NEMECHEK FINISHES FOURTH IN DAYTONA DUEL
Four Toyota’s finish in top 15 in First Qualifying Race
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (February 12, 2026) – John Hunter Nemechek earned a top five result with a fourth-place finish in Thursday night’s Duel 1 at Daytona International Speedway. Fellow Toyota drivers Bubba Wallace (13th), Corey Heim (14th) and Jimmie Johnson (15th) all finished in the top 15 in the 63-lap qualifying race around the 2.5-mile Florida superspeedway.
Heim qualified into the Daytona 500 on time during Wednesday night’s Cup Series qualifying session to give Toyota 11 Camrys competing in Sunday’s Daytona 500.
Toyota Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Daytona International Speedway
Duel 1 – 150 miles, 60 laps
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Joey Logano*
2nd, Ryan Blaney*
3rd, Austin Dillon*
4th, JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK
5th, Brad Keselowski*
13th, BUBBA WALLACE
14th, COREY HEIM
15th, JIMMIE JOHNSON
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK, No. 42 Dollar Tree Toyota Camry XSE, LEGACY MOTOR CLUB
Finishing Position: 4th
Top five to start the year, and the car is clean. How was the Duel?
“Yeah, I’m just going to say this. I went on a ride with the Thunderbirds today and I felt like this race was way more nerve-wracking than flying with the Thunderbirds, I can tell you that – and we pulled nine and a half g’s, like four times today. Great group effort. Travis (Mack, crew chief) and everyone brought a great Camry down here. We qualified better than we ever have. We raced well in the Duels. A couple of really close calls for us, but we were able to make it through and I think we start top-10 on Sunday, so excited to have a good starting spot. Excited to try to build on our finishes here in Daytona, and see what kind of race that we can put together on Sunday. Just proud to have Dollar Tree, Pye-Barker all of our partners behind us. It’s a great day.”
About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in the U.S. for nearly 70 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands, plus our nearly 1,500 dealerships.
Toyota directly employs nearly 48,000 people in the U.S. who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of more than 35 million cars and trucks at our 11 manufacturing plants. In 2025, Toyota’s plant in North Carolina began to assemble automotive batteries for electrified vehicles.
For more information about Toyota, visit www.ToyotaNewsroom.com.
