NASCAR live updates: Austin Dillon wins Duel 2 in late-lap pass

Last night, Hendrick Motorsports drivers Alex Bowman and William Byron secured their spots in the front row for the Daytona 500. Open drivers Ryan Preece and David Ragan also locked in their places in the lineup for Sunday’s race. Tonight, the rest of the lineup and starting order will be determined by the Bluegreen Vacations Duels starting at 7 p.m.

The Duels are split into two races, each 60 laps, to determine the remainder of the 40-driver starting lineup for the Daytona 500. The second Duel race is scheduled to start at approximately 8:45 p.m. All times are Eastern.

Check back for Speedweeks updates throughout the day and follow the Observer’s NASCAR reporter Alex Andrejev on Twitter at @AndrejevAlex. Have story ideas or tips for the 2021 season? Send them to aandrejev@charlotteobserver.com.

DUEL 2 RESULTS

DUEL 1 RESULTS

DUELS AT DAYTONA

▪ When: 7-10 p.m.

▪ How to watch/listen: FS1, MRN

▪ Distance: 60 laps, 126 miles on the 2.5-mile tri-oval

12:20 a.m., lap 63 FINAL: Austin Dillon makes a late-lap pass of Bubba Wallace to snag the win after a three-lap shootout in overtime following the caution. David Ragan is the highest Open finisher in the Duel, so Kaz Grala gets the final spot based on his qualifying speed. He will be entered in the Daytona 500.

12:15 a.m., lap 57: Harvick took the lead before the Toyotas made a move, led by Truex, to first. In the back, though, a big crash sparked by contact between Garrett Smithley and Brad Keselowski brings out the caution. William Byron is also involved with heavy damage, as was Noah Gragson. Gragson exits his car, so his Daytona 500 chances are over.

11:55 p.m., lap 36: The first caution of the night comes out as Chase Briscoe wiggles on the backstretch and gets into Kaz Grala and Anthony Alfredo. Garrett Smithley also gets caught up in the contact as Ross Chastain makes an evasive maneuver and misses the carnage. Pit stops take place during the yellow.

11:45 p.m., lap 28: The running order is William Byron, Austin Dillon, Kevin Harvick, Ryan Blaney and Brad Keselowski. Noah Gragson is in the top Open spot in seventh.

11:33 p.m., lap 15: Bubba Wallace has a fast car. He’s led multiple laps of the race, although fell back as the field goes three-wide and he loses the draft. Kevin Harvick takes the lead.

11:24 p.m., lap 5: Green flag! Bubba Wallace leads the early laps of the race, but William Byron takes the outside lane for the lead after the first few. The Open drivers of Noah GRagson, Kaz Grala and Garrett Smithley battle for positions in the back.

11:10 p.m, lap 5 of Duel 2.: Engines fired! Get ready to race...Ten laps in. Byron, A. Dillon, Harvick, Elliott, Ku. Busch. Open cars all battling.

11 p.m., RAIN DELAY: NASCAR says it plans to give the command to fire engines at 11:10 p.m.

10:30 p.m., RAIN DELAY: After light rain sweeps over the track, track drying continues. Teams are hanging around at their cars for a little longer...

10:03 p.m., RAIN DELAY: NASCAR tells teams to return to their cars at 10:20 p.m. and drivers to return to their cars at 10:30 p.m. to race the second Duel.

9:30 p.m., RAIN DELAY: Rain has stopped, but the track is still being dried.

8:30 p.m., RAIN DELAY: Cars are covered as a downpour descends on Daytona International Speedway. The rain, in fact, did not hold off. NASCAR calls out the track dryers. This feels familiar.

8:28 p.m., Post-Duel 1: Austin Cindric says he’s “never felt this small” in his life during his post-race press conference, referencing his speeding penalty that sent him a lap down. He recovered with awareness of his place on the track and (literally) shoved his way into the Daytona 500 lineup. He said he knew that he had to push Ryan Preece to finish ahead of Ty Dillon at the finish in order to secure his spot.

“If it’s your day, it’s your day,” Cindric said. “And today I was lucky it was my day.”

For Gaunt Brothers Racing, which also missed last year’s Daytona 500 with driver Daniel Suárez, the night was, “Heartbreak,” the team wrote on Twitter.

