For over six decades now, the Daytona Duels have served as a force to decide the starting line-up of the Daytona 500. The Duels and the single-car qualifying that precedes it are both unique to the Great American Race from NASCAR. Just a mere number of days away from the 66th edition of the event, here’s an explainer of how the Duel format works.
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The race week will begin through a draw on Tuesday afternoon (February 13) to decide the order in which cars will go out to the grid for their single-car qualifying laps on Wednesday. Each driver will get a single lap around the oval and the two fastest to complete it will have the first row locked for Sunday’s race. The remaining spots will be allotted based on the Duels that will be held on Thursday (February 15).
The Duels will slot the other competing cars into the lineup from 3rd to 40th. Each duel will last 60 laps and 150 miles. The finishing positions of the first duel will determine the inside row order for Sunday’s race and the second duel, the outside. Both charter and open teams will be divided up in equal numbers to race in each.
The first duel for 2024 is set to begin at 7 p.m. ET on Thursday. The second will do so at 8:45 p.m. Fans can follow them on FS1, MRN, or SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Drivers who finish their respective duels in the top 10 spots will be given points that will count towards their regular season tally. The duel winners will get 10 points, the runner-up nine points, and so on till the 10th driver, who will get a single point.
At least 42 entries are expected in this year’s Daytona 500 against a 40-car grid. The duels will decide which among these will go home before the final race.
The criticism against NASCAR for limiting practice sessions in the 2024 schedule
Every NASCAR qualifier and race is usually preceded by practice runs for teams and drivers to test the nature of their cars. However, the Duels for the Daytona 500 do not follow suit. Similar to the 2023 schedule, the practice sessions that earlier used to be a norm have been snubbed this year.
The first thing that cars will do at the track on Wednesday is head out for the single-car qualifying run.
The major reason for the move is to cut down costs for the under-funded teams. However, Brad Keselowski said in December after the 2024 schedule release, “There is a value to having some practice. I don’t think that the cost savings are that significant.” Drivers like Tyler Reddick and Michael McDowell, however, did not see much point in having them.
All in all, the Daytona 500 will have its practice runs after the Duels are done and dusted.
