Race report

NASCAR Cup Daytona 500

Daytona 500: Reddick wins Duel #1; Johnson just makes field

Tyler Reddick shot around Kyle Larson to take the lead on the final lap and held on to win Thursday night’s first Daytona 500 qualifying race.

Jim Utter

Edited: Feb 16, 2024, 8:43 AM

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Larson appeared to be in a good position entering the final of 60 laps but Reddick dove to the inside of Larson in Turn 3 and cleared for the lead when Alex Bowman got into Larson and briefly made the field three-wide. It was an impressive charge from Reddick, who was outside the top-five at the white flag.

Reddick then held off Chase Elliott by 0.056 seconds to claim the win for Toyota. Bowman finished third, Carson Hocevar fourth and Erik Jones rounded out the top five.

“That’s a great way to start the weekend,” said Reddick, who drives the No. 45 Toyota for 23XI Racing.

“This new Toyota Camry is truly a beast. It was a lot of fun to drive. It’s great to get this Nasty Beast Toyota in Victory Lane, that’s for sure. As for me, I’m still making a lot of mistakes, but I had a good restart. It was a lot of fun tonight.”

Over the final six laps, Jimmie Johnson and J.J. Yeley battled furiously for the final transfer position into Sunday’s 500 field. Johnson ended up 12th and claimed the spot as Yeley finished 16th.

Watch: Raw Reaction: Jimmie Johnson races his way into the Daytona 500

Completing the top-10 were Daniel Suarez, Joey Logano, Ty Gibbs, Larson and Chris Buescher.

Last year’s race winner, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., worked through some traffic to take the lead on lap 10 with Jones and Corey LaJoie close behind.

With 40 laps remaining, Stenhouse continued to lead the way after a brief battle for the lead with LaJoie.

A push from Larson put Martin Truex Jr. out front with 33 laps remaining and a likely round of green flag pit stops still to go.

Anthony Alfredo, who lost the draft, elected to pit alone on lap 34 but had to serve a pass-through penalty for speeding on pit road.

The first group of cars to hit pit road for a round of green flag stops came on lap 41 and included the Toyotas of Johnson, Reddick and Jones.

Austin Dillon and Stenhouse followed a lap later and a large group of Chevrolets pit on lap 45, including then-leader Larson.

Once the cycle of stops was completed, Larson returned to the lead with 14 laps remaining.

With 10 laps to go, a chain-reaction accident erupted in Turn 4 while Austin Dillon got into Stenhouse who then nudged Daniel Hemric. Jimmie Johnson was also collected in the incident, which placed the race under caution.

The race returned to green on lap 54 with Larson leading Suarez, Elliott, Gibbs and Hocevar. Yeley led Johnson for the final transfer spot on the restart.

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