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Heading into Thursday’s Bluegreen Vacations Duel races at Daytona International Speedway, we cleared the front row for Sunday’s Daytona 500 main event after Wednesday’s qualifier.
Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman is on the Busch Pole, his fourth straight front row start in The Great American Race and his first with the No. 48 Chevrolet. His teammate, William Byron, will officially get the second starting position when the green flag falls Sunday (2:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), although he may need to move backwards if his team uses a backup car after a wreck. on Thursday evening.
We also knew that Thursday’s two 60-lap races would determine the rest of the running order, as well as the last two places on the field.
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As a refresher, the results of Duel 1 determined the innermost row of the Daytona 500 starting grid. Duel 2 moves the outer row. The 36 Charter teams have secured a spot in the Daytona 500 field and eight Open, non-Charter teams competed for the last four spots via a mix of Duel results and qualifying speeds for one car from earlier this week.
After the Bluegreen Vacations Duel races, here’s the expected starting line-up for the Daytona 500. Again, this is a NASCAR.com projection – the official lineup will be released later.
* indicates one of the four open teams that made it onto the field.
| Starting |
Driver | Team |
| 1. | Alex Bowman | No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports |
| 2. | William Byron | No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports |
| 3. | Aric Almirola | No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing |
| 4. | Austin Dillon | No. 3 Richard Childress Racing |
| 5. | Christopher Bell | No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing |
| 6. | Bubba Wallace | No. 23 23XI Racing |
| 7. | Ryan Newman | No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing |
| 8. | Kevin Harvick | No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing |
| 9. | Joey Logano | No. 22 Team Penske |
| 10. | Kyle Busch | No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing |
| 11. | Ryan Preece * | No. 37 JTG Daugherty Racing * |
| 12. | Chase Elliott | No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports |
| 13 | Kyle Larson | No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports |
| 14. | Ryan Blaney | No. 12 Team Penske |
| 15. | Daniel Suarez | No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Team |
| 16. | Corey LaJoie | No. 7 Spire Motorsports |
| 17. | Michael McDowell | No. 34 Motorsport in the front row |
| 18. | David Ragan * | No. 36 Motorsport in the front row * |
| 19. | Jamie McMurray | No. 77 Spire Motorsports |
| 20. | Kurt Busch | No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 21. | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing |
| 22. | Chris Buescher | No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing |
| 23. | Matt DiBenedetto | No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing |
| 24. | Brad Keselowski | No. 2 Team Penske |
| 25. | Denny Hamlin | No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing |
| 26. | Martin Truex Jr. | No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing |
| 27. | Cole Custer | No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing |
| 28. | Joey Gase | No. 53 Rick Ware Racing |
| 29. | Tyler Reddick | No. 8 Richard Childress Racing |
| 30. | Chase Briscoe | No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing |
| 31. | Erik Jones | No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports |
| 32. | Derrike Cope | No. 15 Rick Ware Racing |
| 33. | Quin Houff | No. 00 StarCom Racing |
| 34. | Ross Chastain | No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 35. | Cody Ware | No. 51 Rick Ware Racing |
| 36. | Anthony Alfredo | No. 38 motorsport in the front row |
| 37. | Josh Bilicki | No. 52 Rick Ware Racing |
| 38. | BJ McLeod | No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports |
| 39. | Austin Cindric * | No. 33 Team Penske |
| 40. | Kaz Grala * | No. 16 Kaulig Racing |