By ZECH YODER
Thing are heating up at Daytona Beach for NASCAR’S Daytona 500 weekend, but that may only be temporary as steady rain is in the forecast for Saturday and Sunday. It looks like the Great American Race may have to wait until Monday or even Tuesday. Rain, however, did not ruin the Duels at Daytona, the two 150-mile sprint races that set the field for the Daytona 500.
Entering the qualifying race, the front row was already set the night before in single car qualifying. Joey Lagano and Michael McDowell posted the two fastest times and will start in the first and second positions. The rest of the starting grid was up for grabs in the qualifying races and several drivers, including seven-time Cup Series Champion and two-time Daytona 500 Champion, Jimmie Johnson, J.J. Yeley, Kaz Grala, and BJ Mcleod, are “open cars,” meaning they do not have NASCAR charters and are therefore not guaranteed a starting position in the race. During single-car qualifying on Wednesday, they were bested in time by David Ragan and Anthony Alfredo, the two other open cars. Heading into the qualifying races, Ragan and Alfredo were locked in. The rest of the open cars were left to fight for the last to positions.
The first qualifying race featured Johnson and Yeley. Johnson’s car was fast and he spent much of the race in the front. With Yeley falling out of the lead pack, it looked as if Johnson was going to be a lock. A late race caution involving Johnson, moved Yeley ahead of Johnson. On the back stretch on the last lap, it looked as if Johnson was going to be bumped from the Daytona 500. Astonishingly, Yeley made a late move to the outside which allowed Johnson to sneak by and grab the transfer spot. At the front, Tyler Reddick came from deep in the field and took the win.
The second qualifying race provided drama, much like the first. BJ Mcleod was fast, and his car ran near the front for much of the first half of the race. After pit stops, however, a large wreck took out several fast cars, including Kyle Busch and Ryan Blaney. Blaney took a nasty hit into the outside wall that was similar to his crash in the summer race at Daytona last year. After the field was restarted, Kaz Grala narrowly edged out BJ Mcleod to take the final spot in the Daytona 500. Mcleod’s car was damaged in the wreck and lacked the speed it had at the beginning of the race. Christopher Bell made a last lap pass on Denny Hamlin to take the second victory of the night for Toyota.
Going into the Daytona 500, here is what we know. The Toyota’s are fast. Really fast. And they have additional cars in the race as Legacy Motor Club switched to Toyota’s this year. Toyota lacked drafting help for the last several years. With the additional of Legacy, they are clearly the favorite. Blaney and Busch will be in backup cars. They will need to be patient in moving to the front.
Predicting a winning at Daytona is nearly impossible. Denny Hamlin looked strong on Thursday. He knows how to win at Daytona with three Daytona 500 victories. I am going to go a little bit outside the box and am picking Brad Keselowski. He’s great on superspeedways and has not won since leaving Penske. RFK Racing has shown vast improvement over the last two seasons. I think Brad wins his first Daytona 500.
Zech Yoder is a local resident, an attorney at Adler Attorneys in Noblesville, and a lifelong race fan.