By Anthony Caruso III | Publisher
After some controversy, former Daytona 500 winner Austin Cindric was awarded the second Duel win. This is Cindric’s first duel win at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Discount Tire driver Cindric — who was already in the front row — was in a battle with Legacy Motor Club driver Erik Jones as the two cars came to the finish line. However, before the cars crossed the finish line, the caution came out.
AdventHealth Toyota driver Jones had the lead when the cars went past the finish line. However, when the caution came out, Cindric was the leader and given the win.
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“I feel bad for Eric having to go all the way over there, but they made a great move on the last lap there,” Cindric said. “Joey (Logano) and I were kind of sitting ducks with the middle lane fading there. No, we had a fast Discount Tire Ford Mustang.
“Super proud of my team and everyone to go out there and execute. Thank you to Brian for letting me race. It was very difficult to maybe persuade that, but it was his birthday, so this is a good birthday present for him.”
Cindric is going to start 2nd for the Daytona 500. He is going to start on the outside of Chase Briscoe, who won the pole.
He picked up 10 points for the Duel win.
“But overall, proud of everybody at Team Penske getting lined up there,” Cindric said. “The execution of the cycle there is cool, but still a lot to go for the race. But I feel so bad he(Erik) had to drive over there.
That’s terrible.”
Following the race, Jones drove to the start-finish line and thought he had won.
“I mean, it’s a wide range of emotions,” Jones said. “It’s a bummer. You know, it’s the rule. I mean, if the yellow is out, the race is over and it’s unfortunate. But either way, the Advent Health Camry was really fast. So it was fun running up front, fun leading some laps, fun contending for the win.
And I don’t know what, I did everything I could. So it just didn’t work out. And, you know, hopefully, we can be in that same spot again Sunday. Take a look over here with us.”
Fastenal Ford driver Chris Buescher finished third for RFK Racing.
Take 5 Oil Change/DuraMax Ford driver Corey LaJoie was able to get the last non-chartered open car spot in the Daytona 500. He finished sixth.
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“You forget how special this race is, right?,” LaJoie said. “When you have to race for it, you have to earn it because when you’re racing full-time, it’s just the first one of 36. When it’s the one that you think about for months, it means that much more. And it means so much for that Rick Ware group, those guys work so hard for the little group. And for Duramax and Take 5 to be in their first Daytona 500, too, means a lot.
“I’m pumped up, man. I wasn’t that stressed going in, but I am super relieved right now. Shout-out to everybody back at the new Smyrna house, my wife Kelly, I’m sure she’s pumped up, too. But we got 500 miles on Sunday to see if we can get a little closer to the front. Enjoy the 500 on Sunday.”
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