Joey Logano won the America 250 Florida Duel 1 at Daytona International Speedway on Thursday, February 12, in an overtime shootout.
The three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion from Middletown, Connecticut, led twice for 15 of 63 over-scheduled laps. He started in sixth place and spent the majority of the time shuffling with his fellow competitors amid the draft. Logano’s key move to victory occurred with 16 laps remaining, pitting with his fellow Ford teammates. Amid an ensuing caution that followed suit, Logano’s team executed a quick “stop-and-go” pit service for fuel. This enabled Logano to be the first competitor to exit pit road and emerge with the lead.
Through a late-race restart with 11 laps remaining and another caution that flew with five laps remaining amid a multi-car wreck, Logano remained in contention with the lead. During an overtime attempt, Logano received a strong push from teammate Ryan Blaney to maintain the lead. Then, a caution for another multi-car wreck concluded the event. O was a momentous victory for Logano ahead of Sunday’s Daytona 500 event.
Before the start of the first Duel event, Kyle Busch, the 2026 Daytona 500 pole winner, and Ryan Preece, who posted the third-fastest qualifying lap during Wednesday’s single-car qualifying session, occupied the front row.
When the green flag waved and the first Duel event commenced, Kyle Busch, who elected to start on the outside lane, gained a slight advantage over Ryan Preece exiting the frontstretch and the first two turns. Busch retained his slight advantage through the backstretch. However, Preece used the inside lane to draw even with Busch through Turns 3 and 4. By the time the field returned to the frontstretch, Preece led the first lap by a small margin over Busch.
Over the next two laps, Preece and Busch continued to duel against one another in front of two-stacked lanes through every turn and straightaway. Before the third lap, Preece, who managed to lead the first three laps, transitioned to the outside lane and moved in front of Busch in the draft through Turns 3 and 4. By the next lap, Corey Heim received a draft from Austin Dillon to move into the lead from the backstretch through Turns 3 and 4 until Dillon drove beneath Heim through the frontstretch to lead the fourth lap.
By the fifth lap, John Hunter Nemechek, who used both the inside lane and a draft from Ryan Blaney to overtake Dillon, was leading. Nemechek retained the lead in front of the field that was beginning to fan out to three drafting lanes. Then, after leading the next lap, Nemechek engaged in a side-by-side battle with Dillon. Both drivers dueled in front of two-stacked lanes until Dillon received a push from Preece through the backstretch to muscle ahead on the eighth lap.
Through the first 10-scheduled laps, Preece, who got underneath Dillon to reassume the lead through Turns 3 and 4, was leading teammates Chris Buescher, Corey LaJoie and Brad Keselowski in a single-file drafting line from the inside lane. Behind, Nemechek was in fifth ahead of top-10 competitors Blaney, Austin Dillon, Alex Bowman, Joey Logano and William Byron. Noah Gragson, Kyle Busch, Cole Custer, AJ Allmendinger, Corey Heim, Chandler Smith, Casey Mears, Bubba Wallace, Jimmie Johnson, Ross Chastain, Cody Ware, Shane van Gisbergen and Daniel Suarez followed suit, respectively, within the 23-car field.
Five laps later, Preece was leading a seven-car breakaway that primarily consisted of Ford competitors/teammates, among which included Buescher, LaJoie, Keselowski, Blaney and Logano. Mired within the Ford battle was Toyota competitor Nemechek, while Dillon was trying to muscle his Chevrolet back to the front amid the draft and in front of the field in eighth place. As a majority of the field migrated to racing in single-line formation towards the inside lane, Preece continued to lead by Lap 20.
At the halfway mark on Lap 30, Preece maintained the lead of the event and was ahead of his Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing teammates Buescher, LaJoie and Keselowski, respectively. Busch occupied fifth place. Meanwhile, Blaney, who spent the previous five laps trying to mount a charge from the outside lane with drafting help from teammate Logano, batted Nemechek for sixth place as Chandler Smith, Logano, Wallace, Custer and Heim followed suit.
