Bubba Wallace scored the win in the eventful first Daytona International Speedway Duel of Thursday night (Feb. 13) to set the field for the 2025 Daytona 500, the opening race of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season.
Wallace led 21 laps and held off the pack coming out of turn 4 to pick up the victory for 23XI Racing.
“I’ve wanted one of these Duel wins for so long”, Wallace told FOX Sports 1 after the race, “Thanks to Tyler … that was awesome to see two team cars work that well and learn a lot for Sunday.”
William Byron, Ty Dillon, Ross Chastain and Wallace’s 23XI teammate Tyler Reddick rounded out the top five.
AJ Allmendinger, Austin Dillon, Chase Elliott, Justin Allgaier and Kyle Busch completed the top 10.
As the highest-finishing open driver, Allgaier raced his way into the field, scoring JR Motorsports’ first Cup start.
He joins Martin Truex Jr., who had already clocked his way in on speed from the previous night’s qualifying; Truex finished 15th in the Duel.
“The emotions right now are really just because of how much everybody here has wanted it,” Allgaier said. “Dale and Kelley [Earnhardt Miller] and LW [Miller] and everybody at JR Motorsports. This guy right here, his lip was quivering and his hands were shaking before the race. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that out of Dale Jr. He told me before the race I’m nervous. I don’t want to make you nervous, but I’m really nervous. It’s the truth.
“This means a lot to our team, this little team of JR Motorsports. Dale Jr. is an amazing racecar driver. He’s an amazing dad, car owner. You can tell how much he wanted this and our whole shop wanted this.”
Helio Castroneves, who was caught up in a lap-14 crash, will have to use NASCAR’s new open exemption provisional to make the field, becoming a 41st starter.
Chandler Smith, who was also involved in the crash, and JJ Yeley failed to advance from the Duels.
The battle to make the Great American Race was intense all night, as several of the open teams raced neck and neck throughout the 60 lap event.
Open driver Smith had driven his Garage 66 Ford all the way up to third early in the race but wrecked out on lap 14 when he came across the nose of Justin Haley’s Chevrolet in turn 2, triggering a multi-car incident that eliminated both Smith and Haley from the race.
Fellow open driver Castroneves also suffered severe damage in the crash.
This left the race for the transfer spot between Allgaier and Yeley, who ran together for much of the Duel. In the closing laps, Yeley looked to be in good position to outrun Allgaier, but Allgaier used the momentum of the outside line to pass Yeley in the closing laps and lock him and JRM into Sunday’s race.
Daytona 500 pole sitter Chase Briscoe headed to the garage on lap 28, wanting to preserve his car and starting position for Sunday.
Daytona Duel 1 Results
The Daytona 500 will be held on Sunday, Feb. 16, at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1. The second Daytona Duel is up next on FS1.
Jake Altmayer joined the Frontstretch team in 2025, assisting as a news writer and contributing to other weekly columns and articles, such as Friday Faceoff and Xfinity Breakdown. A 2024 graduate of DePaul University, Altmayer has closely followed NASCAR's national series (Cup, Xfinity and Trucks) for nearly a decade and has attended more than a dozen races over the course of that time. In his free time, he enjoys cycling, spending time with his loved ones, and listening to his favorite band, the Beach Boys.