Full Daytona 500 starting positions: Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Alex Bowman on the front row

Team Penske’s Joey Logano and Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron won the Daytona Duels late Thursday night to start Sunday’s Daytona 500 in the second row.

Byron, who’s from Charlotte, won Duel No. 2 with a perfectly timed move to the front with three laps remaining, but most of the drama in each race happened toward the back of the pack.

Daniel Suárez’s No. 96 car crashed out in the 30th lap of the first duel race. He was hit by Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney, who said the contact was an accident. Suárez was at a loss for words after failing to qualify for the Daytona 500.

“When I started going out and the 12 (car) was there,” Suarez said while watching the replay, “I don’t know, man.”

Blaney said he did not recognize when the Ford cars were pitting, which resulted in confusion, a late downward move and a crash.

“It was just an error on my part,” Blaney said. “And kind of a little lack of communication that didn’t end well.”

Suárez was vying for one of the two remaining open spots in the Daytona 500 lineup, which is capped at 40 drivers. This was the driver’s fourth attempt at the superspeedway race and the first time he did not qualify. Instead, the first of the two open spots went to Reed Sorenson, who called the qualification a “big deal.”

“My spotter was high-pitched to say the least,” Sorenson said about the reaction to hearing Suárez wrecked.

Sorenson and Suarez were not the only ones whose fate was sealed by a crash. During the second Duel of the night, another open contender, JJ Yeley, was clipped late in the race by Corey LaJoie, which caused him to pull out. That gave the final open spot to Timmy Hill.

“I never thought I’d have a shot at this,” Hill said after the race. He earned his first start at the Daytona 500 after his 10th season in NASCAR.

“I don’t know if the smile is going to come off my face,” Hill said.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won the pole position for the Daytona 500 with the fastest qualifying time and Alex Bowman was slated to start second with the second-fastest qualifying time. The remainder of the lineup and starting order was determined by the finishing order of the Duels.

Daytona 500 starting positions

This story was originally published February 13, 2020 at 6:25 PM with the headline "Full Daytona 500 starting positions: Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Alex Bowman on the front row."

Alexandra Andrejev

The Charlotte Observer

NASCAR and Charlotte FC beat reporter Alex Andrejev joined The Observer in January 2020 following an internship at The Washington Post. She is a two-time APSE award winner for her NASCAR beat coverage and National Motorsports Press Association award winner. She is the host of McClatchy’s podcast “Payback” about women’s soccer. Support my work with a digital subscription