Coming to the white flag of Thursday’s first Bluegreen Vacations Duel at Daytona International Speedway, Tyler Reddick was sitting in sixth place, tucked in the pack as the third driver on the outside lane.
However, one circuit around the 2.5-mile superspeedway later and the Corning, California native finds himself celebrating a victory, after navigating his No. 45 Nasty Beast Toyota Camry XSE to the front of the pack over Hendrick Motorsports teammates Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman.
The 28-year-old racer was able to dart inside of 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson on the backstretch, getting track position on the inside lane, clearing his challengers on the outside lane, and sailing to the first-ever duel race victory for 23XI Racing.
For Reddick, the victory in the first qualifying race gets the fifth-year driver 10 championship points, potentially offering some padding in the event of a difficult showing in Sunday’s Daytona 500, in which the No. 45 will roll from third place.
Chase Elliott, NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver, finished in second, just 0.056 seconds behind the race-winner, earning himself a fifth-place starting spot for ‘The Great American Race’. Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman came home in third.
Rookie of The Year (ROTY) contender Carson Hocevar, driving the No. 77 Chevrolet Camaro for Spire Motorsports, finished fourth place in the qualifying race, earning himself a top-10 starting spot in his first-ever start in the most prestigious NASCAR Cup Series event of the season.
Erik Jones completed the top-five, after leading five circuits around the 2.5-mile superspeedway early on in the event. Daniel Suarez came home in sixth place, with polesitter Joey Logano coming home in seventh with a clean Ford Mustang Dark Horse, allowing him to maintain his spot on the pole.
Ty Gibbs finished eighth, while Kyle Larson, who was leading the race with a half-lap remaining, slid back to ninth. Chris Buescher rounded out the top-10 finishers — and point-scorers — in the first of two 60-lap twin features.
Jimmie Johnson, a NASCAR Hall of Fame driver and seven-time champion of the NASCAR Cup Series locked himself into the 2024 Daytona 500 with a 12th-place finish, engaging in an incredible 10-lap slugfest with JJ Yeley to lock himself into the field, making a move off the final corner.
Yeley, who got the call on Monday to drive the No. 44 Chevrolet for NY Racing Team, finished 16th in the event, but due to his finishing position and slow qualifying speed, was unable to secure a spot into the NASCAR Cup Series season-opener at Daytona.
The race featured a single caution, coming in the race’s closing laps when an accordion effect sent Daniel Hemric hard into the outside wall, causing extensive damage to the No. 31 Chevrolet, which will likely send them to a backup car for Sunday’s 500-mile race.
As the No. 31 slammed the outside wall, Jimmie Johnson, Austin Dillon, and defending Daytona 500 winner Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. got involved in the incident, as well, each of which sustained some extremely minor damage.
The results from the opening duel race will set the lineup for the inside lane (3rd, 5th, 7th, etc.). Now, the running of the second qualifying race immediately after will have an impact on the outside lane (4th, 6th, 8th, etc.).
-- Image: Matthew T. Thacker, LAT Images, Courtesy of Toyota Racing
