Daytona 500 – Page 2 – Syndication Server

10 NASCAR drivers share what they love — and don’t — about the Daytona 500

“It’s one of the few things that — having been in the Cup Series for 13, 14 years now — still give me chills.”

LOS ANGELES — The Daytona 500 is unlike any other NASCAR race. It’s the biggest event on the 36-race schedule, and it kicks off the season each year at Daytona International Speedway, NASCAR’s iconic 2.5-mile track.

It’s a crown-jewel race in the sport, and drivers would do just about anything to take NASCAR’s most coveted checkered flag. But it has and continues to elude many of the sport’s best competitors.

Before the start of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season, For The Win caught up with several drivers at the Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, a preseason exhibition race, to talk about the Daytona 500. We asked them what their favorite and least favorite things are about the race, and their answers didn’t disappoint.

@forthewintok

NASCAR drivers weigh in on the #daytona500 #nascar

♬ Dance You Outta My Head – Cat Janice

Blaney ready for 500 in spite of still feeling effects of Duel crash

Ryan Blaney will be ready to climb into his Team Penske Ford Mustang Dark Horse for the Daytona 500, but the reigning series champion will be working through continued soreness. The Pesnke driver took a hard hit into the outside wall in the trioval …

Ryan Blaney will be ready to climb into his Team Penske Ford Mustang Dark Horse for the Daytona 500, but the reigning series champion will be working through continued soreness.

The Pesnke driver took a hard hit into the outside wall in the trioval at Daytona International Speedway during his qualifying race Thursday night. He was hooked in the right rear by William Byron, who had been knocked out of shape by Kyle Busch in the draft. It was the second time Blaney crashed at Daytona in six months, nose-first, from a right rear hook.

“I’m sore that’s for sure,” Blaney said Saturday morning. “I’m probably more sore today than yesterday. I feel like the second day is always the day of more soreness – the neck area, all down the back, just muscles getting strained. That’s kind of the biggest thing. Everything else felt fine, just all of your muscles down your shoulders and stuff gets pulled in weird areas that you’re not used to, so that’s the most sore today.

“I’ve been trying to be ginger with it. Everything else I felt fine with, mentally and stuff like that, so that was good. I’ll be fine to go. Hopefully, if we were to run tomorrow, I’d be good to go then. If I get another buffer day, if we run Monday, I’ll be even better. Just a little sore, but that stuff will pass.”

A physical therapist from the Team Penske camp will be back at Daytona before the race. The group went home after the Duel races, so Blaney hasn’t had much work done for the soreness but will use that resource if he’s still hurting before the Daytona 500.

The frustration has since passed, but Blaney remains adamant about such crashes not happening again. It was the third consecutive race at Daytona that Blaney felt he’d been put in that position, and Thursday night he didn’t shy away from criticizing his fellow drivers for the “awful pushes” that create the crashes.

Blaney revealed the hit Thursday night was a 55G impact. In August, when he was sent nose-first into the outside wall in Turn 4 when he was hooked in the right rear by a spinning Ty Gibbs, it was a 70G impact. The data comes from the data mouthpiece Blaney wears, something he began doing after hitting an unprotected wall nose-first at Nashville Superspeedway in late June.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1428]

“I feel like the Nashville hit was by far the hardest hit I’ve ever taken,” Blaney said. “The mouthpiece data has been really good for us to see because you have the black box data from the car, but that’s just showing the car g-load and impact. The important one is what does the driver feel and take? It’s a huge part of the equation and that’s how you separate, ‘OK, the car took this impact. The driver takes this impact.’ I didn’t have a mouthpiece in Nashville. I’ve been wearing it every week since then just to make sure, because you never know when it can happen, and it’s good to have that data.

“Wake Forest has done a good job of really working hard at that and those folks are great, so I don’t know what Nashville would have been. It felt way worse and I look at the mental side of it. Mentally, I was way more messed up after Nashville than I was at these two hits at this racetrack, but Nashville was by far the hardest one. The best data I have to go off of is these two.”

