Polesitter Austin Cindric led a Ford blockade and nipped Erik Jones on the final lap to win Speedweeks’ Duel 2 on Thursday night at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla.
Jones put his No. 43 Toyota up high on the backstretch and got a strong push from the No. 17 Ford of Chris Buescher. Cindric, driving the No. 2 Team Penske Ford, edged Jones but had to wait out NASCAR’s decision on the photo finish for the win.
“Erik made a great move on the last lap,” Cindric said after his first Duel victory. “We were sitting ducks with the middle lane fading there. We were really fast.”
As a handful of cars wrecked behind them, Buescher, Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano completed the top five.
Corey LaJoie, driving the No. 01 Ford for Rick Ware Racing in a partial schedule, came home sixth and made the field for the 200-lap event on Sunday.
“You forget how special this race is,” LaJoie said. “You have to race for it, you have to earn it. When you’re racing full time, it’s just the first one of 36. But when it’s the one you think about for months, it means that much more.”
Just as top qualifier Chase Briscoe did in the first Duel, Cindric owned the point at the green flag and was able to flex his Ford’s muscle alongside Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota, but Hamlin was up to the task.
Hamlin led until Lap 16 when Jones pulled past with seven-time Cup champion and two-time Daytona 500 winner Jimmie Johnson, Jones’ teammate at Legacy Motor Club, trailing in his No. 84 Toyota.
At the halfway point and still under green, Daniel Suarez’s No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet moved by Jones, and Hamlin battled beside Johnson in a matchup of former 500 winners.
Suarez continued to hold the point on Lap 40, with Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney and Anthony Alfredo rounding out fast group out front.
On Lap 45, all the Chevys and Toyotas hit pit road, but Larson, Hamlin and John Hunter Nemechek were tagged with speeding penalties.
The Fords all pitted on the following circuit, and the race’s first caution occurred when a bottleneck of cars checked up and forced Alex Bowman into Suarez. Bowman’s No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet wound up striking the inside wall.
–Field Level Media
