Lessons from the 2026 Daytona Duels

Because everyone else does recaps, I’ll instead look at lessons from the 2026 Daytona Duels. Some things to think about as we look forward to Sunday’s Daytona 500.

The Cost of Leading

Todd Gordon said on MRN that there could be a whole mile-per-gallon difference in fuel consumption rate between a driver leading a line and one running sixth or seventh. Duel 1 demonstrated that: Ryan Preece dominated the first half, but when he pitted, he needed more fuel and thus a longer pit stop.

That will be even more in evidence on Sunday when the fuel strategy game ramps up. Still, the lesson to take away is that the only lap led that matters is the last one. There’s not only little advantage to leading early and often, there may be a disadvantage.

Teams and Alliances Matter More and More

Only one open car makes the race from each duel. Corey LaJoie’s No. 99 (RFK), Chandler Smith’s No. 36 (Front Row) and Casey Mears’ No. 66 (Carl Long.) competed for that spot in Duel #1.

While LaJoie was running a fourth car for RFK racing, keep in mind that Front Row has an alliance with Penske Racing. It was all Fords up front in the first race, and came down to RFK vs. Penske Front Row.

RFK had a concerted plan to get the No. 99 into the race. They controlled the first half, with two cars ahead of the 99 and Brad Keselowski behind. Keselowski blocked Smith’s car to keep it behind his No. 99. With their three chartered cars already guaranteed in, RFK had little to lose.

That, however, puts independent cars at a disadvantage.

Luck Dominates Everything

When a racer makes a plan, God laughs. A last lap crash in Duel 1 collected LaJoie and Smith. Mears will race Sunday, despite having spun entering pit road and losing a lap.

“This is just one of those places where there’s enough random things that happen,” Mears said, “and sometimes you’re on the right side of it and sometimes you’re not.”

This year, he was.

Success Is Never Just One Thing…

“It’s never just one thing in any form of motorsport,” Joey Logano, winner of Duel 1 said. Daytona increasingly depends on fuel savings, which means the pit crew is increasingly important.

Logano his gas man and his spotter, as well as the team for the fast car. He and Blaney experimented pushing, with Blaney backing off when his pushes became too much.

… But You Only Need One Failure

Beard Motorsports‘ Anthony Alfredo was set to be the feel-good story of the night, with his having finished highest of all the open cars in the second Duel.

Then post-race inspection found a loose transaxle-cooling hose and a loose driver-cooling hose. Those hoses are required to be airtight between the window and the transaxle outlet. They weren’t, and the No. 62 car was disqualified.

Just Making the Race Is a Win for Some

Casey Mears had to stop a couple of times during his media availability to compose himself.

“You know, my career, pretty much, had an end back in 2017, 2018,: Mears said. “To come back and just have the opportunity to come do this again is a big deal. And so I’m kind of soaking it in, enjoying every moment.”

For Others, It’s a More of a Learning Process

Logano, who was already guaranteed a spot in the race, said that winning was great, in part because the trophy is “really cool, although not as cool as this one here,” he said as he pointed at the Harley J. Earl Trophy.

But it also gave him a chance to learn how his car handled and how he and teammate Blaney could most effectively work together.

Don’t Read Too Much Into the Results

Logano opined at length about his perceived lack of ‘pushability’, saying that he didn’t think anyone felt comfortable taking a push in Duel 1. He went so far as to predict a ‘wreckfest’ on Sunday.

But no cars wrecked during the second Duel. Just the hopes of the drivers who packing up and going home.

In his media availability, Alfredo pointed out that car in qualifying trim behave differently than those in race time. He warned us not to read too much into Duel results.

TL;DR

• The Duels aren’t a great predictor of the Daytona 500. Teams will change their setups for race practice, so the second practice might be more useful than the Duel results
• For some teams, making it into the duels was their win. For others, the Duels were more of a learning experience.
• One Duel produced a lot of damaged cars. The other didn’t. That’s not unusual.
• Fuel savings continues to play a very important role in the Daytona 500.