A week after the Nashville crash, Blaney admitted he’d suffered from concussion-like symptoms. Before competing at the Chicago street course, the race after Nashville, Blaney worked with Dr. Micky Collins, who founded the sports medicine concussion program at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Collins has experience working with concussed drivers, most notably doing so with Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Blaney has dealt with the immediate soreness and recovered from the multiple hard hits he’s suffered over the last year, but he hasn’t given much thought to the cumulative toll all of those have taken.

“It’s more than I’d like to take, but that’s part of our sport,” Blaney said. “You understand that you do this for a reason, and you understand the risks of it, and it’s just what we do. I don’t ever think about the bad side of this. If you’re ever worried about strapping in the car of like, ‘I hope I don’t take a big hit again,’ that’s just not a mentality of anybody. All you try to do is find out how to win the race, and you understand when you sign up, I understood when I signed up for this thing watching dad race that there’s dangers of it and things are going to happen.

“I don’t really see that it’s taken a toll on me personally. It stinks sitting around being sore and having a hard time moving around the next morning, but you just get over it and take Advil and figure it out. That’s all you can do, but that’s why we love it and why we do it. You never think of the negative side of it. You just try to figure out when those things do happen, ‘Hey, did we do all we can to make sure I was as safe as possible?’ And if the answer is yes, awesome. We checked that box. We did a great job and, if not, you try to work on things to get it better, and that’s all you can do. There’s only so much you can do.”

NASCAR at Daytona: Starting lineup for 2024 Daytona 500 and paint schemes for all 40 cars

Get a look at every paint scheme in starting order for the 2024 Daytona 500.

The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season officially kicks off Sunday with the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway (2:30 p.m. ET, Fox), and for the first time in his career, Joey Logano will start on the pole after posting a 181.947-mile-per-hour lap at the 2.5-mile track.

The 2018 and 2022 Cup Series champ and driver of the No. 22 Ford — whose Daytona 500 pole is also a first for Team Penske — will start alongside 2021 Daytona 500 winner Michael McDowell in the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford on the front row.

MORE NASCAR: Q&A: Kevin Harvick on wanting to be the John Madden of NASCAR broadcasts and reuniting with Clint Bowyer

It’s a bit of a surprise to have two Fords on the front row considering Chevrolets have won the previous 11 Daytona 500 poles with Hendrick Motorsports drivers winning eight of the last nine. But so much can change in a chaotic race like this, and often, the pole winner doesn’t finish first.

So ahead of the 2023 Daytona 500, here’s a look at the starting lineup, including all 40 paint schemes for the first race of the season.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 tag=421393221]

Hendrick Motorsports hoping to end 10 year Daytona 500 drought

No team has been more dominant in Daytona in the last few years than Hendrick Motorsports. Or at least, no team has been more dominant in Daytona 500 qualifying. In addition to winning eight of the last 10 poles for the sport’s biggest race, …

No team has been more dominant in Daytona in the last few years than Hendrick Motorsports. Or at least, no team has been more dominant in Daytona 500 qualifying.

In addition to winning eight of the last 10 poles for the sport’s biggest race, Hendrick Motorsports drivers swept the front row in six of the last nine races. It became routine and assumed that, despite how single-car qualifying began, it would end with a Hendrick Motorsports driver and engine topping the field.

However, when claiming the Harley J. Earl trophy, the organization hasn’t been to victory lane in 10 years. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was the last Hendrick driver to win the Daytona 500 on February 23, 2014.

“I sure would like to win it again,” team owner Rick Hendrick said. “It’s been a while. But everybody wants to win this race. It’s hard to do. It’s hard to be there at the end and be in position to win, so hopefully Sunday will be the day.”

The four drivers who will suit up for Hendrick Motorsports for the 66th running of the Daytona 500 had no connections to the company 10 years ago. Kyle Larson was a rookie for Chip Ganassi. Alex Bowman was also a rookie, competing for BK Racing. Both of those organizations are no longer in Cup Series competition.

Chase Elliott had a deal signed with Hendrick Motorsports but was a rookie in the NASCAR Xfinity Series with JR Motorsports at the time. Elliott won three races and the series championship.

