Wednesday night's single-car qualifying session for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway is only designed to solidify the front row for the 67th running of the "Great American Race".
The two drivers set to start Sunday afternoon's 200-lap race around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) high-banked Daytona Beach, Florida oval on the front row are polesitter Chase Briscoe of Joe Gibbs Racing and Team Penske's Austin Cindric.
But the Daytona 500 starting lineup was not solidified in Wednesday night's session. Instead, the only full lineups set were those for Thursday night's two 60-lap races of the newly renamed Duel at Daytona, with each of the two Daytona 500 front row starters securing the pole position for one of the two races.
Here are the full Duel starting lineups.
Duel 1 starting lineup
1st - Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
2nd - Ryan Preece, No. 60 RFK Racing Ford
3rd - Josh Berry, No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford
4th - Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
5th - Ty Dillon, No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet
6th - Zane Smith, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford
7th - Kyle Busch, No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
8th - Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
9th - Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
10th - A.J. Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet
11th - William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
12th - Martin Truex Jr., No. 56 Tricon Garage Toyota*
13th - Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
14th - Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota
15th - Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota
16th - Justin Haley, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
17th - Justin Allgaier, No. 40 JR Motorsports Chevrolet*
18th - Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
19th - Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Team Chevrolet
20th - Helio Castroneves, No. 91 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet*
21st - Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet
22nd - Chandler Smith, No. 66 Garage 66 Ford*
23rd - J.J. Yeley, No. 44 NY Racing Team Chevrolet*
Duel 2 starting lineup
1st - Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford
2nd - Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford
3rd - Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
4th - Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
5th - Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
6th - Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
7th - Todd Gilliland, No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford
8th - Brad Keselowski, No. 6 RFK Racing Ford
9th - Chris Buescher, No. 17 RFK Racing Ford
10th - Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford
11th - Noah Gragson, No. 4 Front Row Motorsports Ford
12th - Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
13th - Riley Herbst, No. 35 23XI Racing Toyota
14th - Jimmie Johnson, No. 84 Legacy Motor Club Toyota*
15th - Shane van Gisbergen, No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
16th - Cole Custer, No. 41 Haas Factory Team Ford
17th - Corey LaJoie, No. 01 Rick Ware Racing Ford*
18th - Erik Jones, No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota
19th - John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Toyota
20th - Anthony Alfredo, No. 62 Beard Motorsports Chevrolet*
21st - B.J. McLeod, No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet*
22nd - Cody Ware, No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Ford
*=non-chartered (open) car
Among non-chartered (open) entries, Tricon Garage's Martin Truex Jr. and Legacy Motor Club's Jimmie Johnson locked in on speed on Wednesday night.
Should they top their respective Duel races (again, among open cars), then they would have actually raced their way in, rather than timed in on speed, and the two spots on speed would go to JR Motorsports' Justin Allgaier and Rick Ware Racing's Corey LaJoie.
Allgaier and LaJoie can, of course, still race their way in by being the top finishers (among open cars) in their respective Duel heats.
However, Trackhouse Racing's Helio Castroneves, Beard Motorsports' Anthony Alfredo, Garage 66's Chandler Smith, Live Fast Motorsports' B.J. McLeod, and NY Racing Team's J.J. Yeley must top their respective Duel races to race their way in.
The only exception is Castroneves, who would be in as a fifth open entry if he fails to qualify, thus expanding the field to 41 cars, since he was granted a "world-class driver" provisional. Of course, he can still race his way in as well, in which case the field would remain at 40 cars.
Tune in to Fox Sports 1 at 7:00 p.m. ET on Thursday, February 13 for the live broadcast of the Duel at Daytona from Daytona International Speedway, and tune in to Fox at 2:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, February 16 for the live broadcast of the "Great American Race" itself. Begin a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss any of the action!