Daytona 500 starting order: Austin Cindric, Kaz Grala secure spots after Daytona Duels

Austin Cindric recovered from what he called a “bonehead mistake” with awareness of his place on the track to shove his way into the Daytona 500 lineup. Literally.

Cindric was penalized earlier in the race for speeding on pit road, and he was a lap down in the final seconds of the first of two “Duels at Daytona” to determine the lineup and starting order for Sunday’s Daytona 500. In the last lap of the 60-lap Duel, Ryan Preece surged ahead of leading Open driver Ty Dillon. Preece finished fifth and Dillon sixth.

The higher finish by Preece bumped Dillon from the single transfer spot available to one of three Open drivers in the first Duel. Instead, that transfer spot went to Cindric, who finished 16th in the 22-driver Duel lineup. Preece had already raced his way into the Daytona 500 lineup by posting the best speed of the Open drivers in qualifying, but his finish in the Duel ahead of other Open drivers negated that. That finish locked him in, per NASCAR’s rules, leaving a transfer spot available to the Open driver with the next-best qualifying time: Cindric.

Kaz Grala secured the final spot in the Daytona 500 lineup based on his qualifying speed in Duel 2, which convened after a nearly three-hour rain delay at Daytona International Speedway on Thursday evening. Aric Almirola and Austin Dillon won their respective Duels.

Cindric, driving the the No. 33 Team Penske Ford entry, said he knew that Preece finishing ahead of Dillon would give him the spot.

“The scenario in which it had to play out was very specific,” Cindric said. “The 37 (Preece) got trapped on the top. When the 96 (Dillon) went down to the middle lane in three and four, I shoved for all I could.”

But Cindric, a full-time Xfinity driver for Penske and the defending Xfinity Series champion, was critical of his own performance.

“I felt like I was the smallest person in the world,” he said of his speeding penalty that sent him to the back.

He was also complimentary of Ty Dillon’s performance in the No. 96 Toyota for Gaunt Brothers Racing. Dillon raced a full season with Germain Racing last year, but he lost his ride when the team closed its shop at the end of last season. Dillon is still piecing together a 2021 schedule, primarily with Toyota teams.

“I think he outdrove what he was driving, put himself in a great position,” Cindric said. “It’s unfortunate because he’s definitely a veteran of the series. I think he deserves to be in the race. Like I said, some days it’s your day and some days it isn’t.”

Gaunt Brothers Racing put it simply: “Heartbreak,” the team wrote on Twitter.

Timmy Hill also missed the Daytona 500 cut after he entered last year’s race based on his 2020 Duel finish. Noah Gragson and Garrett Smithley also will not make a Daytona 500 start this year after both were dealt damage during a late-lap crash. Gragson exited the race with damage to his No. 62 Chevrolet.

David Ragan was the highest finishing Open driver in the second Duel, securing his place in the Daytona 500.

The evening was a success for Preece, who is off to a strong start to Speedweeks despite the circumstances of his No. 37 JTG-Daugherty team without a charter. Almirola also posted noteworty performance, leading 52 of the 60 laps in the first Duel.

“It’s a big statement,” Almirola said, calling the leader at superspeedway races a “sitting duck.” “ ... It’s hard to lead that many laps and win the race.”

Bubba Wallace proved his new No. 23 Toyota has speed in the second Duel. He led laps and battled with Dillon after the final restart following a late-lap caution, but Dillon made a low pass in the final seconds, picked up speed and raced to first place in the overtime race.

The lineup is set for the Daytona 500 on Feb. 14, but there are already questions surrounding where one will start. Wednesday’s pole-winner Alex Bowman had an engine issue mid-race in the first Duel. He pitted for his team to address the problem and quickly returned to the race, but he was reporting vibration through the checkered flag. If the team changes the engine before, he’ll have to drop to the back for the start of the race. The other front-row sitter, William Byron, was involved in the accident that brought out the late caution in the second duel.

Daytona 500 starting order

This story was originally published February 12, 2021 at 12:56 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