Six drivers came into Thursday’s Duel races hunting a spot in the 41-car field for Sunday’s (Feb. 15) Daytona 500, but only two earned that coveted berth.
Justin Allgaier and Corey Heim both sewed up their starting spots in the Daytona 500 during Wednesday’s qualifying session. Heim and Allgaier were the two fastest open drivers, with Allgaier barely edging Corey LaJoie to earn a spot in the 500 for the second year in a row.
Jimmie Johnson, meanwhile, had already scored a spot in the race via the open exemption provisional, giving the race 41 starters instead of its usual 40.
That left three drivers in each of the two Duel races, with the highest-finishing of the three making the field for the Great American Race.
LaJoie, Casey Mears and Chandler Smith were the three open drivers in Duel 1, and at first, LaJoie appeared to be the prohibitive favorite.
Mears brought out the first caution of the race after spinning coming onto pit road. He was initially unable to get out of the grass and went a lap down.
But another caution in the closing laps gave Mears another chance — albeit a slim one — to make the Daytona 500.
On the final lap of Duel 1, LaJoie was turned while running inside the top 10 and spun into the wall. All of a sudden, Mears, who had been dead in the water, floored it and somehow finished in the top 10 as the caution flag flew and the race ended.
After a brief but tense review, Mears was officially in the Daytona 500.
“Probably a little bit of power in prayer, there was a lot of that going on the car,” Mears told FOX Sports 1 post-race. “I figured I’d just stay in the gas no matter what happened.”
Mears is slated to start 17th in the Daytona 500 on Sunday, but that’s assuming his Garage 66 team doesn’t have to go to a backup car, as there was damage to his Ford after his Duel race.
Sunday’s race will be Mears’ 14th start in the Daytona 500 and his first since 2019.
“When I seen that car spinning going into 3, I’m like, ‘they[‘re] going to throw the caution, we ain’t gonna get there,” Garage 66 team owner Carl Long told Frontstretch. “We watched it, it was disbelief if whether or not we actually was in front when that situation occurred. I couldn’t believe it.”
Mears finished eighth in Duel 1, with Smith and LaJoie finishing 16th and 19th, respectively, out of the Daytona 500.
Fortunately for Beard Motorsports driver Anthony Alfredo, the second Duel was a much tamer 60-lap affair.
Alfredo was racing BJ McLeod and JJ Yeley for the final spot in the Daytona 500 field, and aside from an early advance from McLeod while much of the field was saving fuel, it was a relatively easy path to the Daytona 500 grid for the No. 62.
Alfredo showed plenty of speed in the draft and even briefly led the bottom lane before green-flag pit stops. After a clean fuel-only stop, Alfredo stayed with the main pack, only fading in the closing laps.
But despite his No. 62 Chevrolet slightly losing the tail end of the draft, Alfredo still had plenty of insurance. Yeley was already two laps down, and while McLeod was only two spots behind Alfredo, the latter had a sizeable advantage.
While Alfredo did cross the line in front of McLeod and was initially in Sunday’s Daytona 500 field, his finish was disallowed after issues with a pair of cooling hoses. That knocked Alfredo out of the Daytona 500 field and put McLeod into the race after his No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet passed post-race inspection.
McLeod will start at the back of the field on Sunday, but he’s in the race while Alfredo and Yeley will make the long trip home.
“I’ll take it however we can get it,” McLeod told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “We’re gonna get to go be a part of the best stock car race in the world on Sunday night. It feels awesome.”
A member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA), Samuel also covers NASCAR for Yardbarker, Field Level Media, and Heavy Sports. He will attend the University of Arkansas in the fall of 2025.