William Byron? Many in NASCAR probably hadn’t heard his name. Byron didn’t make a NASCAR national series start until 2015 in the Craftsman Truck Series for Kyle Busch, the same year he also began running in the ARCA Menards Series.

“Rick, at least in the few years that I’ve been at Hendrick, he’s mentioned it every year that, ‘It’s been this many years many since we won,’” Larson said of the dry spell. “He’s not adding any pressure, but it’s been 10 years. We all know that. We want to win, but it doesn’t add any pressure either.”

Larson joined Hendrick Motorsports in 2021. Bowman was brought into the organization as a sim driver before becoming a substitute for Earnhardt Jr. when he was concussed in 2016. Bowman took over Earnhardt’s No. 88 car in 2018 before becoming the No. 48 driver after Johnson’s retirement in 2020.

“It’s been 10 years, right? We definitely want to change that,” Bowman said. “I want to be the guy who changes that, but [we] want to put Hendrick Motorsports in the best position with all four of cars to get there. The Daytona 500 is a huge deal, and we want to go get a trophy.”

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1428]

As a Hendrick Motorsports driver, Larson has led eight laps in the Daytona 500. His best finish was 10th in 2021. Bowman has led 29 laps and finished a career-best fifth last season.

“We’re trying our hardest every year,” Byron said.

Byron moved into the Cup Series with Hendrick Motorsports in 2018. The Daytona 500 has been unkind to him, though he’s led 46 laps. In six starts, Byron has failed to finish four times.

“This is an important race,” said three-time Daytona 500 champion Jeff Gordon. “Even though it’s one of those unique races where you’ve got to survive the big wrecks, position yourself just right, execute, have luck on your side, somebody is going to win this race, and we’ve been fortunate to win it many, many times. There is no other win like it. There just isn’t. I want one of these four guys to experience it. I want all four of them to experience it in the future because it is so special, and you realize it once you win it.

“But right now, they’re realizing how hard it is to win also.”

Gordon finished fourth to teammate Earnhardt Jr. in the 2014 race. Today, Gordon is the vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports.

“I didn’t realize [how hard Daytona is to win] as much early in my career because I came fifth in my first race (1993), we won in ’97, won in ’99, and took a little while to get back there in ’05,” Gordon said, “But we were competitive and in a position to win many times, and that started to get less and less and less. The percentage started to catch up to me; I was getting in more wrecks and caught up in the Big One a lot more later in my career, but I didn’t think I was doing anything different.

“This can be a tough race to win, but it’s almost one of the more gratifying ones when you do do it.”

Elliott inherited Gordon’s car when the former retired after the 2015 season. The son of a former Daytona 500 champion, Bill Elliott, the younger Elliott has a series championship but not a Harley J. Earl trophy. Of the four Hendrick Motorsports drivers, Elliott has led the most laps in his Daytona 500 career, 72 and has a second-place finish from 2021.

Hendrick might remind his organization as each year passes, but the message to his drivers remains the same.

“Let’s go win it,” Hendrick said. “Let’s win it. Haven’t won it in a while; let’s go win it.

“Everybody puts this on their calendar when the year starts, and it makes the year for an organization and your sponsors. Hopefully we’ll have a good day Sunday.”

Reddick drawing strength from a winning Duel that ‘wasn’t really a great race for us’

Despite winning the first Daytona 500 Duel of his Cup Series career Thursday night, Tyler Reddick had an unusual take on it afterward. “It wasn’t really a great race for us, to be honest with you,” said the 23XI Racing driver after climbing out of …

Despite winning the first Daytona 500 Duel of his Cup Series career Thursday night, Tyler Reddick had an unusual take on it afterward.

“It wasn’t really a great race for us, to be honest with you,” said the 23XI Racing driver after climbing out of his No. 45 Nasty Beast Toyota Camry.

In fact, Reddick had a point. After starting the 60-lap race from a lowly 19th qualifying position, the Californian was forced to fight his way to the front of the 21-car field. A near miss entering pit road nearly did Reddick in, but he saved the best for last — running fifth on the outside on the last lap, he sped through to cross the finish line 0.056s ahead of race runner-up Chase Elliott. Reddick will now start the Daytona 500 from P3 inside the second row.

