Jimmie Johnson made the Daytona 500 with a last-lap cross as Tyler Reddick and Christopher Bell gained the Duel qualifying races on Thursday evening.
Johnson was on the surface wanting in with a lap to go within the first Duel race, however bought round JJ Yeley heading to the end line after Yeley moved to the surface to keep away from vehicles that had checked up forward of him. Johnson stayed in line behind Ross Chastain and used a push from Martin Truex Jr. to sneak previous Yeley on the checkered flag.
The seven-time Cup Collection champion is operating a part-time schedule for the second consecutive season. Since his No. 84 automobile isn’t full-time, he entered the Daytona 500 as certainly one of six drivers competing for 4 open spots. Since Johnson had simply the third-best qualifying time amongst non-chartered vehicles throughout Wednesday evening’s pole qualifying, he wanted to complete forward of Yeley to ensure himself into the race.
The late drama got here after Johnson was caught up in a wreck that included Austin Dillon and Daniel Hemric. Johnson had minimal injury within the incident — Hemric bought the worst of it — however the crash meant Johnson misplaced his snug benefit over Yeley because the laps wound down within the 60-lap race.
Reddick gained the primary Duel race after he additionally escaped a near-incident. Reddick made contact with Ty Gibbs as vehicles made their pit stops through the race and was pressured to avoid wasting his automobile from spinning out and doubtlessly amassing others in a crash.
The second Duel was marred by an enormous crash late within the race. Ten vehicles have been concerned after William Byron’s late block of Ryan Blaney arrange a crash after Brad Keselowski pushed Kyle Busch into Byron with lower than 15 laps to go.
Bell gained the race on the ultimate lap after getting round a block from his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Hamlin. Bell then needed to maintain off a late potential cost by Austin Cindric after he handed Harrison Burton for second getting into Flip 3.
Kaz Grala bought the ultimate spot within the 500 within the second Duel race as he bought previous BJ McLeod for the switch spot.
Toyotas look sturdy
Each Reddick and Bell drive Toyotas because the producer’s race tempo appeared nice Thursday evening.
The 9 Toyota vehicles entered within the race weren’t the quickest bunch in single-car qualifying Wednesday evening, however that is not that huge of a deal. How your automobile races within the draft with different vehicles round it’s far more essential than uncooked tempo alone on the monitor through the Daytona 500. Six of these 9 Toyota vehicles are beginning inside the highest 15 in Sunday’s race.
A rain-delayed Daytona 500?
Ensure that to examine the climate forecast earlier than you sit down to observe the Daytona 500 on Sunday. A storm system is ready to affect Florida on Saturday and Sunday. Friday evening’s Truck Collection race ought to go on as scheduled, however Saturday’s ARCA and Xfinity Collection races are at risk of being postponed together with Sunday’s Daytona 500.
As of now, each Saturday and Sunday function an 80% probability of rain for many of every day with the climate clearing up Monday.
Daytona 500 beginning lineup
1. Joey Logano
2. Michael McDowell
3. Tyler Reddick
4. Christopher Bell
5. Chase Elliott
6. Austin Cindric
7. Alex Bowman
8. Denny Hamlin
9. Carson Hocevar
10. John Hunter Nemechek
11. Erik Jones
12. Harrison Burton
13. Daniel Suarez
14. Zane Smith
15. Ty Gibbs
16. Brad Keselowski
17. Kyle Larson
18. William Byron
19. Chris Buescher
20. Chase Briscoe
21. Ross Chastain
22. Justin Haley
23. Jimmie Johnson
24. Bubba Wallace
25. Ryan Preece
26. Kaz Grala
27. Martin Truex Jr.
28. AJ Allmendinger
29. Corey LaJoie
30. Josh Berry
31. Todd Gilliland
32. Ryan Blaney
33. Austin Dillon
34. Kyle Busch
35. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
36. Riley Herbst
37. Daniel Hemric
38. Noah Gragson
39. Anthony Alfredo
40. David Ragan
