DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano won the first Daytona 500 qualifying race before Aric Almirola won the second on a thrilling last lap.
Logano led 29 laps of the 60-lap event and beat Christopher Bell by 0.018 seconds to secure the third victory of his career in this event. Almirola led 17 laps to win the second duel, the second of his career.
The Daytona duels set positions 3rd through 40th for the Daytona 500 on Sunday. The front row was decided in single-car qualifying on Wednesday with Alex Bowman and Kyle Larson having the fastest speeds.
Logano and Almirola weren't the only ones celebrating Thursday night, though. Zane Smith and Conor Daly earned their way into Sunday's race by being the highest-finishing cars that weren't already locked into the show.
Six "open" drivers were fighting for four spots. Two of these spots went to the fastest qualifiers on Wednesday, Jimmie Johnson and Travis Pastrana, with Smith and Daly taking the last two by finishing 8th and 17th in their duel races, respectively. Missing the Daytona 500 will be Chandler Smith and Austin Hill.
Zane Smith was one of the best bets to race his way into the Daytona 500. The Front Row Motorsports driver has seven wins in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and is slowly climbing up the NASCAR ladder. Daly, an Indycar regular with four total starts in NASCAR's top three series, was possibly the biggest long shot.
Daly is driving a car fielded by Floyd Mayweather and had mechanical issues before the qualifying race even began. Still, he persevered and fell into a transfer spot after Hill was involved in a crash.
The first race was relatively calm with no caution flags. The lead was mostly traded between Logano and his Penske Racing teammate Ryan Blaney, who led a race-high 30 laps.
The racing was mostly single-file through the first event with a big push to get out front not coming until Bell made a move on the last lap.
Bell leaped from fifth to second on the last lap but Logano got a push from Blaney coming out of turn 4 to hold on for the win.
Following Logano was Bell, Blaney, Chris Buescher, and Michael McDowell in the top 5.
The second duel race featured slightly more leaders. Almirola stayed near the front the whole race and led early on.
On lap 6, a right-side window flew off of Justin Haley's car, bringing out a caution.
Kyle Busch gained the lead as the racing went single-file after that. A bump from Daniel Suárez on lap 41 sent Busch into the wall and ended his day. The wreck collected Hill, Pastrana, and Riley Herbst. Hill was in the driver's seat to make the Daytona 500 before the incident.
The race restarted on lap 47 and stayed side-by-side the rest of the way with Almirola, Larson, and Austin Cindric trading the lead.
Todd Gilliland pushed his way to a double-wide battle with Almirola in the closing laps but a push from Larson on the last lap forced him out of the groove. Gilliland saved the car but lost a chance to compete for the win, finishing 7th.
After that incident, the field spread out and Almirola coasted to the win.
Cindric, Chase Elliott, Brad Keselowski, and Corey LaJoie rounded out the top 5.
The 65th running of the Daytona 500 will take place on Sunday at 2:30 p.m.