DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — With 36 charter cars guaranteed starting spots in the Daytona 500, it leaves only four positions available for non-chartered and independent racing teams.
Eight cars came to Daytona Int’l Speedway vying for those four spots in the 68th running of The Great American Race. Two were locked in during qualifying on Wednesday night and two more will earn spots by racing their way into the field through Thursday’s America 250 Florida Duels.
That means six drivers will fight for two spots on Thursday night.
Reigning Craftsman Truck Series champion Corey Heim qualified for his first Daytona 500 by qualifying eighth in the fourth 23XI Racing entry. Heim, 23, ran a lap of 183.120 mph to earn his first Daytona 500 start.
Heim, who said qualifying was stressful, said shifting was important on his qualifying efforts in both the first round and the second.
“I had to tell myself 10 times before qualifying to remind myself of the RPMs, when to shift,” he said. “With the Trucks, we have our RPM number. I’ve almost got it integrated into my brain at this point. I don’t even have to look at the dash, I hear the RPM and I shift. It’s so wired into me.
“When you get into a new car, it tends to be different. That’s kind of the case with qualifying here. All the gears are different shift points and it’s very specific.”
Heim hopes to use Thursday’s qualifying race as a learning experience.
“Yeah, just go out and learn, try to get used to the brake pedal,” Heim said. “These guys are a little different coming to pit road, they rattle rougher, which promotes wheel hop and lockup. Stuff like that, stuff I need to get used to as an inexperienced driver. Obviously I don’t want to turn the car up, but I’m still going to go race for it.”
Justin Allgaier put Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s No. 40 Chevrolet into the Daytona 500 for the second consecutive year. He was 14th overall in qualifying.
Last year, Allgaier had to race his way into the 500. This year is different.
“I think last year we made it so exciting on Thursday,” he said. “It was really cool and it was special, the moment was cool, but I feel like this year I can go through the Duels and we can work on the car in a way different capacity that allows us to go for the 500 and really feel like we’re competing for a win and a great position.
“I think it’s just different, but really proud of our team. Greg Ives, this whole 40 team, they put a lot of hours into making sure this car was fast. Obviously, it’s showing that way.”
Racing a fourth car out of the RFK Racing stable, Corey LaJoie was 15th quick of the 45 qualifiers, and will have to race the No. 99 Ford into the field on Thursday night.
LaJoie starts ninth in the opening Duel and will have to outrun Chandler Smith (41st) and Casey Mears (43rd) to start the Daytona 500.
In the second Duel, Anthony Alfredo (35th) will face off against B.J. McLeod (42nd) and J.J. Yeley (44th) for the final spot in the Daytona 500.
