RFK Sweeps the Duels, Grala and Biffle Make The Daytona 500

The 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Season is set to begin the regular season on Sunday, February 20th, but first, we had to find out how the field will be set for the 64th Running of the Daytona 500. Not to mention how each driver and team will learn and handle to new NextGen car while having to possibly preserve the equipment due to the supply chain shortages. Kyle Larson won the pole for the Daytona 500, keeping Hendrick’s front row streak alive that dates back to 2015. Alex Bowman also makes the front row as he breaks the all-time record for most front-row starts in the Daytona 500. Six open cars also had to fight for four spots to make The Great American Race, in which two qualified their way in on Wednesday Night’s time trials. Those two are Noah Gragson, driving the #62 for Beard Motorsports, as well as the 1997 F1 Champion and 1995 Indy 500 winner, Jacques Villeneuve, driving for a brand new team, Team Hezeberg.

In Duel #1, Kyle Larson and William Byron led the field to begin the first 60-lap race. Noah Gragson did lose touch from the field immediately, due to having already secured a spot and with the team only bringing one car to the event. Larson led for the first chunk of the race as manufacturers played their strategies with the Chevrolet teams pitting together as well as the Fords. Kurt Busch was the lone Toyota in the field for this race, however. The Ford teams played a good strategy that led to only taking two tires when most teams took four. In the closing laps, as the race ran green the entire way, the battle came down to four drivers. Those being Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski, Austin Cindric, and Chase Briscoe. Brad Keselowski was able to take the lead in the closing laps and hold off his former teammate, Ryan Blaney, and win the first Bluegreen Vacation Duels race. This was Brad’s first Duel win as well as a great start for his new team that he also is a co-owner of, RFK Racing. Austin Cindric edged out Blaney and Briscoe for second as they were three-wide across the start-finish line. On the final lap, Kaz Grala was able to pass J.J. Yeley coming to the checkered flag to put him and the new team co-owned by Floyd Mayweather, The Money Team Racing, into the Daytona 500. This occurs after Grala was busted for a speeding penalty on pit road, which was an incredible turnaround and proves to never give up.

In the emotions at the end, Grala described it as, “It went from puke to puke — puking nervous to puking excited at the end.”

In Duel #2, Alex Bowman and Aric Almirola led the field to the green flag. Jacques Villeneuve had issues getting his car fired, but was able to make the start. His #27 Ford went to the garage after halfway through the race, as they will work on the car to improve it for Sunday’s race. Bowman and Logano dueled side-by-side in the opening laps, but Chris Buescher would gain the lead. During green flag pit stops, the five Toyotas in the race came down pit road, but Denny Hamlin locked up and lost control of his #11 FedEx Toyota as he was entering pit road. Fortunately, no one else was involved and Denny was able to get going again, despite losing time. Just like in Duel 1, the battle to win came down to four cars, which were also all Ford’s. Joey Logano, Chris Buescher, Michael McDowell, and rookie Harrison Burton. Coming off of turn two on the final lap, Chris Buescher moved to Logano’s inside to make the pass with help from McDowell. Logano tried to apply a block but ended up moving Buescher down below and then losing control of his #22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford, he ended up slamming into the wall, forcing him to a backup car. After reviewing who was out in front at the time of caution, it was revealed that Chris Buescher was out in front of Michael McDowell, giving Buescher the win and an RFK Racing sweep of the Duels. Greg Biffle, who drove full-time in the Cup Series for RFK Racing from 2003 to 2016, also made it into the Daytona 500 with NY Racing. Two drivers failed to qualify, those being J.J. Yeley, who raced in the first duel race, and Timmy Hill, also Yeley’s teammate.

Brad Keselowski will start third and Chris Buescher will start fourth for the Daytona 500. Besides the insane ending to Duel 2, most things were clean and calm as many teams tried to take it easy for the Duel races and prepare for the main event on Sunday. That will also be the first true test of the new generation race car, to see how a 40 car field will do at Daytona. All of the wait and speculation has come to a close. Now the countdown is on the Great American Race, in just three days’ time.