Takeaways: RFK Sweeps Daytona Duel

DAYTONA, Florida (February 17, 2022) — In his first official race as the new co-owner of one of the sport’s storied teams, Brad Keselowski used meaty late race moves to pass Ryan Blaney and win the first BlueGreen Vacations Duel at Daytona. Then, Keselowski’s Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing teammate Chris Buescher dove to the lowside on Joey Logano in turn two of the final lap in Duel number two. Logano countered, resulting in contact between the pair that sent Logano spinning out of the lead, collecting Harrison Burton in the process. Buescher was credited with the win.

There are a lot of things to takeaway from this year’s Duel, but here are a few…

RFK Means Business at Daytona

I’m not sure many had RFK Racing sweeping the Duel, especially after the sub-par showing two weeks ago at the Clash at the Coliseum. In Daytona, the highly aggressive super speedway racers were not afraid to make the moves that needed to be made during what was otherwise mostly calm races.

What better way to start a new season, with a new team, than to quickly rack up two quick victories.

Now, the RFK duo will attempt to convert the Duel wins into a Daytona 500 win, along with 38 other hopeful drivers.

The Cars Still Look Great

No. I still do not like the number placement. And also no, aside from writing this article, I didn’t notice. What I did notice was just how truly awesome the cars looked at speed and running in anger on the Daytona high banks.

The new Next Gen car, NASCAR’s 7th generation racecar, shined under the lights in Florida, and while the speeds are indeed slower than in recent years, that too was a detail that I did not notice. They still looked fast, and looked like they will be quite racy come Sunday.

It’s no secret that drivers were racing on the more conservative side in this years Duel, as supply chain issues have caused parts shortages that result in some teams not having a prepared backup car on site.

Luckily for Joey Logano, who’s car was severely damaged at the end of the second Duel, his Team Penske crew was pulling out their backup as Logano was being interviewed at the infield care center.

The pit stops were nominal, and while the noise was a little different, the overall look and feel of the brief glimpse into stops was very normal.

Losing the Draft is Bigger than Ever!

The cars indeed looked great, but something that didn’t look very good and is a tad bit troubling was just how easy cars can now lose the draft if they find themselves at the rear of the pack or line of cars.

Multiple cars that would in year’s past be able to “tack onto the back” of a line, simply could not. Instead, the train of cars would fly past leaving the straggler in their dust. 

The severity of this phenomenon may have been amplified by the fact that this merely the Duel, and come Sunday’s Daytona 500, the intensity levels may increase enough that what we saw tonight is negligible.

Grala and The Biff are In

Going into the Duel, Noah Gragson and Jacques Villeneuve were already locked in thanks to their qualifying speeds on Wednesday.

This left Kaz Grala, Greg Biffle, Timmy Hill and JJ Yeley to battle for the final two spots in the Daytona 500 field.

I say battle, but in truth, rather than battling between each other, the fight seemed to be in who didn’t screw up as badly as the others.

In the first Duel race, Gragson quickly dropped to the back and was a non-factor in the race. Grala and Yeley raced in the pack early on, but as the field stretched out, they began to fall backwards and apart from each other. Grala held a strong grasp on his standing ahead of Yeley for the first half of the race. After completing his pit stop, Grala was issued a speeding penalty that would see the driver for The Money Team fall down two laps.

Most thought that would allow Yeley, driving for MBM Motorsports, to race his way into the big show. However in the waning laps of the race, Yeley would fall an additional lap down, and now on the same lap as Grala, would be passed by Grala on the final lap.

Grala is in. Yeley is not.

In the second Duel race, Villeneuve had issues with his throttle cable that almost prevented him from starting. He did make it out, and started the race, but ultimately pulled the car behind the wall with mechanical woes.

Greg Biffle, who hasn’t raced in the Cup Series in five years, had to beat Timmy Hill to lock into the Daytona 500. Biffle was competitive and raced up to as high as ninth prior to the race’s pit stop cycle. Hill was a non-factor and it would have taken a miscue by Biffle for Hill to advance. And that almost happened as Biffle’s team had trouble fueling the car. Even with the gas snafu, Biffle was able to stay ahead of Hill, and away from the chaos ahead of him to finish 13th and race his way into the Daytona 500.

Bring Back Larry Mac

One final note. Larry McReynolds joined Mike Joy and Clint Bowyer in the FS1 booth for this broadcast, and it was awesome.

Larry Mac offers a perfect level of well… levelness, that superbly offsets Bowyer’s zaniness.

In 2022, FOX is going the route of having a guest in the booth to complete the three person ensemble.

At the LA Coliseum and for the Daytona 500, Tony Stewart joins the Joy/Bowyer duo and for the following week in California the honor goes to Matt Kenseth.

And that’s cool. But I think it’d be far more entertaining to have “America’s Crew Chief” back in the main booth week in and week out.

Instead, following the night’s broadcast, Larry Mac will return to Charlotte and prepare to take his place on the panel for Race Hub and in the technical analyst booth for Sunday’s race.

FOX, bring back Larry Mac.

• By: Daniel Vining, Twitter: @danielvining
• Photo: Sean Gardner/Getty Images