Keselowski, Buescher, Ford Sweep Duels At Daytona

For Roush-Fenway-Keselowski racing, Thursday was a very good night.

It started with team owner Brad Keselowski scoring the win in the first BlueGreen Vacations Duel qualifying race at Daytona International Speedway, with Chris Buescher winning in the second, giving Ford a sweep of the races that sets the starting lineup for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series season opening Daytona 500.

In the first 60-lap race, old age and treachery won out over youth and exuberance in the race, as Keselowski made the final pass for the lead on Ryan Blaney with four laps to go.

From there, Keselowski held the point all the way to the checkered flag while Blaney, Austin Cindric and Chase Bricoe battled for the runner-up spot.

The win is the first for Keselowski with his new team and his first in a Daytona qualifier.

It’s also the first for a car carrying the No. 6 has won a qualifying race at Daytona since 1971, when Georgia Racing Hall of Famer Pete Hamilton won in a Plymouth.

and it came as he carried a special decal on his No. 6 Ford in honor of his late father, long time racer Bob Keselowski, who passed away during the off season.

“I felt pretty good about our car in practice on Tuesday,” said Keselowski. “I’ve got to give credit to the other Fords. We worked really well together, Ryan Blaney, Chase Briscoe. We had great strategy, Austin Cindric, and we stuck together and drove away and got ourselves in position where we could control the finish of this race, and I’m happy to see all those Fords up front. Good job to all those guys. Great start for our Kohler Generators Ford team. This is special.”

Daytona 500 pole sitter Kyle Larson dominated the first half of the race, with his Hendrick Motorsports teammates, William Byron and Chase Elliott, in tow.

With the race running caution free, the tide turned during green flag pit stops on lap 35. When Larson led the Chevrolet contingent down pit road, most went for a four tire stop.

When Blaney led the Fords to the pits one lap later, the call was for a two-tire stop and fuel.

That put Blaney in the lead, with Keselowski pushing him around the 2.5-mile superspeedway, with Briscoe and Cindric following. The Fords held the top four spots the rest of the way.

Cindric came across the finish line second in a three-wide finish, with Blaney in third and Briscoe in fourth. Elliott came home in fifth.

Erik Jones, Larson, Tyler Reddick, Kurt Busch and Ross Chastain rounded out the top 10.

In the second race, it was again the Fords dominating once they got to the front. After battling for several laps with Daytona 500 outside pole sitter Alex Bowman, Buescher moved to the point with Logano in tow. Joey Logano assumed the lead after pit stops just past the halfway point.

Logano would lead the Ford brigade for most of the rest of the way, with Buescher, defending Daytona 500 winner Michael McDowell and rookie Harrison Burton behind. The four Fords would hold an advantage of up to eight seconds over the rest of the pack.

Logano was on the point when the field took the white flag, and when Buescher made a move to the inside off turn two, Logano moved low in an attempt to block. The two made contact, sending Logano into the outside wall on the backstretch. The ensuing caution ended the race, with Buescher getting the win over McDowell in second and Burton in third.

“This is awesome. What a great start for RFK and with all the hard work the guys have put in to get this thing going,” said Buescher. “Everybody back here has worked so hard in the off-season. For us to put it in victory lane is just an awesome start for the entire organization. We have good hot rods here. They are fast and they handle good. I knew we were in good shape that whole race and we were able to lead a lot early. McDowell stuck with us. All the Fords were doing a good job. We caught a lap car there and just went to pull below. I hate to have any contact coming down to the end of the Duels but I am just so proud of everybody. It is a really neat way to start this thing off.”

Logano shouldered the blame for the last lap contact with Buescher.

“Driver screwed up. That’s really all there is to it,” said Logano. “I thought I was still clear and the run came a lot quicker than I thought it would. I tried to block it a little bit and just got a tag in the left-rear and off it went. It’s my fault. It stinks because it tore up our car and kind of puts us in a spot as a race team. It’s just a dumb mistake.”

Kyle Busch finished in fourth, with Christopher Bell in fifth.

Martin Truex, Jr., Bubba Wallace, Logano, and Kevin Harvick rounded out the top 10.

Two drivers for unchartered teams, rookie Kaz Grala and veteran Greg Biffle, raced their way into Sunday’s Daytona 500.

Grala held the spot for much of the first Duel, but was hit with a pit road speeding penalty just past halfway that left him two laps down.

