Daytona 500 – The Great American Race is underway

147 spectators will take their seats inside Daytona to watch the first official race of the new Next Gen era. If Kyle Larson and Alex Bowman had already assured Hendrick Motorsports of the first row in Wednesday's practice, yesterday during the duels, Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing shone, notably thanks to its new driver/shareholder Brad Keselowski who took the first duel to secure third place. His teammate Chris Buescher completes the second row.

Hendrick Motorsports on the momentum for 2021 © Getty

Derrière les pensionnaires de la RFK, le carton plein des Ford se poursuit jusqu’en cinquième ligne où Kyle Busch vient placer la première Toyota de la Joe Gibbs Racing en 10ème position devant le Champion 2020 Chase Elliott.

500 miles at nearly 300 km/h average © Getty

Bubba Wallace and Kurt Busch took 23th and 16th places for 17Xl Racing, far ahead of their boss Denny Hamlin in 30th. The surprise winner of the 2021 edition, Michael McDowell, is definitely at ease on the Florida tri-oval as he takes 6th place.

Jacques Villeneuve holds his Daytona 500

In addition to the 36 drivers guaranteed to take the start thanks to their “Charter”, a year-round commitment, 4 places remained to be allocated for 6 candidates. Jacques Villeneuve can rejoice in having picked up a ticket from Wednesday's practice because his Thursday evening turned into a nightmare with a problem with the accelerator cable and only 20 short covered laps which placed him in 40th and last position. Veteran Greg Biffle qualified in a remarkable 28th place and Kaz Grala, the driver of the TMT, eliminated the experienced JJ Yeley in the final turns of his Duel. Neither of the two Ford Mustangs from MBM Motorsports managed to qualify since besides Yeley, the second eliminated was his teammate Timmy Hill. A very hard blow for this small team which failed for the second competitive year to enter a car in the most prestigious and lucrative race of the season.

Emotional roller coaster for Jacques Villeneueve © Getty Images

Among the favorites, Joey Logano thought he had secured a place at the head of the peloton, but a crash, for which he took full responsibility, forced him to change cars and start at the back of the grid.

Sunday at 20:30 p.m. French time, the 40 cars will set off for 200 laps of the track in an attempt to complete the 500 miles of racing (804,5 km) in the lead.

• First segment: 65 laps
• Second segment: 65 laps
• Final: 70 laps

Starting grid for the Daytona 500:

Highlights of the Duels at Daytona: