Despite Jones’ Near Miss, Legacy Shows Out In Second Duel

Legacy Motor Club's Erik Jones (43) and Jimmie Johnson (84) battle during the second Duel at Daytona qualifying race Thursday night. (Scotte Sprinkle/Race Face Digital photo)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Legacy Motor Club’s Erik Jones won the second Duel at Daytona qualifying race on Thursday night, for all of about a minute.

Jones dominated the first part of the 60-lapper, leading the most laps overall with 16 before getting shuffled back through the middle stages and green-flag pit stops.

On the last lap, Jones was third in line behind the Team Penske pair of Joey Logano and leader Austin Cindric. Exiting turn two, Jones made the move to the high side, and with a push from Chris Buescher, drew even with Cindric off of turn four.

In a dead heat to the line, Jones edged just ahead, crossing the line a scant .004 seconds ahead of the outside pole-sitter. The Byron, Mich., native pulled to the frontstretch to celebrate his first Duel win, and Legacy Motor Club’s first victory as an organization.

However, as Jones was waiting for the interview, the FOX crew headed toward Cindric.

NASCAR threw the caution mere feet before the leaders crossed the line after Shane van Gisbergen spun in the tri-oval, collecting several other cars. A video review determined that Cindric was ahead at the time of caution, officially giving the win to the 2022 Daytona 500 winner and leaving Jones disappointed.

“It’s a bummer,” Jones said post-race. “It’s the rule. If the yellow is out, the race is over and it’s unfortunate, but either way I feel like the Advent Camry was really fast. It was fun running up front, fun leading some laps, and fun contending for the win. I did everything I could. It just didn’t work out.

“Hopefully, we can be in that same spot again on Sunday.”

His teammate and Legacy Motor Club co-owner Jimmie Johnson expressed similar feelings to his driver.

“You’re still a winner to me,” Johnson told Jones after the race. “That’s bull[expletive].”

Even falling just short, Jones ran up front all night and will start fourth on Sunday with a fast car. Legacy Motor Club has been making strides amid a business restructuring over the off-season, and it appears to have worked.

Co-owner and seven time NASCAR Cup Series champion Johnson locked in on speed in Wednesday night’s single-car qualifying session, and Jones is confident in his car after a near-win Thursday.

It’s all seemingly looking up for the Legacy team as a whole, including the third team car of John Hunter Nemechek, who finished a solid ninth in the second Duel.

“Definitely a good performance for us,” noted Johnson after running up front with Jones before fading to 19th. “Unfortunately, we had some kind of fuel pump issue or a fueling issue, and (it) cost us a chance to really race for it, but Erik did a phenomenal job. I’m a little bummed for him to not have that AdventHealth Camry in victory lane, but we saw the video and it is clear – the caution came out, he is about six inches behind the 2 (Cindric) car. A roller coaster of emotions thinking of it being our first win as an organization, and then the let down that came behind that. But good things ahead for us.”

“It was good,” added Jones of his car. “I thought our speed was good. We obviously kind of leap-frogged the back there when they were saving, but I thought we were able to maintain when the pace picked up. The handling was good, and the speed was good. We led and pushed and did kind of all the different stuff, so we know the Advent Camry’s got some speed and hopefully we can use it all on Sunday.”

Jones, Nemechek, and Johnson will battle for the Harley J. Earl Trophy Sunday during the 67th Daytona 500, with broadcast coverage kicking off at 1:30 p.m. ET, live on FOX, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.