The starting lineup for the 2026 Daytona 500 was determined on Thursday night.
NASCAR Cup Series drivers competed in two Duel races to decide their starting positions for the Great American Race. Duel No. 1 and Duel No. 2 finalized the order of the inside and outside rows for the beginning of the race, respectively.
Joey Logano emerged victorious in Duel No. 1 before Chase Elliott won Duel No. 2.
They’ll start behind the top two cars after Kyle Busch secured pole position and Chase Briscoe locked up the No. 2 spot in Wednesday’s single-car qualifying.
Here are the results from each Duel as well as the full starting lineup for the Daytona 500.
Daytona 500 Starting Lineup
After several early lead changes in the first Duel race, Logano finally moved in front after opening in the No. 6 spot.
He remained ahead as a five-car accident with four laps remaining caused the caution flag to fly. Logano was still able to secure the win after another caution on the final lap, earning the fourth qualifier victory of his career.
“I do think we have a strong race car, obviously a fast race car, we proved that,” Logano said after the race, per Jenna Fryer of the Associated Press. “There’s definitely some things I want to work on, no doubt. It’s always like that. We have to have speed. We’ll work on some handling pieces, but I feel like we’re pretty close.”
As for Elliott, he earned his third career win in the Duels.
The second race was much cleaner than the first, as it never went to caution. Chase Briscoe led for the majority of the laps before Elliott surged in front late, holding off pushes from Carson Hocevar and Kyle Larson to wrap up the victory.
Both Logano and Elliott earned 10 points for the 2026 regular season by winning their respective Duels.
The Daytona 500 will begin on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET.