Brad Keselowski led a Ford breakaway to win the first Daytona 500 duel qualifying race on Thursday night to secure the third starting spot in Sunday’s Daytona 500.
Four Fords gapped a pack of Chevrolets with two-tire pit stops in the middle of the race and led the Chevys by four seconds. Keselowski made a move on former teammate Ryan Blaney for the race lead with four laps to go and held on to beat Austin Cindric, Blaney and Chase Briscoe.
The win comes as Keselowski embarks on his first season as a co-owner of Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing. The 2012 champion left Team Penske at the end of the 2021 season to join Roush Fenway and assume a minority ownership stake in the team.
The race’s temerity was expected. There were no caution flags or incidents. Teams entered the Daytona 500 weekend without nearly as many parts and pieces as they’re used to because they’re building brand-new cars for NASCAR’s new vendor-centric rules ahead of the 2022 season. Crashing a car during a qualifying race on Thursday night would not only be detrimental to a driver and team’s chances on Sunday, it would potentially put the team behind for races in the near future.
Kaz Grala beat JJ Yeley to qualify for the Daytona 500 through the race. With one transfer spot to the main event available, whoever finished first among those two drivers would get in. Noah Gragson, the other driver without a guaranteed entry into the race, had qualified via his qualifying speed on Wednesday night.
Grala got past Yeley on the final lap as both drivers were two laps down. Yeley had been passed by the leaders and didn’t have much drafting help while Grala was drafting in the Chevrolet pack and zipped on by in Turns 3 and 4.
Duel 1 results
1. Brad Keselowski (will start 3rd in Daytona 500)
2. Austin Cindric (5th)
3. Ryan Blaney (7th)
4. Chase Briscoe (9th)
5. Chase Elliott (11th)
6. Erik Jones (13th)
7. Kyle Larson (1st)
8. Tyler Reddick (15th)
9. Kurt Busch (17th)
10. Ross Chastain (19th)
11. Daniel Suarez (21st)
12. William Byron (23rd)
13. Justin Haley (25th)
14. Landon Cassill (27th)
15. Todd Gilliland (29th)
16. Cole Custer (31st)
17. Daniel Hemric (33rd)
18. Kaz Grala (35th)
19. JJ Yeley (DNQ)
20. BJ McLeod (37th)
21. Noah Gragson (39th)