8:10 p.m., Lap 60 FINAL: Aric Almirola wins Duel 1 after leading 52 laps of the race. Custer wrecks near the start/finish line and cars reshuffle coming to the flag. Ryan Preece ends up finishing as the fastest Open car, ahead of Ty Dillon, as Austin Cindric gives him a s

hove in the same lane. This means that Ty Dillon is bumped from the Daytona 500 lineup, and Cindric is locked into the race as the next-fastest qualifying time of the Open cars (Preece’s Duel result ends up qualifying him, so Cindric transfers in by qualifying speed). Denny Hamlin pushes his car back to the garage after the race. He ran out of gas. Ty Dillon and Timmy Hill will not make it into the Daytona 500 lineup.

“Things are going right for Tampa Bay!” Almirola says on Fox Sports.

7:48 p.m., lap 36: Austin Cindric gets a penalty for speeding on pit road. He’ll have to do a pass-through. That’s a killer for the Open driver trying to race his way in. Ty Dillon becomes the top-running Open driver.

7:41 p.m., lap 30: Alex Bowman pits at the halfway point for an engine issue. He returns to the track a few laps later, but if the team has to change the engine, the Daytona 500 pole-sitter would have to drop to the back for the start of the race. He reports some vibration after returning.

7:22 p.m., lap 6: Aric Almirola takes an early lead on the outside lane, but the field splits into three-wide racing for two laps and Daniel Suárez exchanges the lead with Christopher Bell before falling back. Bell stays up on the outside lane, while Suárez drops back, but eventually the inside lane makes a surge and Almirola regains the lead.

7:11 p.m.: Engines are fired for the first Duel of the evening. Tyler Reddick will start at the rear for a transmission change. There will be no competition caution in tonight’s race. Austin Cindric, Ty Dillon and Timmy Hill are the Open drivers vying to lock in their spot in the Daytona 500 based on Duel 1 results.

7:05 p.m.: It looks like the rain will hold off. The sky is dark and clouds are visible, but the radar shows rain patches missing Daytona Beach.

NASCAR TRUCKS PRACTICE RESULTS

* Required to qualify on time, (i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, # series rookie

NASCAR TRUCKS PRACTICE

▪ When: 5:30-6:30 p.m.

▪ How to watch/listen: FS1

▪ Notes: Series rookie Chandler Smith posts the best time and speed (189.641 mph). Other Toyotas, Austin Hill and Johnny Sauter, top the the speed chart in second and third. Toyotas take up nine of the top-10 spots (David Gilliland in a Ford had the ninth-fastest time), and they raced in a early.

Truck Series at Daytona entry list (by number, 46 teams total)