“Yeah, a lot went on during that race,” said Reddick “I mean, it was a bit of a chaotic restart finish for myself. The green flag cycle didn’t really go as planned, but pretty much from the time we left pit road to the race end, it was much more of a race that we needed. We were able to drive back through most of the field and get somewhat back to the front. From there and with the caution falling the way it did, I ended up choosing the outside line and all of that just worked out really well. I was trying to get the No. 77 [Carson Hocevar] and the No. 9 [Chase Elliott] going and thankfully when they finally got hooked up, it was on the last lap and it left me an opportunity to get to the No. 5 and clear him on the back straightaway.”

The close call for Reddick came on lap 51 when a caution flag was waved and sent the lead pack of cars scrambling toward pit road.

“Yeah, that was almost really bad news,” he said of the close call. “I could have wrecked probably about three or four different times there. I didn’t, so I’ll take that! I definitely used some luck up right there, but we were able to hold onto the car and then from there, we didn’t lose anyone. Us four Toyotas were able to get together and push well together, so that was beneficial.”

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1428]

When the white flag flew on lap 59, Reddick was slotted-in at fifth place. Off Turn 2, Elliott and Hocevar dove to the bottom of the track, thus allowing Reddick to push Kyle Larson and himself clear.

“Yeah, this brand-new Toyota Camry does seem really good,” said Reddick. “We didn’t qualify where we wanted, obviously, but pretty much everything else so far this weekend out of the car has been fantastic. We look at that as something that excites me going to Atlanta next weekend, and obviously on top of that, the other racetracks that we have coming up on the schedule where downforce matters so much.

“The car pushes really good, that was exciting for me. I could be aggressive with my pushes all night long, so that is a really good thig to have right out of the gate. When we go into the 500 that is going to really matter. Having that confidence is important. The car was predictable. It wasn’t dancing around a lot. All of that sort of stuff is really important when you’re working the air.”

Push to pass? Reddick was encouraged by the way his No. 45 handled the pack during his Duel. Motorsport Images

For now though, Reddick is still basking in the glow of his first Daytona 500 Duel race win.

“Yeah, it was a cool moment,” he said. “I’ve got a win here in the Truck [Series] and in the Xfinity car and to win a Duel race here in the Cup car is really cool. Obviously, winning the July Daytona race, or the summer race would be really great. Winning the Daytona 500 would be incredible. To park a Cup car in victory lane here was nice. I’ve been absent from victory lane here at this place for some time, so it was nice to be back up front.

“Obviously there is 500 miles and 200 laps and a lot can take place on Sunday, but to have a good starting position like we earned [Thursday], and to have a good pit stall selection is all going to be really beneficial for us. We’ll have a great pit stall for the race. It should be good for us whether that’s for the green flag cycle or just having an opening-in and an opening-out. Some of those things matter a lot in a race like this where we will have green and yellow flag pit stops. Especially on those caution stops. When everyone is coming down pit road, it gets really chaotic. Having a clear path in and a clear path out really helps eliminate some of the errors that can take place and can ensure that you have efficient time on pit road.”

Reddick knows race day will be hyped to the hilt from the start.

“This is probably one of the earliest mornings that we have on the year and we are running around doing media and all of that sort of stuff. We have appearances and meet-and-greets,” he noted. “Between all of that and just the size of the crowd, the atmosphere, the hype, the energy that the fans bring, it really is kind of a bad formula for the drivers because we get strapped into the car and we’re ready to run through a brick wall in getting our 500-mile race started.

“A lot of times you will see chaos early because of that. We get so amped up from seeing the gigantic crowd that is here at the race. It all gets everyone really amped up and that’s I think we see a lot of accidents in this race, too. A lot of times at this race the biggest celebrities will be here as well as athletes from different sports. Legendary people come to this race and it gets everyone fired up.”

Reddick and 23XI Racing teammate Bubba Wallace need little amping up after the promise the team showed in the Duels.

