Blaney Wins Can Am Duel One to Start Third in Sunday's Daytona 500

DAYTONA BEACH, FL – RIS – Ryan Blaney held off a charging Joey Logano and Darrell Wallace, Jr. to win the Can Am Duel No. 1 qualifying race for the Daytona 500 on Thursday night.  The 150-miler changed the face of Sunday’s race, the first and biggest Monster Energy NASCAR Cup event of the year. Jimmie Johnson, William Byron and Brad Keselowski all were involved in major accidents in the 62-lap race, putting their teams to work on backup cars for Sunday.

Blaney, who moved to Team Penske this season after driving for the Wood Brothers, drafted with Wallace, his best friend in the garage, at the front over the closing laps. Logano, who had dominated the race, edged Wallace for second at the line.

The victory earned Blaney the third starting spot in the 500. Alex Bowman won the pole Sunday, and Denny Hamlin will start second. The results of Thursday night’s first qualifying race completed the inside-lane portion of the starting lineup for Sunday’s race.

An early-race crash put a blackmark on the weekend for Johnson, one of the 500 favorites, and Byron, his rookie teammate, met trouble later in the race.

Johnson’s Chevrolet blew its right-rear tire on lap nine, sending the car to the right and into Aric Almirola’s Ford, sparking the night’s first caution.

“As I came into the trioval, the car started shaking, and I knew exactly what it was,” Johnson said. “It just hooked the car around and into Aric (Almirola).”

Both cars were heavily damaged, and the two teams will go to backup cars for the 500.

“Not the way I wanted to start Speedweeks with our Smithfield Ford Fusion, but we will get another car out and get ready for the rest of the weekend,” Almirola said. “The beauty of it is that it is just the 150s and it wasn’t the Daytona 500.”

Byron lost control of his Chevrolet on lap 39 when Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who was running behind Byron, dropped low to make a pass. It appeared that the force of air created by Stenhouse’s move caused Byron to lose control and hit the outside wall.

A few laps later, a very similar incident occurred as Stenhouse went low to pass David Gilliland. Gilliland’s car also suddenly lost traction and hit the outside wall.

With three laps to go, Jamie McMurray and Keselowski crashed in the top five, crunching Keselowski’s Ford and pushing the race into overtime.

Blaney took control from that point.

Pos, Driver, Car, Laps

1) Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Menards/Peak Ford,  63 laps

2) Joey Logano, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, 63

3) Darrell Wallace Jr., No. 43 Click N' Close Chevrolet, 63

4) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 17 Fastenal Ford, 63

5) Kurt Busch, No. 41 Haas Automation/Monster Energy Ford, 63

6) Ryan Newman, No. 31 Bass Pro Shops/Cabela's Chevrolet, 63

7) David Ragan, No. 38 Speedco Ford, 63

8) Daniel Suarez, No. 19 Arris Toyota, 63

9) Jamie Mcmurray, No. 1 McDonald's/Cessna Chevrolet, 63

10) Chris Buescher, No. 37 Kleenex Chevrolet, 63

11) Ty Dillon, No. 13 Geico Chevrolet, 63

12) Brendan Gaughan, No. 62 Beard Motorsports Chevrolet, 63

13) Jeffrey Earnhardt, No. 00 VRX Simulators Chevrolet, 63

14) Alex Bowman, No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet, 63

13) Justin Marks, No. 51 Harry's Chevrolet, 63

16) Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Discount Tire Ford, 57

17) David Gilliland, No. 92 RBR Enterprise Ford, 47

18) William Byron, No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet, 38

19) Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe's For Pros Chevrolet, 8

20) Aric Almirola, No. 10 Smithfield Ford, 8