STRONG CONTROL FOR BLANEY IN THE DUELS AT DAYTONA

Ryan Blaney came away with a second-place finish in the first of two Duel races at Daytona to secure a fifth-place starting position in Sunday's 68th running of the Daytona 500. Blaney worked the No. 12 Menards/Peak Ford Mustang Dark Horse methodically between lanes before moving up to lead the outside line around the halfway point of the qualifying race. On lap 45, Blaney was called to pit road with the first group of cars for fuel only when a spin at the back of the pack coming on to the pit lane brought out the caution shortly after. After the remainder of teams pitted for fuel under yellow, Blaney lined up to take the ensuing restart from fourth in the running order behind teammate Joey Logano with 11 laps remaining. Blaney was able to push Logano clear to the lead with seven to go, but a multi-car incident on the backstretch reset the field and set up a green-white-checkered finish as the Penske teammates lined up with each other at the front of the outside row. The two battled as the inside line fought to draw even with Logano as Blaney continued to push him at the front, but the caution flag flew for an incident in turn three as the field was coming to the checkered with Blaney scored second in the running order.