With 25 laps remaining, Busch battled dead even with Keselowski in front of two-stacked lanes for fifth place. Busch would then receive a draft from Blaney to slightly muscle ahead during the next lap. This allowed Busch to try and draw even with LaJoie for third place before Keselowski drafted his driver LaJoie back ahead of Busch through the backstretch with 24 laps remaining. As the field started to fan out to three-tight lanes while a bevy of competitors started to stack up and shuffle amid the draft, Preece continued to lead. Preece maintained the top spot ahead of teammates Buescher, LaJoie, Keselowski, Nemechek and Busch in single-line formation while Logano attempted to mount a charge from the outside lane with 20 laps remaining.
Then, with 16 laps remaining, a wave of competitors led by Preece and including teammates Buescher, LaJoie and Keselowski, along with Nemechek, Logano, Blaney, Chandler Smith, Gragson, Casey Mears and Jimmie Johnson reduced their speed and peeled off the racetrack while attempting to enter pit road to pit.
During this process, Mears swerved both to avoid Gragson and reduce his pace. As a result, he clipped Gragson and both spun through the pit road entrance. As Johnson veered hard right to return to the track, both Mears and Gragson proceeded to spin through the frontstretch’s grass. The caution would then be displayed as both Mears and Gragson were trying to muscle their entries out of the grass, though both would manage to continue.
At the moment of caution, Custer was scored the leader over the rest of the field that had not yet peeled off the racetrack to pit. During the caution period, Custer led a bevy of competitors to pit road, primarily for fuel. Meanwhile, Logano, who managed to exit pit road first ahead of Buescher within the first wave of competitors who entered pit road to pit, assumed the lead.
When the event restarted under green with 11 laps remaining, Logano and Buescher dueled for the lead as they had Blaney and Keselowski, respectively, drafting them through the first two laps. Entering the backstretch, both Logano and Blaney briefly slipped up the track. Despite both keeping their Fords racing straight and continuing to duel with Buescher and Keselowski for the lead, Chandler Smith made a bold three-wide move in between Preece and LaJoie, with Smith battling LaJoie for a Daytona 500 transfer berth. As the field fanned out to three-stacked lanes entering the frontstretch, Buescher barely led the next lap over Logano, Blaney and Keselowski.
Beginning with nine laps remaining, Logano, who was being repeatedly challenged by Buescher for the lead, maintained the advantage from the outside lane as he continued to receive drawing help from teammate Blaney. Meanwhile, Chandler Smith navigated his way into third place. Entering the frontstretch with seven laps remaining, however, Smith was being overtaken by Buescher, Dillon, Wallace, Byron, LaJoie and Keselowski, with Keselowski making slight contact with Smith as the latter quickly drifted back with no drafting help. Amid the battles, Dillon rocketed his way alongside Logano from the inside lane and challenged the latter with drafting help from Buescher.
Then, with five laps remaining, the caution returned when Wallace, who managed to overtake Logano and lead entering the backstretch, was bumped and turned sideways by Dillon amid the draft. This caused Wallace to swerve and spin below the backstretch while Buescher collided into Byron and Smith, as the latter trio wrecked towards the outside wall exiting the backstretch. The rest of the field, led by Logan,o scattered to avoid the carnage.
When the event restarted in overtime, Logano gained a slight advantage from the outside lane exiting the frontstretch before Keselowski gained his advantage from the inside lane through the first two turns. With drafting help from LaJoie and Blaney, Keselowski and Logano dueled for the lead through the backstretch and through Turns 3 and 4 while Daniel Suarez and Dillon joined the battle.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Logano was barely in front ahead of teammate Blaney, Keselowski, Dillon, LaJoie, Nemechek and the rest of the field through the frontstretch. As Keselowski tried to mount a charge through the first two turns, Logano muscled back ahead as he was getting drafted and bumped by Blaney, Dillon, Nemechek and AJ Allmendinger through the backstretch.
