Logano Wins Duel 1; Mears Advances to Daytona 500 As LaJoie Crashes
DAYTONA BEACH, Florida -- Well, that was unexpected. Joey Logano took the win in Thursday night's America 250 Duel No. 1 at Daytona, bringing his career total to four wins in the Duels. Logano was leading the race when the caution flag froze the field on the final lap, and he was scored as the winner ahead of his Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney.
After claiming the win, Logano praised Blaney, and the entire Team Penske organization for working together so well.
"Just a lot of teamwork all the way through. I think about the 22 team in particular. Nick Hensley, our gas man, did a fantastic job getting us in position out of pit road. Coleman Pressley up on the roof giving us great information. My teammate Ryan Blaney being committed and working together. It's nice when everything works out the way it's supposed to," Logano said.
With the win, Logano will collect 10 championship points for his efforts, and he'll now start Sunday's Daytona 500 from the third starting spot. Logano, who won the 2015 edition of the Daytona 500, feels like he has a really good car for the Daytona 500.
"Yeah, I mean, there's definitely some things I want to work on, no doubt. It's always like that. I do think we have a strong racecar. It's a fast race car, obviously. We proved that tonight," Logano said. "That's a good piece. We have to have speed. We'll work on some handling pieces, but I feel like we're pretty close."
While Logano was busy winning, the real story was what unfolded behind the No. 22 Team Penske Ford Mustang Dark Horse.
Casey Mears, who was already a long shot to make the Daytona 500 field in the No. 66 Garage 66 Ford Mustang Dark Horse, seemed like his chances of making the Great American Race were completely dead as he lost a lap in an incident coming to pit road mid-race.
Mears says he locked the rear brakes up on his path to pit road, which caused the spin, but as he found himself stuck in the infield grass, he only had one thing on his mind.
"The biggest thing I was worried about was going two [laps] down, right? Because in my mind, I always feel like there's a good possibility of a late-race caution at this track, and I knew that if we were one down, we would still have some kind of chance," Mears said after the race.
Incredibly, Mears was able to get his lap back by way of the free pass when a crash, involving Bubba Wallace, William Byron, Chris Buescher, and others, unfolded on the backstretch with four laps remaining in the event.
Trouble in Duel No. 1! Bubba Wallace takes the lead ... then chaos. pic.twitter.com/ETpQxwiJsA
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) February 13, 2026
That crash also involved Chandler Smith, one of Mears' three competitors for the Daytona 500 starting spot.
While he was back on the lead lap, Mears was still every bit as much of an underdog heading into an overtime green-white-checkered finish to Duel 1, as Corey LaJoie had run near the front the entire race, and looked like a safe bet to advance to the Daytona 500 in the No. 99 RFK Racing Ford.
However, calamity ensued on the final lap of the Duel, and LaJoie went hard into the outside wall in Turn 3. Mears was able to steer clear of the carnage and was able to cross the finish line in the eighth position.
Casey Mears! What an effort! pic.twitter.com/MqwdrH3cjs
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) February 13, 2026
That was enough to move Mears into the Daytona 500 starting lineup as he was the highest-finishing non-locked-in car in the race. As the carnage broke out in front of him, Mears was in disbelief.
"For sure, when we were sitting in the grass, that wasn't pretty, but I just can't believe it," Mears said in his post-race press conference. "I mean, after all of that to come back and be sitting in a position to go race in the Daytona 500 on Sunday, I mean, pretty much the whole race I was thinking that was out of our grasp. There was a lot of prayer said, that's for sure."
While Mears experienced the elation of making it into the Daytona 500 field, LaJoie experienced the ultimate heartbreak with the last-lap crash that dashed what had been nearly a flawless race.
"It looked good for 149.5 miles. I thought we had controlled the race as good as you can control it," LaJoie said. "The bottom lane got soft there, and the push came right at the same time I picked [Brad Keselowski] up, and it turned me right. It sucks, man, because these guys worked incredibly hard on this car. I'm honestly happy for Casey Mears and Carl Long, it's cool those guys got in, but devastated man."
LaJoie would be credited with a 19th-place finish in the 23-car field after the last-lap crash, while Smith would limp to the finish with a 16th-place result.
America 250 Duel 1 at Daytona Race Results
1. 22-Joey Logano
2. 12-Ryan Blaney
3. 3-Austin Dillon
4. 6-Brad Keselowski
5. 42-John Hunter Nemechek
6. 97-Shane van Gisbergen
7. 7-Daniel Suarez
8. 66-Casey Mears*
9. 60-Ryan Preece
10. 48-Alex Bowman
11. 41-Cole Custer
12. 4-Noah Gragson
13. 23-Bubba Wallace
14. 67-Corey Heim
15. 84-Jimmie Johnson
16. 36-Chandler Smith*
17. 51-Cody Ware
18. 8-Kyle Busch
19. 99-Corey LaJoie*
20. 16-AJ Allmendinger
21. 1-Ross Chastain
22. 24-William Byron
23. 17-Chris Buescher
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Toby Christie is the Editor-in-Chief of Racing America. He has 15 years of experience as a motorsports journalist and has been with Racing America since 2023.
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