona 500.
“We get to race the Daytona 500 and that is very special. We’re in the Daytona 500.”
Earnhardt was ecstatic with Allgaier’s drive.
“It was a great race car, some great guys on the car that were motivated,” Earnhardt said. “This sport is amazing. I’ve seen it through so many different lenses. This is the way it should be. It should be hard to do this, and it was.
“I can’t believe it. We’re in the Daytona 500.”
Last year’s Daytona 500 winner, William Byron, was second in the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports.
Ty Dillon finished third in the No. 10 Kaulig Motorsports Chevrolet, followed by Tyler Reddick of 23XI and A.J. Allmendinger in a second Kaulig Racing Chevrolet.
Before the start of the first Duel, Chase Elliott’s brakes were “squishy,” so the team went to work on pit road to bleed the brake system and replace it with brake fluid.
After a clean start and first lap, Zane Smith’s No. 38 Ford scraped the wall in Turn 2 to bring out the first caution.
Smith was able to get back onto the track. Some drivers came down pit road to top off the fuel. Allgaier changed all four tires earlier and his JR Motorsports team decided to put on fresh rubber.
Green-flag racing resumed on Lap 6 with rookie Josh Berry in the lead followed by Daytona 500 pole winner Chase Briscoe, Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch and Chase Elliott.
By Lap 11, four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves had raced his way into the top 10.
On Lap 13, Chandler Smith crashed hard into the Turn 2 wall. He was running third. The yellow caution light came on for the second time. Castroneves was also involved in the crash, and it was the end of Castroneves trying to race his way into the Daytona 500, but he will be in the race because of the Open Exemption Provisional.
That means 41 cars will start the Daytona 500, but Castroneves and the PROJECT91 entry will not receive any prize money or points. If he had raced his way in through the first Duel, 40 cars would have started, and the Indy 500 legend would have earned prize money and points.
“I was really taking it easy on the high side, I lost my leader guy, Ross Chastain, but I was taking it easy and trying to not be too aggressive,” Castroneves said. “I was able to escape the first accident, but I was up high in the second one and the second hit was a little bit tough.
“I was having a good time. I learned so much, how to save fuel, small details. It’s so interesting. I love it. Unfortunately, we will have to take the provisional and, in the end, I have a lot to learn.”
There were eight cars involved in the crash.
“I’m good,” Smith said. “It was the hardest lick I’ve had in my life, for sure. I didn’t know 100 percent where the 7 was because my digital mirror wasn’t working. It was a bad decision by me. I’m thankful to everybody at Daytona on the safety side for taking care of me.”
It went back to green on Lap 19 and Elliott was the leader ahead of Berry, Dillon and Ross Chastain.
Michael McDowell was assessed a penalty and had to drive down pit road in his first race for Spire Motorsports.
Another caution on Lap 25 for debris, presumably off Ty Gibbs car. Three laps later, it was back to high-speed racing.
Wallace powered his No. 23 McDonald’s Toyota into the lead on Lap 31 but one lap later, Byron was in front.
Wallace went back in front on the next lap as the field developed into a side-by-side battle.
With 18 laps to go, the fourth caution flag waved for debris on the track. Wallace was the leader at that point ahead of teammate Tyler Reddick, Byron, Dillon and Chastain.
The green flag waved with 14 laps to go with Wallace and Byron renewing their side-by-side battle.
With 10 laps to go, Allgaier lost ground to J.J. Yeley in the battle for the lone transfer position into the Daytona 500 from the first Duel.
Yeley was running 12th with five laps to go and was the highest Open driver. But Allgaier was able to get back to Yeley to make it a race for the final transfer position.
Ty Dillon took over the lead in the No. 10 Chevrolet but with four to go, Wallace retook the lead.
With two to go, Wallace moved back to the front.
That set up the final lap dash to the checkered flag.
The finish:
Bubba Wallace, William Byron, Ty Dillon, Ross Chastain, Tyler Reddick, A.J. Allmendinger, Austin Dillon, Chase Elliott, Justin Allgaier, Kyle Busch, Ty Gibbs, Michael McDowell, Ryan Preece, Josh Berry, Martin Truex Jr., Ricky Stenhouse Jr., J.J. Yeley, Carson Hocevar, Chase Briscoe, Chandler Smith, Justin Haley, Helio Castroneves, Zane Smith.
