Daytona 500: Joey Logano and Chase Elliott win Duel qualifying races as Casey Mears and Anthony Alfredo race their way in

Story byDaytona 500: Joey Logano and Chase Elliott win Duel qualifying races as Casey Mears and Anthony Alfredo race their way inDaytona 500: Joey Logano and Chase Elliott win Duel qualifying races as Casey Mears and Anthony Alfredo race their way inNick BrombergSenior writerFri, February 13, 2026 at 3:23 AM UTC·2 min read

Chase Elliott and Joey Logano won the two Daytona Duel races ahead of the Daytona 500.

Logano won the first Duel while Elliott got the checkered flag in the second race. Casey Mears got into the Daytona 500 on the final lap after Corey LaJoie and Chandler Smith were each caught in late passes.

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With 39 of the 45 drivers attempting the race locked in via charters (36 drivers), qualifying speed Wednesday night in pole qualifying (Justin Allgaier and Corey Heim) and a NASCAR-issued provisional for well-known drivers (Jimmie Johnson), Mears was racing against LaJoie and Smith for one of the two remaining spots.

Smith was involved in a crash with five laps to go that effectively ended his chances at a win. Mears, meanwhile, caused the first caution of the race when he spun into Noah Gragson when they were pitting under green.

LaJoie was an incredibly advantageous spot on the final lap, but he got pushed by Daniel Suarez and as he got pinched up to his Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing teammate Brad Keselowski, LaJoie lost control.

Mears floored it from the back of the pack and even ran into Suarez. But he crossed the finish line comfortably ahead of Smith as LaJoie’s car was crashed out of the race in the infield inside Turns 3 and 4.

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LaJoie was the second car on the inside line at the time of the crash.

The second race was far less eventful. Elliott will start fourth in the Daytona 500 while Logano will start third. Anthony Alfredo made it into Sunday’s race ahead of BJ McLeod and JJ Yeley in Duel No. 2.

Here’s the full starting lineup for the race. The first race decided the odd-numbered starting spots while race No. 2 decided the even-numbered spots.

Daytona 500 lineup

1. Kyle Busch

2. Chase Briscoe

3. Joey Logano

4. Chase Elliott

5. Ryan Blaney

6. Carson Hocevar

7. Austin Dillon

8. Kyle Larson

9. Brad Keselowski

10. Michael McDowell

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11. John Hunter Nemechek

12. Christopher Bell

13. Shane van Gisbergen

14. Josh Berry

15. Daniel Suarez

16. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

17. Casey Mears

18. Todd Gilliland

19. Ryan Preece

20. Ty Gibbs

21. Alex Bowman

22. Denny Hamlin

23. Cole Custer

24. Erik Jones

25. Noah Gragson

26. Tyler Reddick

27. Bubba Wallace

28. Riley Herbts

29. Corey Heim

30. Zane Smith

31. Jimmie Johnson

32. Connor Zilisch

33. Cody Ware

34. Ty Dillon

35. AJ Allmendinger

36. Austin Cindric

37. Ross Chastain

38. Anthony Alfredo

39. William Byron

40. Justin Allgaier

41. Chris Buescher

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