TC Daily Pit Stop: Daytona 500 Starting Lineup Set; Joey Logano, Chase Elliott Win Duels; Casey Mears Advances as LaJoie Crashes; BJ McLeod in After Alfredo's DQ
TC Daily Pit Stop: Friday, February 13, 2026
Joey Logano Wins Duel 1; Casey Mears Floors It Into DAYTONA 500
For the fourth time in his NASCAR Cup Series career, Joey Logano was celebrating a win in the Duels at Daytona; however, the true story of America 250 Duel 1 unfolded well behind the race winner.
Corey LaJoie had driven a masterful race and found himself inside the top five for the majority of the event. That wouldn’t matter, as LaJoie was swept up in a last-lap crash. As carnage ensued ahead, Casey Mears, who had rallied from a lap down after a mid-race incident coming to pit road, kept his foot to the floor.
Mears would pile into the crash, but would be able to keep on trucking to the finish line, where he would be credited with an eighth-place finish. As a result, Mears had locked the No. 66 Garage 66 Ford Mustang into the Daytona 500 field.
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DUEL 1 RACE RESULTS
Chase Elliott Uses Chevy Allegiance to Win Duel 2; Alfredo DQ’ed; McLeod in DAYTONA 500
While the first Duel of the night was wild, chaotic, and full of crashes, the second Duel of Thursday evening was a much calmer affair — on track at least.
Chase Elliott would come out on top of a Chevrolet battle at the front in the closing laps of the event to take his third career victory in the Daytona Duels, and the battle for the Daytona 500 transfer spot appeared quite clear-cut as Anthony Alfredo finished more than 20 seconds ahead of BJ McLeod.
However, things got complicated after the race. In post-race inspection, NASCAR discovered two improperly installed hoses (a transaxle cooling hose and a driver cooling hose) on the No. 62 Beard Motorsports Chevrolet.
As a result, Alfredo was disqualified from the race, which handed the Daytona 500 starting spot to McLeod.
FULL DUEL 2 RECAP
READ MORE ON ALFREDO DQ
DUEL 2 RACE RESULTS
2026 Daytona 500 Starting Lineup
Kyle Busch secured the pole position for Sunday’s Daytona 500 in Wednesday night’s qualifying session, and he will be joined on the front row by Chase Briscoe. The remainder of the starting grid was set by the finishing results of Thursday’s Duels.
FULL STARTING LINEUP
NASCAR Headlines:
Kaden Honeycutt Paces First Practice of 2026 in Defending Champion Truck
Ollie’s Bargain Outlet Expands Relationship with Haas Factory Team
James Hinchcliffe Making NASCAR Debut at St. Pete with Spire
Kyle Busch, Chase Briscoe Snag Front Row for 68th DAYTONA 500; Heim, Allgaier Lock In
Keselowski Making Progress in Recovery from Off-Season Broken Femur
Chastain Hoping to Benefit from Familiarity of New Crew Chief Brandon McSwain