Wild Second Duel Goes To Austin Cindric At Daytona

Austin Cindric celebrates in victory lane after winning the second Daytona 500 qualifying race Thursday. (HHP/Harold Hinson photo)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Just when it looked like Thursday night’s second Daytona 500 qualifying race would be relatively calm, the latter Duel at Daytona ended up generating a little bit of everything.

A late yellow flag led to a dramatic dash to the end, a last-lap crash, an apparent photo finish, and a video review that ultimately gave Team Penske’s Austin Cindric his first Duel victory after three years of being the runner-up.

Cindric had already secured the outside of the front row for Sunday’s 67th Daytona 500 during Wednesday’s time trials, but found himself in contention late after a scattered set of green flag pit stops inside of 20 to go shuffled the lead pack and also created a three-car crash on the backstretch.

After Daniel Suarez spun down into Brad Keselowski and collected an innocent bystander in Alex Bowman, Cindric led the field for a restart on lap 54 of 60 and proceeded to trade the lead back and forth with RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher down the stretch.

The duo traded the top spot for five straight laps before Cindric got in front on the 58th circuit, but it appeared he lost the edge coming to the checkers after Erik Jones jumped to the outside lane with a half lap to go.

Using a huge shove from Buescher’s Ford, Jones brought his Legacy Motor Club Toyota even with Cindric exiting turn four, with the pair door to door entering the tri-oval as cars began spinning and crashing behind them.

Though Jones edged out Cindric by .004 seconds at the finish line, Cindric’s No. 2 was ahead when the yellow flag was called roughly 100 yards before the flagstand.

It led to a confusing scene where Jones actually completed a victory cool-down lap and had climbed out of his car to begin celebrating when the NASCAR officials’ radio made the announcement of the winner.

Asked afterward if he’d ever been part of such a wild sequence, Cindric scoffed lightly and shook his head.

“It wasn’t exactly expected, for sure,” admitted Cindric. “I did go up to get the checkered flag, and the flagman was gone, so I didn’t get the flag … which was a bummer because I was going to give it to Brian (Wilson, crew chief) for his birthday present, but I don’t get to do that.

“Otherwise, I don’t know what to say. It’s weird,” he added. “I guess from a due diligence standpoint, it’s better to have it right than not right, and the light was clearly on, and we were clearly ahead. I more feel bad for Erik that he had to do the victory lap and all of that.

“Nonetheless, it’s definitely not something I’ve done before or been a part of.”

Despite working well with Penske teammate Joey Logano late in the second Duel, Cindric admitted he thought he’d been snookered by Jones in the last few feet.

“They (Jones and Buescher) made a great move on the last lap there. Joey and I were sitting ducks with the middle lane fading,” Cindric recalled. “We had a really fast Discount Tire Ford Mustang. Super proud of my team and everyone to go out here and execute. Thank you to Brian for letting me race. It was very difficult to maybe persuade him of that, but it was his birthday. This is a good birthday present for him.

“Overall, proud of everybody at Team Penske getting lined up there, the execution of the (green-flag pit) cycle there. It’s cool to get a Duel win, but there’s still a lot to go for the race.”

Aside from the last-lap crash, the three-car incident involving Keselowski, Suarez, and Bowman was the only yellow in the second Duel, allowing for 16 lead changes among seven different drivers.

Jones charged from 18th to lead a race-high 16 laps, but fell one push of a button short of delivering Legacy Motor Club its first checkered flag as an organization.

“I did everything I could,” Jones lamented. “It just didn’t work out. It’s a bummer.”

Buescher ended up third ahead of three-time Daytona 500 winner and three-time Duel winner Denny Hamlin, with Logano fading to fifth after pushing Cindric out front at the white flag.

Rick Ware Racing’s Corey LaJoie took sixth place and was the final non-chartered driver to race his way into the Daytona 500 field. Sunday’s race will be his ninth straight start in the Great American Race.

Todd Gilliland, Ryan Blaney, John Hunter Nemechek, and Christopher Bell closed the top 10.

Both swept up in the chaos of the final-lap accident, Anthony Alfredo and B.J. McLeod were the two ‘Open’ drivers in the second Duel that failed to make the grid for the 67th Daytona 500.

Prior to the nightcap, Bubba Wallace won the opening Duel, meaning both drivers Thursday won a Daytona 500 qualifying race for the first time.

The next on-track activity for NASCAR Cup Series teams at Daytona Int’l Speedway is second Daytona 500 practice on Friday afternoon at 5:30 p.m. ET, with live coverage on FS1, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.