Brian Lawdermilk | Getty Images
Going into Thursday’s Bluegreen Vacations Duel races at the Daytona International Speedway, we knew the front row of Sunday’s Daytona 500 main event after qualifying a single car on Wednesday.
Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman is at Busch Pole, his fourth consecutive start in the first row at the Great American Race and for the first time driving Chevrolet No. 48. His teammate William Byron will be officially credited with second place initial when the green flag falls on Sunday (2:30 pm ET on FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), although he may need to stay behind if his team uses a spare car after an accident on Thursday night.
We also knew that Thursday’s two 60 lap races would define the rest of the race order, as well as the last two places on the field.
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As an update, the results of Duel 1 defined the internal line of the initial lineup for the Daytona 500. Duel 2 defined the external line. The 36 Charter teams are guaranteed a spot on the Daytona 500 field, and eight Open, non-Charter teams competed for the final four spots through a mix of duel results and qualifying speeds from a single car earlier in the week.
After the races of the Bluegreen Vacations duel, here is the initial lineup of the projected Daytona 500. Again, this is a projection from NASCAR.com – the official schedule will be released later.
* indicates one of the four open teams that entered the field.
| Getting Started |
Driver | Team |
| 1 | Alex Bowman | No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports |
| two | 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 Penske Team |
| 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 Penske Team |
| 15 | Daniel Suarez | No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Team |
| 16 | Corey LaJoie | No. 7 Spire Motorsports |
| 17 | Michael McDowell | No. 34 of the first row of sports |
| 18 | David Ragan * | No. 36 of front row motor sports * |
| 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 Penske Team |
| 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 of the first row of sports |
| 37 | Josh Bilicki | No. 52 Rick Ware Racing |
| 38 | BJ McLeod | Nº 78 Live Fast Motorsports |
| 39 | Austin Cindric * | Penske Team No. 33 |
| 40 | Kaz Grala * | No. 16 Kaulig Racing |