DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Tyler Reddick and Christopher Bell won the two Bluegreen Vacations Duel races Thursday, with both making daring last-lap passes in their respective races to earn the third and fourth starting spots in Sunday's Daytona 500. As Reddick and Bell both drove to Victory Lane, Jimmie Johnson and Kaz Grala earned the final two available spots in "The Great American Race," narrowly qualifying thanks to races for the transfer spot that weren't decided until coming into the tri-oval to the checkered flag.
The complexion of Sunday's Daytona 500 was altered enormously through the Duels, particularly through a major multi-car accident in Duel 2 that destroyed the primary cars of Ryan Blaney and Kyle Busch while also collecting other contenders. Their troubles paled in comparison to J.J. Yeley and B.J. McLeod, both of whom failed to qualify for the Daytona 500 in heartbreaking fashion.
The Duels set quite the tone for the 500, offering a potential preview of the most important lap of all: Both Reddick and Bell led only the last lap in winning their Duel.
Reddick's winning move came toward the end of the backstretch on the final lap, as he cut to the inside of Kyle Larson and then held off a run by Chase Elliott off Turn 4 to get back to the finish line first. As that took place, Jimmie Johnson -- whose Daytona 500 bid was jeopardized when he was collected in a four-car crash late in Duel 1 -- prevailed in his battle with Yeley to be the highest-finishing Open car.
In the final corner, Yeley responded to a checkup by Ross Chastain by cutting to the outside, leaving himself without drafting help and leaving the inside open for Johnson to go through. Johnson beat Yeley to the line to secure his Daytona 500 spot, avoiding a disaster scenario that would have seen him fail to qualify for the first time in his Hall of Fame career.
"I've never been in a position like this before, and I have such a greater appreciation for everyone before me that's tried to race their way in," Johnson told Fox Sports. "... It's very stressful. Very thankful that we got this Carvana Toyota in the race. I knew the first half of the race was going too easy. I knew there would be a challenge thrown at us, and we got it just in time.
"Hats off to J.J. Yeley. He put up a heck of a fight, had a very competitive car. And we were just in the right spot at the right time when the checkered fell."
While Johnson's late-race spin significantly heightened the urgency at the end of Duel 1, the turning point of Duel 2 was far more brutal. A massive crash broke out in the tri-oval with 13 laps to go, which began when William Byron got turned sideways and into Ryan Blaney, sending the defending Cup Series champion hard into the wall and triggering a crash that collected 11 of the 21 cars in the race -- one of whom, B.J. McLeod, was in position to qualify for the Daytona 500 as an Open car.
After yet another hard impact in a crash at Daytona -- he had a vicious head-on hit in a similar accident last August -- Blaney voiced his frustrations after emerging from the infield care center.
"It looks like a terrible push, yet again, gets me right-reared into the wall," Blaney told Fox Sports. "I don't know who it was, who it stems from ... Shitty pushes by people three times in a row in Daytona, and got a wrecked racecar. I'm getting pretty sick of getting right-reared by someone's awful push.
"It's unfortunate we've got to build a whole new 500 car. But we had a fast Menards/Peak Ford Mustang tonight. Shame it's ruined by someone else."
McLeod was able to recover from the accident to stay in the lead pack, but the ensuing caution allowed Kaz Grala -- who had lost the draft following green flag pit stops -- to get back in the mix for the final available spot in the field. Grala was able to beat McLeod by a carlength to make the field, as Christopher Bell pulled off a last-lap pass on Denny Hamlin and held off both Harrison Burton and Austin Cindric to give Toyota a sweep of the two Duels.
"That was so much more stressful than it needed to be for us," Grala told Fox Sports. "For a little while there we looked to be in good shape, and then we had some trouble there on pit road, we weren't able to stay with the draft. Just really proud of everybody at Front Row Motorsports. They worked so hard the last 24 hours to get our car ready to race today -- we had some troubles yesterday.
"Really cool to be able to get it in the show for them. This is a big opportunity for me here. Excited to be here on Sunday again."
The end result of the two Duel races was a number of race teams who will have to repair their Daytona 500 cars or go to a backup car outright. Ryan Blaney, William Byron and Daniel Hemric were among those set to head to backups, while others like Brad Keselowski and Todd Gilliland will repair their primary cars following Thursday night and ahead of practice on Friday afternoon.
With their primary cars both intact following the Duels, polesitter Joey Logano and outside polesitter Michael McDowell will both keep their starting positions Sunday and lead the field to the green flag in the 66th Daytona 500.
Daytona 500 starting lineup
- #22 - Joey Logano
- #34 - Michael McDowell
- #45 - Tyler Reddick
- #20 - Christopher Bell
- #9 - Chase Elliott
- #2 - Austin Cindric
- #48 - Alex Bowman
- #11 - Denny Hamlin
- #77 - Carson Hocevar (R)
- #42 - John Hunter Nemechek
- #43 - Erik Jones
- #21 - Harrison Burton
- #99 - Daniel Suarez
- #71 - Zane Smith (R)
- #54 - Ty Gibbs
- #6 - Brad Keselowski
- #5 - Kyle Larson
- #24 - William Byron
- #17 - Chris Buescher
- #14 - Chase Briscoe
- #1 - Ross Chastain
- #51 - Justin Haley
- #84 - Jimmie Johnson
- #23 - Bubba Wallace
- #41 - Ryan Preece
- #36 - Kaz Grala (R)
- #19 - Martin Truex Jr.
- #16 - A.J. Allmendinger
- #7 - Corey LaJoie
- #4 - Josh Berry (R)
- #38 - Todd Gilliland
- #12 - Ryan Blaney
- #3 - Austin Dillon
- #8 - Kyle Busch
- #47 - Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- #15 - Riley Herbst
- #31 - Daniel Hemric
- #10 - Noah Gragson
- #62 - Anthony Alfredo
- #60 - David Ragan
Failed to Qualify: B.J. McLeod, J.J. Yeley