With Yeley in command of the transfer, it looked like he had the spot locked up. But he was lapped late by the leaders, putting him on the same lap as Grala. Grala made the pass for the transfer spot on the final lap, putting him into Sunday’s race.

“It’s a relief, I can tell you that,” said Grala. “I thought for a while there that we weren’t going to make it and squeaked by just on the last lap. I made a mistake early, sped on pit road, shouldn’t have had that happen. Barely came back.”

In the second race, Biffle came home in 13th to lock up the transfer spot with very little drama.

“It feels really good,” Biffle said. “I’ll tell you, I have not slept much in the last couple days just trying to keep a cool composure. I’ve been nervous about this race because there’s so many things that can happen and so many ways it can go.”

Yeley and Timmy Hill will miss Sunday’s running of the “Great American Race.”

NASCAR Cup Series
Daytona International Speedway – Daytona Beach, FL
Bluegreen Vacations Duel 1 – February 17, 2022

1. (9) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 60.
2. (11) Austin Cindric #, Ford, 60.
3. (7) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 60.
4. (10) Chase Briscoe, Ford, 60.
5. (3) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 60.
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7. (1) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 60.
8. (8) Tyler Reddick, Chevrolet, 60.
9. (13) Kurt Busch, Toyota, 60.
10. (4) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 60.
11. (5) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 60.
12. (2) William Byron, Jr., Chevrolet, 60.
13. (14) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 60.
14. (18) Landon Cassill(i), Chevrolet, 60.
15. (16) Todd Gilliland #, Ford, 60.
16. (15) Cole Custer, Ford, 59.
17. (6) Daniel Hemric(i), Chevrolet, 59.
18. (19) Kaz Grala(i), Chevrolet, 58.
19. (21) J.J. Yeley(i), Ford, 58.
20. (20) B.J. McLeod, Ford, 58.
21. (17) Noah Gragson(i), Chevrolet, 57.

Average Speed of Race Winner: 185.185 mph.

Time of Race: 48 Mins, 36 Secs. Margin of Victory: .264 Seconds.

Caution Flags: 0 for 0 laps.

Lead Changes: 2 among 3 drivers.

Lap Leaders: K. Larson 1-34;R. Blaney 35-56;B. Keselowski 57-60.

Leaders Summary: (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led) Kyle Larson 1 time for 34 laps; Ryan Blaney 1 time for 22 laps; Brad Keselowski 1 time for 4 laps.

NASCAR Cup Series
Daytona International Speedway – Daytona Beach, FL
Bluegreen Vacations Duel 2 – February 17, 2022

1. (14) Chris Buescher, Ford, 60.
2. (11) Michael McDowell, Ford, 60.
3. (5) Harrison Burton #, Ford, 60.
4. (9) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 60.
5. (7) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 60.
6. (3) Martin Truex, Jr., Toyota, 60.
7. (8) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 60.
8. (16) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Chevrolet, 60.
9. (6) Joey Logano, Ford, Accident, 59.
10. (13) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 59.
11. (15) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 59.
12. (12) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 59.
13. (19) Greg Biffle(i), Chevrolet, 59.
14. (1) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 59.
15. (4) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 59.
16. (17) Cody Ware, Ford, 59.
17. (20) David Ragan, Ford, 58.
18. (10) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 58.
19. (2) Aric Almirola, Ford, 58.
20. (21) Timmy Hill(i), Ford, 56.
21. (18) Jacques Villeneuve, Ford, Electrical, 34.

Average Speed of Race Winner: 185.98 mph.

Time of Race: 48 Mins, 24 Secs. Margin of Victory: Under Caution.

Caution Flags: 1 for 1 laps.

Lead Changes: 11 among 5 drivers.

Lap Leaders: A. Bowman 1;J. Logano 2;A. Bowman 3-7;J. Logano 8-9;A. Bowman 10;J. Logano 11-14;A. Dillon 15-16;C. Buescher 17;R. Stenhouse Jr. 18;C. Buescher 19-33;J. Logano 34-59;C. Buescher 60.

Leaders Summary: (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led) Joey Logano 4 times for 33 laps; Chris Buescher 3 times for 17 laps; Alex Bowman 3 times for 7 laps; Austin Dillon 1 time for 2 laps; Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 1 time for 1 lap.