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At Thursday’s Bluegreen Vacations Duel races at Daytona International Speedway, we knew the front row for Sunday’s Daytona 500 main event after Wednesday’s qualifying for one car.
The driver of Hendrick Motorsports, Alex Bowman, is at the Busch Pole, his fourth consecutive front-row start in The Great American Race and first drives the Chevrolet no. 48. His teammate, William Byron, will officially get the starting position of second place if the green flag falls on Sunday (14:30 ET on FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), although he may have to fall behind if his team uses a backup car to a wreck of Thursday night.
We also knew Thursday’s 60-lap twin races would determine the rest of the running order as well as the last two places in the field.
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As a refresher, Duel 1 results put the inside row in the Daytona 500 starting lineup. Duel 2 sets the outline. The 36 Charter teams could secure a spot in the Daytona 500 field, and eight Open, non-Charter teams competed for the final four spots via a mix of two-stroke results and qualifying speeds for one car from earlier this week.
After the Bluegreen Vacations Duel races, here’s the projected Daytona 500 starting lineup. Again, this is a NASCAR.com projection – the official series will be announced later.
* indicates one of the four open teams that made it to the field.
| Start |
Manager | 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 | Nr. 3 Richard Childress Racing |
| 5. | Christopher Bell | 20 Joe Gibbs Racing |
| 6. | Bubba Wallace | No. 23 23XI Racing |
| 7. | Ryan Newman | 6 Roush Fenway Racing |
| 8. | Kevin Harvick | Nr. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing |
| 9. | Joey Logano | No. 22 Team Penske |
| 10. | Kyle Busch | 18 Joe Gibbs Racing |
| 11. | Ryan Preece * | Nr. 37 JTG Daugherty Racing * |
| 12. | Chase Elliott | 9 Hendrick Motorsports |
| 13 | Kyle Larson | 5 Hendrick Motorsports |
| 14. | Ryan Blaney | No. 12 Team Penske |
| 15. | Daniel Suarez | Nr. 99 Trackhouse Racing Team |
| 16. | Corey LaJoie | 7 Spire Motorsports |
| 17. | Michael McDowell | No. 34 Front Row Motorsport |
| 18. | David Ragan * | No.36 Front Row Motorsport * |
| 19. | Jamie McMurray | 77 Spire Motorsports |
| 20. | Kurt Busch | No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 21. | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 47 JTG Daugherty Racing |
| 22. | Chris Buescher | 17 Roush Fenway Racing |
| 23. | Matt DiBenedetto | Nr. 21 Wood Brothers Racing |
| 24. | Brad Keselowski | No. 2 Team Penske |
| 25. | Denny Hamlin | 11 Joe Gibbs Racing |
| 26. | Martin Truex Jr. | 19 Joe Gibbs Racing |
| 27. | Cole Custer | No 41 Stewart-Haas Racing |
| 28. | Joey Gase | No. 53 Rick Ware Racing |
| 29. | Tyler Reddick | 8 Richard Childress Racing |
| 30. | Chase Briscoe | 14 Stewart-Haas Racing |
| 31. | Erik Jones | 43 Richard Petty Motorsports |
| 32. | Derrike Cope | Nr. Rick Ware Racing |
| 33. | Quin Houff | Nr. 00 StarCom Racing |
| 34. | Ross Chastain | 42 Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 35. | Cody Ware | No. 51 Rick Ware Racing |
| 36. | Anthony Alfredo | No. 38 Front Row Motorsport |
| 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 * | Nr. 16 Kaulig Racing |