“We’re feeling good after Thursday night,” Reddick agreed. “Bubba didn’t get the finish he wanted to, surely, but he was able to avoid complete disaster and not getting into the inside wall during his spin. So thankfully the team avoided catastrophe there. Between my car and Bubba’s car, we’re both really happy with the handling of our Camrys. The rest of the Toyota group of drivers seem pretty happy with what they have, too.

“The Duel was good to get out of the way, and we got some validation of the hard work everyone at Toyota and TRD have done on this new Camry. It was cool to see the car perform like it did. Bring on the race!”

Jeff Gordon tells Dale Earnhardt Jr. why he’s a bit surprised Jimmie Johnson is still racing in NASCAR

When so many of Jimmie Johnson’s contemporaries have left NASCAR racing for good, the 48-year-old driver still going.

Seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson was just inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame last month. He’s 48 years old and retired from full-time NASCAR racing after the 2020 season, then trying out other styles of racing, including the Indianapolis 500.

He obviously has nothing to prove. But Sunday, he’ll start 23rd in the 2024 Daytona 500 — a race Johnson won in 2006 and 2013.

Johnson competed in last year’s Daytona 500, along with two other Cup Series races, and he has a nine-race schedule planned with the team he co-owns, Legacy Motor Club, behind the wheel of the No. 84 Toyota.

But when so many of his contemporaries have left the cockpit for good, Johnson’s still going. And his former Hendrick Motorsports teammates, Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr., are a little surprised Johnson is still racing.

But not entirely.

Are you surprised that Jimmie is still driving? 7️⃣✖️ pic.twitter.com/W6oDeMKPyt

— Dirty Mo Media (@DirtyMoMedia) February 16, 2024

Recently, Gordon — currently the vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports — was a guest on the Dale Jr. Download podcast, and he explained to Earnhardt about Johnson:

“I am surprised he’s driving, I’ll be honest. You know, like, again, I admire what he did in IndyCar. I’m like, ‘Man, phew!’ I went and did one sports-car race and got my butt kicked. And it was the hardest I’ve ever had to work in a race car in a long time. And it made me think a lot about Jimmie and that commitment that he made to go run IndyCar. Whether you could say it was successful or not successful, just taking that step and committing to it is what I admired so much about it.

“It just goes to show you, I think, his mindset, his talent, his ability. So on one hand, I’m surprised he’s gonna run in the Cup Series, especially with the Next Gen car right and how different this car is. But at the same time, I’m not because I’ve seen him take on big challenges throughout his whole life.”

Johnson weighed in on this recently as well. He told Fox Sports’ Bob Pockrass that the nine races he has planned for 2024 are because he truly wants to race in them and running this schedule still allows him to balance his family life and business ventures, along with more racing.

Q&A: Kevin Harvick on wanting to be the John Madden of NASCAR broadcasts and reuniting with Clint Bowyer

“It’s as relaxed as I’ve ever been coming into the first race of the season,” Kevin Harvick told For The Win.

LOS ANGELES — Kevin Harvick retired from NASCAR at the end of the 2023 Cup Series season after 23 years at the sport’s highest level. But he didn’t go far.

After gaining some on-and-off broadcasting experience with Fox Sports since 2015, the 48-year-old former driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford joined Fox’s booth full time as an analyst, working alongside Mike Joy and fellow former NASCAR driver and teammate Clint Bowyer. And he’s pumped about his new day job.

“I’m super happy with the way that everything has worked out,” Harvick — a future NASCAR Hall of Famer with the 2014 Cup championship, the 2007 Daytona 500 trophy and 60 Cup wins — recently told For The Win. “And for me, it’s as relaxed as I’ve ever been coming into the first race of the season and not having to worry about that competitive mindset.”

For the first time in more than two decades, he doesn’t have to worry about how fast his car is or being collateral damage in someone else’s wreck. And with his new gig, he’s at ease with a 24-year Fox veteran like Joy alongside him and running the booth.

“It’s hard to have somebody talking in your ear, talking about what you’re talking about on the screen and make sure everything’s going in the in the right direction,” Harvick said. “So having Mike be able to steer the ship and keep us all under control definitely takes a lot of pressure off.”

