DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Joey Logano and William Byron won the qualifying races that set the field for the Daytona 500.
The victory in the first 125-mile race Thursday night at Daytona International Speedway earned Logano a spot in the second row for Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series opener. Byron had already earned the second starting position, alongside pole-sitter Ricky Stenhouse Jr., during pole position qualifying this past Sunday.
The 40-car field for "The Great American Race" is determined first by time trials that set the front row, then the remaining starting order is based on results from the pair of 60-lap qualifying races. There were five drivers racing Thursday night for two slots in the Daytona 500, and they went to Reed Sorenson and Timmy Hill.
Sorenson was aided in the first race when Daniel Suarez was crashed by Ryan Blaney. Hill got some breathing room in the second race after J.J. Yeley crashed.
"A lot of emotions ran through my veins the entire race," said Hill, who will make his Daytona 500 debut. "We were in, we were out, it was nerve-wracking the entire time."
Logano won his qualifying race for the second consecutive year.
"It's the (qualifying) Duels, not the Daytona 500," said Logano, "but momentum is momentum."
AP photo by Chris O'Meara / NASCAR Cup Series drivers Daniel Suarez (96) and Ryan Blaney crash into each other during the first of two qualifying races Thursday night at Daytona International Speedway to set the field for Sunday's season-opening Daytona 500.Logano led 19 laps in the No. 22 Ford for Team Penske, which made a three-team swap during the offseason that paired the 2018 NASCAR champion with Paul Wolfe, former crew chief for teammate Brad Keselowski. The duo got their first experience working together last weekend in an exhibition event in which a block Logano threw on Kyle Busch triggered a crash and harsh criticism from Keselowski.
Logano did not seem bothered by the start of Speedweeks, and both qualifying races were much calmer than Sunday's Busch Clash. That event was marred by multiple crashes, and only six cars were running at the finish.
"We worked out some of the kinks last week," he said. "We're just ready to go to the Daytona 500."
Sorenson raced his way into the event for the first time since 2015.
"Proud we made the race, and this gets the ball rolling for a small team," said Sorenson, whose ride is with Premium Motorsports. "Everything that happens from this point is icing on the cake."
Sorenson said he will have the green light to race hard Sunday, and the 34-year-old driver from the Atlanta area repeatedly praised the Earnhardt Childress Racing engine in his car as the best he has had at Daytona in nearly a decade.
His success came at the expense of Suarez, who has had a rocky ride in NASCAR the past three years. Suarez took another hit midway through his qualifying race when he was sandwiched between a pair of Ford drivers headed to pit road.
Suarez was caught in the middle and hit by Blaney, sending Suarez's Toyota sliding through Daytona's infield grass. The only Mexican full-time driver in any NASCAR national series, Suarez has lost his job with top Cup Series teams the last two years, and the former Xfinity Series champion only signed a deal late last month to drive this season with fledgling Gaunt Brothers Racing.
The team had to try to race its way into the Daytona 500, but Suarez's shot ended with the crash.
"All I want to do is go home. I don't know, man, getting tired of this," Suarez said. "A lot of frustration. I'm brokenhearted."
AP photo by Terry Renna / Alex Bowman (88) and Jimmie Johnson (48) lead the field to start the second of two qualifying races Thursday night at Daytona International Speedway to set the field for Sunday's Daytona 500, the annual NASCAR Cup Series season opener in Daytona Beach, Fla.Cup's new name
The trophy awarded to the champion of NASCAR's top-tier series will be called the Bill France Cup beginning this season.
The renaming is a tribute to Bill France Sr., who founded NASCAR in 1947, as well as his son, Bill France Jr., who elevated the sport of stock car racing to national prominence as chairman from 1972 to 2003.
"As the sport ushers in a new era, it's fitting that my father's name is associated with the highest mark of excellence in our sport," said Jim France, NASCAR chairman and CEO. "My father and brother's vision for NASCAR has been realized, many times over, as millions of fans follow and engage each week with the best racing in the world."
The Bill France Cup was created by Jostens and maintains the size and shape of last year's championship trophy. It features outlines of the 24 NASCAR Cup Series racetracks that make up the 2020 schedule.