Bubba Wallace holds off William Byron, wins first Duel at Daytona race

Last year it was his teammate Tyler Reddick and tonight it was Bubba Wallace who won the first Duel at Daytona race. Winning a Duel race is a bucket list item for some NASCAR drivers, and Wallace is happy to have won one.

Bubba Wallace led the most laps in his Duel race. Throughout the entire 60-lap Duel, Wallace had tons of help from his teammate Tyler Reddick. They were both solid, avoided the wrecks, and got the job done.

Wallace finishes over William Byron, Ty Dillon, Ross Chastain, and Reddick to round out the top-five. Is the 23 going to find his way to Victory Lane for the Daytona 500 this Sunday?

Bubba Wallace wins Duel No. 1 at Daytona! pic.twitter.com/dVYLy7QyGo

— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) February 14, 2025

The win tonight puts Bubba Wallace on the second row of this Sunday’s Daytona 500. He will also have a really good pit stall selection. Everything is going well for the new father in 2025 so far. Coming off that P5 finish in the Clash, Wallace is ready to get back to his specialty – superspeedway racing.

In the race, these cars looked a little disjointed. No one was really getting clean pushes. We saw a lot of cars wiggle and shake. There were also a few incidents on track with cars getting into the wall.

Helio Castroneves is going to have to use his Open Exemption Provisional. He was in a wreck that included Chandler Smith and Justin Haley. Smith, in the Garage 66 entry originally meant for Mike Wallace, had mirror and vision issues and came down on Haley while trying to block.

So, we have had our share of drama already in the first Duel race at Daytona tonight. There is another one coming and more action as well.

Bubba Wallace wins, Justin Allgaier locks into Daytona 500 with JR Motorsports

In the last two laps of the first Duel at Daytona tonight, Justin Allgaier made the outside lane work and is locked into the NASCAR Daytona 500. Dale Earnhardt Jr. qualifies for his first-ever Daytona 500 as a team owner and is ready to go racing on Sunday.

Bubba Wallace ended up winning the race. Justin Allgaier finshed P9. He had to beat JJ Yeley, Chandler Smith, and Helio Castroneves to advance. He was able to accomplish that and was the top open car in the Duel race.

A massive achievement for JR Motorsports and Dale Earnhardt Jr. They had the right man for the job behind the wheel in Allgaier.

Bubba Wallace and Justin Allgaier both did what they came out to do. Each had a different goal but achieved them nonetheless.