Then, as the front-runners started to swerve while bumping against one another, LaJoie, who was racing towards the front, was bumped and sent sideways by Suarez exiting the backstretch after LaJoie ran into the rear of Keselowski. In the process, LaJoie collided with Allmendinger before he snapped back to the right and smacked the outside wall entering Turns 3 and 4. Suarez, who went dead straight into the outside wall after he got hit by LaJoie, was rammed into the rear by Mears as Allmendinger and Chastain spun to the bottom of the track in Turns 3 and 4.
The final-lap carnage was enough for the first Duel event to conclude under caution. At the moment of caution, Logano was ruled ahead of the field and declared the winner.
With the victory, Logano joins Bill Elliott, Bobby Isaac and Junior Johnson as four-time winners of the Duel, with Logano’s latest Duel victory dating back to 2023. He also secured the ninth Daytona Duel victory for Team Penske and the 34th for the Ford nameplate.
As added bonuses of winning the first Duel event, Logano was awarded 10 bonus points and the third-place starting spot for this year’s 68th running of the Daytona 500. This upcoming Sunday, Logano will attempt to become the 14th competitor to win the Daytona 500 multiple times.
“[There was] Just a lot of teamwork, all the way through,” Logano said in Victory Lane on FS1. “I think about the No. 22 team, in particular, Nick Hensley, our gasman, did a fantastic job getting us position off of pit road. [Spotter] Coleman Pressley up on the roof, giving me great information. My teammate, Ryan Blaney, being committed and working together. It’s nice when everything works out the way it’s supposed to. I just got a great team around me and a great Ford Mustang. It’s great to see this yellow and red [No. 22] Ford Mustang back in Victory Lane. It’s a great place to start the season here.”
As Logano celebrated a Duel victory, Casey Mears also emerged victorious. By rallying from his late pit road incident and nursing his wounded car to a seventh-place finish amid the final-lap wreck, Mears emerged as the highest-finishing open competitor in the first Duel event. This meant that he secured a starting spot for the Daytona 500 for himself and his No. 66 Garage 66 team.
With his accomplishment, Mears will officially make his 495th Cup Series career start in this Sunday’s Great American Race. He will also make his 14th career start in the Daytona 500 event, with his latest start dating back to 2019.
“I had an issue on pit road and I got a run around the outside, and I figured I’d just stay in the gas no matter what happened,” Mears said. “When I saw [LaJoie] spinning and I missed the first guy, I thought, ‘OK, good.’ Then I hit somebody square, and I knew when I hit him flat, it didn’t tear up the car too much and I was gonna be able to get back, but I didn’t know who was in front of me still, whether or not we made it. And then all the [No. 66] guys started going nuts on the radio. I can’t believe we’re here based on our night and the way that it went.”
Chandler Smith and LaJoie, both of whom ended up finishing 16th and 19th, respectively, in the first Duel event, did not qualify for this year’s Daytona 500.
Behind Logano, teammate Ryan Blaney finished second ahead of Austin Dillon, Brad Keselowski and John Hunter Nemechek. Shane van Gisbergen, Daniel Suarez, Mears, Ryan Preece (who led the most laps at 38) and Alex Bowman completed the top 10 in the final running order.
The first Duel event featured nine lead changes for six different leaders, and three cautions for seven laps. In addition, 18 of 23 starters finished on the lead lap.
Results:
1. Joey Logano, 15 laps led
2. Ryan Blaney
3. Austin Dillon, three laps led
4. Brad Keselowski
5. John Hunter Nemechek, three laps led
6. Shane van Gisbergen
7. Daniel Suarez
8. Casey Mears
9. Ryan Preece, 38 laps led
10. Alex Bowman
11. Cole Custer, three laps led
12. Noah Gragson
13. Bubba Wallace
14. Corey Heim
15. Jimmie Johnson
16. Chandler Smith
17. Cody Ware
18. Kyle Busch
19. Corey LaJoie, one lap down
20. AJ Allmendinger, one lap down
21. Ross Chastain, one lap down
22. William Byron – OUT, Accident
23. Chris Buescher – OUT, Accident, one lap led
The America 250 Florida Duel #2 at Daytona International Speedway is scheduled to follow suit as the event is also being aired on FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM and HBO MAX.
