The first Daytona Duel of the 2021 Daytona 500 commences with many in need of a Daytona 500 birth. Mark Heron, David Courtney, Scott Deutsch, Kevin Corbat, Glenn Kaufmann, Steven Spears, Philip Parker, Jaxon Vaccher, Bink Lucas, and David Baldinger need to finish in the top-5 of the non-provisional drivers to make the show.

Daytona Duel #1 Race Results

Steven Spears, Glenn Kaufmann, Mark Heron, Bink Lucas and Scott Deutsch Advance!

Tim McDonnell, Craig Lee, Rick Jackson, Markell Murphy, Dave Butterworth, William Perry, Matt Raboin, Kevin Corbat, David Courtney, David Baldinger and Dalton Lucas were all up front during the first 10 laps of the event. The three-wide action was severe, and there was a consensus that the race would stay this way for the entirety of the 60-lap race.

John Battista took the lead on lap 11 with draft help from Tim McDonnell. He would stay there until the lap 41 green flag pit stop, car-lenths ahead of the field for the entire run. Coming into the pits, David Courtney slammed the rear-end of Mark Murphy's #47 machine. Both drivers would finish outside of the top-20, and Courtney would not make the show. Kevin Corbat was the first casualty of the event, exploding a tire entering his pit stall and destroying the engine compartment. 

Battista got freight-trained after coming out of the pits 2-seconds ahead of the front pack. There were only nine cars left, with Steven Spears as the only go-or-go-homer to keep up pace. Craig Lee and Quantum Racing teamed up to stay up front, as nobody worked with the #39.

On the final lap, Matthew Dominique got a heavy push from Steven Spears and flew by Johnathan Skrabacz for the victory! Spears, Glenn Kaufmann, Mark Heron, Bink Lucas and Scott Deutsch all finished well enough to advance to the big show! Congrats to them and Matthew for his Daytona 500 pole-sitting performance!

Daytona Duel #1 Video