Bubba Wallace overcame adversity Thursday night and gave Toyota another qualifying win with a little help.
Wallace outran defending Daytona 500 winner William Byron to win the first race of Speedweeks in Duel 1 on Thursday night at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla.
After fending off Ty Dillon’s No. 10 Chevrolet in the final 10 laps, Wallace took the white flag as the leader and held his 23XI Racing car owned by NBA icon Michael Jordan out front for Toyota’s third consecutive Duel win.
Wallace, who led six times for 20 laps, got a push from teammate Tyler Reddick and will start third in the Daytona 500 on Sunday.
“Thanks to Tyler,” said Wallace, who started 15th and was involved in the race’s second caution. “Awesome to see two team cars working that well. We learned a lot for Sunday.”
Following Byron’s No. 24 Chevrolet were Dillon, Ross Chastain and Reddick in the five-caution race.
Driving the No. 40 Chevrolet owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr., Justin Allgaier raced his way into the Great American Race with a ninth-place finish.
“The emotions right now are about how everyone here just wanted it,” Allgaier said. “(Earnhardt’s) lip was quivering, his hands were shaking before the race. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that out of Dale Jr.”
In his first race in Martin Truex Jr.’s former No. 19, polesitter Chase Briscoe started the 60-lap race but did not have the chance to show the speed he had in winning the first-ever Daytona 500 pole for Toyota.
The first of the 150-mile qualifiers had its initial incident a mere three laps in as Zane Smith, running fifth, cut a tire on the west end of the 2.5-mile superspeedway and scrubbed the outside wall in a one-car incident.
With Clash winner Chase Elliott out front, Chandler Smith’s No. 66 Ford smacked the Turn 1 wall after moving down on Justin Haley’s No. 7 Chevrolet, while four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves spun. The Toyotas of Wallace, Reddick and Ty Gibbs also were in it.
Content after running nearly half of the laps, Briscoe retired the No. 19, saving it from incident and putting it safely away for the 500-miler on Sunday, when he will lead the field.
Wallace and Byron swapped the lead before the No. 23 Toyota driver pulled slightly ahead with 18 laps to go.
–Field Level Media
