March 9, 2026
Daytona Beach, Fla. — Anticipation for the Daytona 500 continued to build as the America 250 Duels officially set the field for the 2026 running of the Great American Race.
In Duel 1, Joey Logano powered his No. 22 Team Penske Ford to victory after a race filled with incidents and constant shuffling throughout the pack. The win secures Logano the third starting position for Sunday’s Daytona 500 and awards him 10 valuable bonus points toward the championship standings.
“There’s no doubt it’s a momentum builder. That part’s great. It’s 10 points,” Logano said. “The goal is to go out there and try to score some points. Ryan (Blaney) and I were able to max points. First and second, you couldn’t have drawn it up any better.”
“When you come to a green-white-checkered, have you your teammate behind you, you get the lane choice, I couldn’t have drawn it up any better than that.”
Among the open cars, Casey Mears claimed a starting spot in the Daytona 500 with a strong, opportunistic drive in the No. 66 Garage 66 Ford. Mears avoided late-race chaos and slipped past Corey LaJoie in the closing laps. Despite battling back from a late spin, he secured his place in Sunday’s field.
“After all that, being sitting in position to go race the Daytona 500 on Sunday, pretty much the whole race I was thinking that was out of our grasp,” Mears said. “There’s a lot of prayers said, for sure, just for opportunity. It opened up, we took advantage of it. Just super happy to be here.”
Duel 2 featured tight racing but, unlike the opener, avoided any major incidents. Chase Elliott guided his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet to the victory, earning the fourth starting position for the Daytona 500.
“Look, a great way to start the speed week for our team,” Chase said. “Proud of our effort, everybody at Hendrick Motorsports, the boss, from top to bottom. Their commitment and will to win it pretty darn high. Proud to be a part of their team.”
The final open spot in the field went to owner-driver BJ McLeod in the No. 78 after Anthony Alfredo and the No. 62 Beard Motorsports Chevrolet were disqualified following a post-race technical infraction.
With the Duels complete, drivers will get a brief break, with only two practice sessions scheduled before Sunday’s Daytona 500. Teams will use the time to fine-tune their cars and make final preparations for NASCAR’s biggest event of the season.