Truck No.	Driver	Team Name	Owner	Crew Chief
1	Hailie Deegan #	Monster Ford	Team DGR	Mike Hillman, Jr.
2	Sheldon Creed	I.B.E.W. Chevrolet	GMS Racing	Jeff Stankiewicz
02	Kris Wright #	First National Bank Chevrolet	Young’s Motorsports	Eddie Troconis
3	Jordan Anderson(i)	Swann Security Chevrolet	Jordan Anderson Racing	Bruce Cook
04	Cory Roper	Alliance Aviation Ford	Roper Racing	Shane Whitbeck
4	John Hunter Nemechek	Fire Alarm Services Toyota	Kyle Busch Motorsports	Eric Phillips
6	Norm Benning	Chevrolet	Norm Benning Racing	Ken Causey
8	Joe Nemechek	Chevrolet	NEMCO Motorsports	Gere Kennon
9	Codie Rohrbaugh	Grant County Mulch Chevrolet	CR7 Motorsports	Doug George
10	Jennifer Jo Cobb	Fastener Supply Company Chevrolet	Jennifer Jo Cobb Racing	Danny Gill
11	Spencer Davis	Toyota	Spencer Davis Racing	Jerry Babb
12	Tate Fogleman	Solid Rock Carriers Chevrolet	Young’s Motorsports	Ryan London
13	Johnny Sauter	Vivitar/RealTree Toyota	ThorSport Racing	Joe Shear Jr.
15	Tanner Gray	Ford Performance Ford	Team DGR	Shane Wilson
16	Austin Hill	United Rentals Toyota	Hattori Racing	Scott Zipadelli
17	David Gilliland	Black’s Tire Ford	David Gilliland Racing	Chad Johnston
18	Chandler Smith #	Safelite AutoGlass Toyota	Kyle Busch Motorsports	Danny Stockman
19	Derek Kraus	MHR SHOCKWAVE Toyota	McAnally Hilgemann	Matt Noyce
20	Spencer Boyd	American PVMT/Raised On BlkTop Chev	rolet Young’s Motorsports	Joe Lax
21	Zane Smith	MRC Construction Chevrolet	GMS Racing	Kevin Manion
22	Austin Wayne Self	GO TEXAN/AM Technical Solutions Chevrole	t AM Racing	Ryan Salomon
23	Chase Purdy #	BamaBuggies.com Chevrolet	GMS Racing	Jeff Hensley
24	Raphael Lessard	CANAC Chevrolet	GMS Racing	Chad Walter
25	Timothy Peters	Rackley Roofing Chevrolet	Rackley W.A.R.	Chad Kendrick
26	Tyler Ankrum	LiUNA! Chevrolet	GMS Racing	Charles Denike
28	Bryan Dauzat	Chevrolet	Jim Rosenblum Racing	Jim Rosenblum
30	Danny Bohn	North American Motor Car Toyota	On Point Motorsports	Steven Lane
33	Jason White	powder ventures excavations Chevrolet	Reaume Brothers Racing	John Reaume
34	Jesse Iwuji	Toyota	Reaume Brothers Racing	Andrew Abbott
38	Todd Gilliland	Speedco Ford	Front Row Motorsports	Chris Lawson
40	Ryan Truex	Marquis Spas Chevrolet	Niece Motorsports	Wally Rogers
41	Dawson Cram	Magnum Contracting Inc. Chevrolet	Cram Enterprises	Brian Keselowski
42	Carson Hocevar #	Chevrolet	Niece Motorsports	Cody Efaw
44	James Buescher	FHE FracLock Chevrolet	Niece Motorsports	Tim Mooney
45	Brett Moffitt	Circle B Diecast Chevrolet	Niece Motorsports	Phil Gould
49	Ray Ciccarelli	CMI Motorsports Chevrolet	CMI Motorsports	Matt Cooper
51	Drew Dollar	JBL Toyota	Kyle Busch Motorsports	Mardy Lindley
52	Stewart Friesen	Halmar International Toyota	Halmar Friesen Racing	Trip Bruce
56	Gus Dean	Chevrolet	Hill Motorsports	Greg Ely
68	Clay Greenfield	Toyota	Clay Greenfield	Jeff Hammond
75	Parker Kligerman	Food Country USA Chevrolet	Henderson Motorsports	Chris Carrier
83	Tim Viens #	CMI Motorsports Chevrolet	CMI Motorsports	Tim Silva
88	Matt Crafton	Mold-Armor/Menards Toyota	ThorSport Racing	Carl Joiner
96	Todd Peck	Holla Vodka Chevrolet	Peck Motorsports	Keith Wolfe
98	Grant Enfinger	Champion/Curb Records Toyota	ThorSport Racing	Jeriod Prince
99	Ben Rhodes	Bombardier LearJet 75 Toyota	ThorSport Racing	Richard Lushes

* Required to qualify on time, (i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, # series rookie

Weather in Daytona Beach

There are clouds in the sky, but the sun is out over Daytona International Speedway. For now. We’ll see if this weather holds up. The National Weather Service is forecasting a slight chance of storms after 7 p.m. with a 50% chance of rain this evening.

- Alex

Duel 1 Lineup

(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series

Duel 2 Lineup

(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series

This story was originally published February 11, 2021 at 9:00 AM.

Alexandra Andrejev

The Charlotte Observer

NASCAR and Charlotte FC beat reporter Alex Andrejev joined The Observer in January 2020 following an internship at The Washington Post. She is a two-time APSE award winner for her NASCAR beat coverage and National Motorsports Press Association award winner. She is the host of McClatchy’s podcast “Payback” about women’s soccer. Support my work with a digital subscription