RFK Sweeps Daytona Duels with Keselowski and Buescher
Thursday night was a time for drivers to shine under the lights at Daytona. One team took full advantage of that by winning the two Duel races, which set the field for the 64th Daytona 500 this Sunday. The last team to sweep the Duels was Hendrick Motorsports in 2015. That changed tonight as RFK Racing owned the spotlight.
Last season Roush Fenway Racing failed to win a race and missed the Playoffs with both of their drivers. The 2022 season has already gone much better as they swept both races on Thursday night. Driver and team co-owner Brad Keselowski won the first race in his No. 6 Ford while Chris Buescher took the checkered flag in Duel 2 for RFK Racing.
Keselowski spent 12 years with Team Penske, collecting 33 wins and a Cup championship during his time there. The veteran driver is still searching for his first Daytona 500 victory, and will have a great starting spot to get that done on Sunday.
Buescher's victory didn't come nearly as easy, as he and Joey Logano tangled on the final lap of the race when the Team Penske driver tried to throw a late block coming out of Turn 2. The two made contact which sent Logano spinning into the wall while Buescher continued on. The driver of the No. 17 was ahead of reigning Daytona 500 winner Michael McDowell when the caution flag came out to end the race.
“What a way to start Speedweeks out here, to put both RFK Ford Mustangs in victory lane, give Fastenal their first win on a Cup car,” Buescher said. “It’s not the big show, but we’ve got a really good hotrod here. Hats off to everybody back at the shop. I know it’s been a hectic off-season for everybody in our sport, but we’ve had a lot of changes going on, and it’s cool to see it play out.”
When Keselowski crossed the finish line, his rearview mirror had a familiar sight. For more than a decade, the No. 2 Penske car was his office. That now belongs to rookie Austin Cindric, who fared very well on Thursday and will start the Daytona 500 from the inside of Row 3. His teammate Ryan Blaney was just behind him in 3rd place while Chase Briscoe and Chase Elliott rounded out the top five in the first Duel.
Erik Jones, Kyle Larson, Tyler Reddick, Kurt Busch, and Ross Chastain completed the top ten in Duel 1 and earned themselves quality starting positions for Sunday. Larson, who led the first 35 laps, won the pole yesterday in qualifying. After William Byron qualified 3rd-fastest on Wednesday, he was relegated to a 12th place finish in the Duel, meaning he will start 23rd on Sunday.
The most dramatic moment of the race came when Kaz Grala passed JJ Yeley in the final stretch to steal the spot in Sunday's race. The two open cars were battling for one of the last starting spots in the field. Grala's comeback puts the new team owned by Floyd Mayweather into the Great American Race.
The second 60-lap race appeared to be in the bag for Logano, but the first and only caution of the race was a devastating blow for the driver of the No. 22 Ford. Instead of starting on Row 2 on Sunday, the Penske ace will now start in the 20th position. It was almost the first pair of caution-free Duels since 2003.
“I just made a mistake,” Logano said. “I didn’t think the run would come that quick. It just seemed like it happened quicker than I thought it would. I knew a run was going to happen at some point on the last lap. I thought that was pretty early. I didn’t think it would happen there, and the speed that it happened was quicker than I thought. I thought I was still clear, and I wasn’t. Apologies to my race team. I wrecked their car and tore up the 21 as well. It was a dumb move. We were in position to at worse finish fourth and just blew it.”
McDowell held on for the runner-up spot behind Buescher, and although rookie Harrison Burton suffered damage in the incident, he crossed the line in 3rd place. Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Kyle Busch and Christopher Bell rounded out the top five with the third member of their team (Martin Truex Jr) in 6th. Bubba Wallace was part of that Toyota pack and finished 7th in the Duel. Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Logano, and Kevin Harvick rounded out the top ten.
Denny Hamlin had an issue getting onto pit road, and spun his No. 11 Camry. He finished back in 15th which means the three-time Daytona 500 champion will start 30th on Sunday. The two open cars battling for the final spot in the 40-car field were Greg Biffle and Timmy Hill. The veteran finished seven spots ahead of Hill and will make his 15th Daytona 500 start on Sunday. Biffle's best result in the race is 3rd, which he did twice during his career.
The four open cars that made the race were Grala, Biffle, Jacques Villeneuve, and Noah Gragson. The two drivers going home are Yeley and Hill. Teams will have two more opportunities to tweak their race cars before the race. There will be a third practice session at 6 PM ET on Friday, and final practice at 10:30 on Saturday morning.
