NASCAR is officially back! Tonight’s Duels were preceded by qualifying the night before where David Ragan in the RFK #60 and Anthony Alfredo in the #62 locked themselves into the Daytona 500 on speed. This left Jimmie Johnson, JJ Yeley, BJ McLeod and Kaz Grala – who had a shifter issue in qualifying – competing for the final two transfer spots into the 500.
The first Duel was mostly anticlimactic until after the green flag pit stops. On lap 50 we had our first caution of the night as Ricky Stenhouse Jr. turned Daniel Hemric after a stack up in front of them. Austin Dillon and Johnson were also involved but were able to continue. This set up a restart with seven to go where Johnson needed to get past Yeley to guarantee a spot in the 500. Yeley made a huge block on Johnson to try to hold him off, but Johnson was able to make the move off of turn 4 coming to the checkered to make it into the 500 while Tyler Reddick led the field to the line.
Duel 2 started mostly quiet as well with the open car of McLeod running up in the top-10 for the entire first half of the race getting as high as third! Pit stops began on lap 41. McLeod cycled out in front of Kaz Grala on the pit cycle as Grala lost the draft and wasn’t able to catch back up.
A huge crash occurred on lap 47 as William Byron blocked Blaney and got stacked up into the outside lane taking out a ton of good race cars. Kyle Busch, Ryan Blaney, Riley Herbst, and Noah Gragson’s nights would be done in the ensuing pile-up. After the red flag clean up we would see if the open car of McLeod and others would be able to continue.
McLeod was able to continue and would restart 13th, needing to pass Grala who restarted seventh with eight laps to go. Grala would quickly move to fifth as McLeod would try to hang on to the back of the pack. McLeod tried to move through on the bottom as Denny Hamlin and Michael McDowell fought for the lead. Grala lost momentum on the top and was side by side with McLeod as they came to the white flag. Grala was able to squeeze past McLeod on the bottom for the final transfer spot as Christopher Bell won the second Duel on a last lap pass of Denny Hamlin. Austin Cindric had moved his in-house Penske (via Wood Bros) teammate Harrison Burton, costing them both a shot at the win.
Overall, the Duels delivered as they always do. Congratulations to Jimmie Johnson and Kaz Grala for racing their way into the 500. It was heartbreak for JJ Yeley and BJ McLeod, but they have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. They gave the former all they could handle right to the end, and while they can’t all make it at the end of the day this writer was proud of their efforts to try to make it into the show!
Let me be the first of the Pit Box Press team to welcome you to the official start of the 2024 NASCAR season! We are ready for a great year of great races!
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