Ahead of NASCAR’s 2024 season-opening Daytona 500 — which is set for Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET on Fox — For The Win caught up with Harvick to discuss how he’ll approach broadcasting, Trackhouse Racing driver Ross Chastain taking over his iconic Busch Light paint scheme and why he’ll still always be a vocal advocate for drivers.

.@RossChastain and @KevinHarvick are suiting up for the #Daytona500 and the next chapter of their careers in typical Busch Light fashion, focusing on being the best and letting the rest take care of itself. pic.twitter.com/XHsZ6XFQe4

— Busch Beer (@BuschBeer) February 16, 2024

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Daytona 500 final practice rained out

NASCAR Cup Series final practice, which was scheduled for 10:30am ET Saturday morning, has been canceled due to rain. The 40 teams competing in the Daytona 500 will go through inspection before the cars are impounded ahead of Sunday’s race. NASCAR …

NASCAR Cup Series final practice, which was scheduled for 10:30am ET Saturday morning, has been canceled due to rain.

The 40 teams competing in the Daytona 500 will go through inspection before the cars are impounded ahead of Sunday’s race. NASCAR will close the garage at 3:30pm ET.

Joey Logano and Michael McDowell, a pair of Fords, will lead the field to the green flag in the 66th annual Daytona 500. Both are former Daytona 500 champions.

Tyler Reddick and Christopher Bell, Toyota teammates, will be in row two. Chase Elliott and Austin Cindric will be in the third row.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1428]

A lone 50-minute session on Friday is the only practice drivers have had ahead of the Daytona 500. Their other on-track activity was the Duel races on Thursday night and single-car qualifying earlier in the week.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is the defending winner of the Daytona 500.

DJ Khaled is the honorary starter for the Daytona 500. Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson is the grand marshal.

Hamlin paces manufacturer-clustered Daytona 500 practice

Denny Hamlin, a three-time Daytona 500 champion, was fastest in NASCAR Cup Series practice Friday while in a draft with his Toyota teammates – his Camry clocking in at 197.477mph (45.575s). He was followed by eight other Toyota drivers. Erik Jones …

Denny Hamlin, a three-time Daytona 500 champion, was fastest in NASCAR Cup Series practice Friday while in a draft with his Toyota teammates — his Camry clocking in at 197.477mph (45.575s). He was followed by eight other Toyota drivers.

Erik Jones was second-fastest at 197.468mph, Christopher Bell third at 197.429mph, Ty Gibbs fourth at 197.394mph and John Hunter Nemechek fifth at 193.377mph.

Tyler Reddick was sixth at 197.364mph, Jimmie Johnson seventh at 197.282mph, Bubba Wallace eighth at 197.126mph, Michael McDowell ninth at 194.569mph, and Austin Cindric completed the top 10 at 194.523mph.

Daytona 500 polesitter Joey Logano was 14th fastest at 194.07mph.

All three manufacturers had small groups of teammates drafting together, which was reflected on the speed charts.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1428]

The fastest eight drivers in practice were Toyotas. The next six were Fords. Chevrolet had the following six.

There were no incidents in practice.

David Ragan pulled double duty. He got behind the wheel of the No. 60 Ford he qualified for the Daytona 500 with RFK Racing, but he also got on track in the No. 17 Ford for Chris Buescher, who returned to North Carolina early Friday to be with his wife Emma for the birth of their second child. Buescher will return to Daytona for the 500.

Ragan was 26th on the speed charter in the No. 60. He was 39th on the chart after shaking down the No. 17 Ford, which was just a three-lap run.

Track time during the 50-minute session was a high priority. The local forecast calls for rain to move into the area Saturday and potentially stay through early Monday. If so, it would mean Friday’s lone practice would be the only on-track time between Thursday’s Duels and the start of the Daytona 500.

Thirty-nine of the 40 teams participated in practice. The one driver who did not get on track was the No. 62 of Anthony Alfredo for Beard Motorsports.

Ford, Toyota encouraged by new bodies after Duels at Daytona

Thursday night’s qualifying races at Daytona International Speedway were particularly important to the Ford and Toyota camps as both kept close watch of their redesigned bodies. It was unknown how the Ford Mustang Dark Horse and Toyota Camry XSE …

Thursday night’s qualifying races at Daytona International Speedway were particularly important to the Ford and Toyota camps as both kept close watch of their redesigned bodies.

