Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing swept both races at the Nascar Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona International Speedway on Thursday.
In the first of the two Duel races, it seemed the Chevrolet Camaro train of Hendrick Motorsports was unstoppable. Polesitter for the Daytona 500, Kyle Larson, showed the way in his No. 5 Camaro, with teammates William Byron and Chase Elliott in tow. However, pit strategy came into play halfway through the 60-lap event. The Chevrolets in the field elected to pit before the Fords, and each of the Camaros took on four new tires in hopes the refreshed grip would prove useful in the latter part of the short qualifying race.
One lap later, the Fords rolled onto Pit Road, taking only two tires and favoring speedy pit stops over potential gain from four fresh tires. This strategy broke the field into two packs, and the Fords, led by Ryan Blaney’s No. 12, easily put a healthy distance between themselves and the Chevrolets. With four to go, Keselowski executed a perfect pass on Blaney to snag the lead and never looked back.
The second Duel culminated in a dramatic conclusion that saw race leader Joey Logano drive nose-first into the wall in the Daytona Superstretch. Logano attempted to block second-place BFK driver Chris Buescher on the last lap and threw his No. 22 Mustang across the nose of the No. 17, causing him to spin and forcing his nose into the wall. Logano was the only car involved in the incident, and will be forced to move to a backup car for the Daytona 500 on Sunday. He will start at the rear of the field.
Greg Biffle locked his no. 44 Camaro into the Daytona 500, along with Jacques Villeneuve in the No. 27 Mustang, Noah Gragson in the No. 62 Camaro, and Kaz Grala in the No. 50 Camaro.
The Camaros of Kyle Larson and Alex Bowman will lead the field to green for the Daytona 500 on February 20th at 2:30 p.m. ET. Keselowski and Buescher will start behind them.
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Comments
Once again Ford {22} the dummy wrecks more Ford while Chevy sit back and watches. The big day is Sunday money like the song says.