NASCAR: 2021 Bluegreen Vacations Duels – Starting lineups

The starting lineups for tonight’s Bluegreen Vacations Duels are set. How will the starting lineup for the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season-opening Daytona 500 turn out?

After Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman took the pole position for the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on Wednesday evening, the starting lineups for tonight’s Bluegreen Vacations Duels, which will determine the full Daytona 500 starting lineup, are set.

The lineups for these two 60-lap races around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) high-banked oval in Daytona Beach, Florida were set based on qualifying speeds from Wednesday evening’s single-car qualifying session to solidify the front row for the Daytona 500.

The drivers in the odd positions landed in the first Duel and the drivers in the even positions landed in the second.

As a result, Bowman is set to start the first race from the pole position, and teammate William Byron, who qualified alongside Bowman on the front row for the Daytona 500, is set to start the second from the pole position.

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There were a few modifications to ensure that each Duel features four of the non-chartered entries, however.

The entry list for Sunday’s 200-lap 63rd running of the “Great American Race” included 44 cars, including 36 chartered entries which were locked into the field an eight non-chartered entries battling for the remaining four open spots in the 40-car field. Two of the drivers of non-chartered cars, JTG Daugherty Racing’s Ryan Preece and Front Row Motorsports’ David Ragan, locked themselves into the field by beating all of the others in Wednesday night’s qualifying sessions.

Preece is set to compete in the first Duel while Ragan is set to compete in the second. The highest finishers, among the non-chartered entries, in the two Duels will also lock into the Daytona 500.

The three drivers of non-chartered cars set to join Preece in the first Duel are Team Penske’s Austin Cindric, Gaunt Brothers Racing’s Ty Dillon and MBM Motorsports’ Timmy Hill.

The three drivers of non-chartered cars set to join Ragan in the second Duel are Kaulig Racing’s Kaz Grala, MBM Motorsports’ Garrett Smithley and Beard Motorsports’ Noah Gragson.

But if Preece and/or Ragan happen to beat the other non-chartered cars, the remaining open spots will go to the drivers who had the highest qualifying speeds — not necessarily the second highest non-chartered finishers in the Duel races.

Among the non-chartered cars, Cindric and Grala finished in third and fourth place on the speed chart on Wednesday evening.

This means that the only way for Dillon, Hill, Smithley and Gragson to get into the Daytona 500 are to beat all of the other non-chartered cars in their respective Duel races.

With all of that in mind, here is the starting lineup for the first of the two Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona International Speedway.

Starting Lineup
1st – Alex Bowman
2nd – Aric Almirola
3rd – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
4th – Christopher Bell
5th – Ryan Preece
6th – Daniel Suarez
7th – Denny Hamlin
8th – Kyle Larson
9th – Matt DiBenedetto
10th – Austin Cindric
11th – Joey Logano
12th – Ryan Newman
13th – Cole Custer
14th – Michael McDowell
15th – Erik Jones
16th – Tyler Reddick
17th – Ty Dillon
18th – Jamie McMurray
19th – Quin Houff
20th – Timmy Hill
21st – Cody Ware
22nd – Josh Bilicki

And here is the starting lineup for the second of the two Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona International Speedway.

Starting Lineup
1st – William Byron
2nd – Bubba Wallace
3rd – Kevin Harvick
4th – Austin Dillon
5th – Chase Elliott
6th – David Ragan
7th – Kurt Busch
8th – Kyle Busch
9th – Ryan Blaney
10th – Kaz Grala
11th – Chase Briscoe
12th – Ross Chastain
13th – Brad Keselowski
14th – Martin Truex Jr.
15th – Chris Buescher
16th – Anthony Alfredo
17th – Corey LaJoie
18th – Garrett Smithley
19th – B.J. McLeod
20th – Joey Gase
21st – Derrike Cope
22nd – Noah Gragson

Fox Sports 1 is set to broadcast the Bluegreen Vacations Duels live from Daytona International Speedway beginning at 7:00 p.m. ET this evening. The Daytona 500 itself is set to be broadcast live on Fox beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, February 14.