It was unknown how the Ford Mustang Dark Horse and Toyota Camry XSE would react in the draft and how they would push teammates. The expectation was that it would be better, even more stable to push draft, but the first chance to find out came with the high stakes of competing for a spot in the Daytona 500.

Friday morning, both sides were breathing a little easier.

“We were really curious to see how things were going to play out in the Duels because that’s our first opportunity with the new car in traffic,” Mark Rushbrook, global director of Ford Performance, said. “We didn’t have the numbers in the first race with only four or five Mustangs in there. Certainly, had the numbers in the second race, and we got a lot of feedback and comments from the drivers and some things that could be worked on with the setup to optimize that. But, at this point, we’re still very happy with the new car and looking forward to seeing how things play out.”

Ford didn’t win either one of the Bluegreen Vacations Duel races. In the first race, the highest-finishing Ford was Joey Logano, finishing seventh — one of just four Ford drivers in the first race.

In the second, Austin Cindric was the highest-finishing Ford as the runner-up. The manufacturer had 12 drivers in the second race.

Although shut out in race competition, Ford is riding high from single-car qualifying, where they swept the front row for the Daytona 500. Logano will start from the pole with Michael McDowell alongside him.

“We normally don’t place a lot of emphasis on qualifying here because what matters at the end of the day is how the cars race,” Rushbrook said. “But it still was nice to get that front row, especially for Roger Penske to get a pole here. That was on his list of accomplishments that he wanted to add to, and really happy to see Front Row up there next to Penske.”

A Toyota driver won both of Thursday’s races. Tyler Reddick led the one key lap in the first Bluegreen Vacations Duel. There were five Toyota drivers in the first race, and they combined for 20 laps led. Reddick was the first of three Toyota drivers who finished inside the top 10.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1428]

In the second race, Christopher Bell made a last-lap pass. He, too, led just the one lap. Again, three Toyota drivers were inside the top 10 of the four drivers in the race. They combined for 27 laps led.

“Obviously it’s tough…when you develop a body and you’re just looking at CFD and some wind tunnel data, and you have no idea what’s really going to happen when you get in traffic on the track,” Paul Doleshal, general manager of motorsports for Toyota Motor North America. “But I think we were a little bit disturbed – probably a strong word — but surprised at the lack of qualifying speed, but then felt that the car would race well, and that proved out, so we’re encouraged with that. I think it’s just figuring out where the car wants to sit and kind of working on some of the things from a setup perspective, which the teams and TRD will be actively pursuing and already have been.

“I don’t think we have a lot of worries; we know there’s a learning curve any time you change a body or major component like that, especially from an aerodynamic standpoint. We’ll just keep digging on it, but we should be fine as we work through it. The drivers seem to have good feedback on the car, how it was in traffic and performed on the superspeedway. We’re encouraged.”

Of the three manufacturers in NASCAR, Chevrolet goes into the season without a change to its body. Chevrolet’s Camaro might be coming out of production for street vehicles, but the model will still compete in NASCAR for the foreseeable future.

Chevrolet teams can jump out to an early advantage while their rivals work through fielding new cars, but Jim Campbell, the vice president of performance and motorsports for Chevrolet, isn’t looking at it that way or anticipating much.

“Well, we will see here this weekend. Hopefully this weekend, [and] if not this weekend, soon,” Campbell said of any gap between the three manufacturers. “The one thing that NASCAR has done in the ruleset is they keep us in a pretty tight box and keep the competition tight. Basically, in downforce and drag, they have parameters that you are required to stay within. Our car is within that box, as are the other two OEMs. It’s going to be tight.

“You can see out there in the Duels how tight that is going to be. The one thing that we do have, because our body is the same as last year, is just continuity and momentum in development in preparation and simulation versus the time that we have had to switch to a new body — we spent a lot of time on that switchover. That is a positive, but you can see how tight it is out there, and that is mainly because of the rule settings that NASCAR has on downforce and drag requirements.”