by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief

Noah Gragson finished last in Thursday’s Bluegreen Vacations Duel Race 2 at the Daytona International Speedway when his #10 Black Rifle Coffee / Ranger Boats Ford crashed after 47 of 60 laps.

Gragson was one of the most anticipated newcomers to the Cup Series last season, building on years of success with JR Motorsports’ XFINITY Series team. But his venture in the #42 of Legacy Motor Club was fraught with poor performances, an injury at Gateway, and ultimately off-track controversy. Liking a racially-charged meme proved the final straw, cutting his season short after 22 of 36 races. Among his replacements was Carson Hocevar, who springboarded into his Rookie of the Year ride with Spire Motorsports thanks to some strong runs, including an 11th at Bristol.

Gragson now returns to Cup competition as one of two new hires at Stewart-Haas Racing. His ride is the #10, which Aric Almirola raced from 2018 through the end of his full-time Cup racing career last season. Almirola’s departure also saw Smithfield leave as sponsor, so Gragson arrived at the L.A. Coliseum in a grey Ford with SHR backer Rush Truck Centers as sponsor. There, Gragson made the event, but ran near the back and was first to lose a lap en route to a 20th-place finish.

For the Daytona 500, Gragson ran a “throwback” to his dominant XFINITY Series entry at JRM, carrying returning sponsorship from Black Rifle Coffee. With it, he earned the 16th-fastest lap in Wednesday qualifying with a lap of 180.076mph (49.979 seconds), securing him 8th on the grid for Duel Race #2.

Starting in the 21st and final position was Kaz Grala, whose #36 Ruedebusch Ford was the only car to fail to complete a timed lap in qualifying. A bad shift caused damage to the engine, requiring an engine change that incurred him a redundant tail-end penalty. This also put Grala in the unenviable position of running his first laps in Duel Race #2, where he had to beat B.J. McLeod’s unsponsored #78 Chevrolet for the final spot in the Daytona 500 field.

When the green flag dropped, Grala was 1.872 seconds back of the lead. Both he and the occupants of Row 10 – McLeod and the #42 Dollar Tree Toyota of John Hunter Nemechek – lost some ground to the rest of the pack entering Turn 1. All three caught up by the end of the first circuit, Grala now 1.26 seconds back of the lead and locked in a side-by-side battle with Brad Keselowski’s #6 Castrol Edge Ford, just 0.076 second ahead. Grala fell 0.208 second back of Keselowski the next time by, but on Lap 4, both dropped Nemechek to last by 0.101 second. Nemechek now battled side-by-side with Denny Hamlin’s #11 FedEx Toyota, the two 0.090 second apart on Lap 5. Grala, reporting his car was “really free,” took last on Lap 6, and on Lap 7 was tied to the thousandth of a second with Keselowski, Grala still credited with 21st place. This battle continued until Lap 10, when Keselowski jumped to 17th.

On Lap 12, Keselowski retook the 21st spot, and was now joined by his new teammate David Ragan, debuting RFK Racing’s third team, the “Stage 60” entry. The gap from Keselowski to Ragan’s #60 BuildSubmarines.com Ford stood at 0.099 second, then grew to 0.147 by Lap 13. Keselowski, wondering aloud if something was wrong with Ragan’s car, maintained the gap through Lap 17, when both moved from the low lane to the high lane in Turn 1. The two then raced past Grala on Lap 23, locking Grala in a race with Ragan, just 0.081 apart and 1.013 seconds back of the lead. Grala took last on Lap 25, then caught and passed Ragan on Lap 37. The spot again fell to Grala on Lap 40, the gap remaining 1.324 back from the lead and 0.130 behind Ragan.

McLeod took last place for the first time on Lap 41, but he too was in a side-by-side battle with Nemechek, just 0.091 second apart at the line. Two laps later, McLeod made his first pit stop with a group of Chevrolets and Toyotas, including Zane Smith, whose #71 WeatherTech Chevrolet was caught speeding in Section 11. Just after McLeod took last again on Lap 44, Smith took it on Lap 45 after he served his penalty. Smith returned to the track 27.169 seconds back of the leader and 22.634 behind 20th-place Grala, who had himself lost touch with the pack by around three seconds when the caution fell.

Heading through the tri-oval on Lap 47, 7th-place Kyle Busch in the high lane swiped the rear bumper of William Byron’s #24 Axalta Chevrolet with the nose of his #8 Zone Chevrolet, causing Byron’s car to cut left – directly into the door of Ryan Blaney’s #12 Menards / PEAK Ford. Both Byron and Blaney then turned right, sending Blaney hard into the outside wall, blocking Busch’s path, and triggering an 11-car pileup exiting the tri-oval. Among those involved was Gragson, who at first appeared to have minor damage to the right-front fender. Regardless, Gragson climbed from the car under the red flag.

The lowest-classified driver involved first appeared to be Justin Haley, whose TreeTop Apple Juice / Jacob Companies Ford suffered minor damage, but made it to pit road. After the red flag was withdrawn, both Haley and McLeod, whose #78 slid sideways into a stopped Blaney, managed to complete repairs and return to the track for the final laps. The 21st spot then fell to Gragson on Lap 48, by which point the #10 was towed behind the wall, out of the race. The finish placed Gragson 38th on the grid for Sunday’s Daytona 500 – alongside Race #1 last-place finisher Daniel Hemric.

Finishing 20th was Riley Herbst, who took the lead under green in his #15 Monster Energy Ford, but was among those involved in the crash along with 19th-place Busch and 18th-place Blaney. Taking 17th was Josh Berry, whose #4 SunnyD Ford lost power under caution and was pushed to pit road, then the garage with a busted fuel pump.

Like J.J. Yeley in Race #1, B.J. McLeod came within one slow car in the final corners of securing a spot in the 500 field. Also stuck in the third lane, McLeod was held up by A.J. Allmendinger’s #16 Celsius Chevrolet, which trailed a three-car draft, allowing Grala’s struggling #36 to move past in the final seconds. Grala took 12th with McLeod barely a carlength behind in 14th.

LASTCAR STATISTICS

*This marked the first last-place finish for the #10 in the Duels since February 15, 2018, when Aric Almirola’s #10 Smithfield Ford crashed after 8 laps in Race 1.

*This was Gragson’s second last-place finish in the Duels. In Race 1 of the 2022 Duels, his #62 Beard Oil / South Point Chevrolet finished under power, three laps down.

THE BOTTOM FIVE

21) #10-Aric Almirola / 47 laps / crash

20) #15-Riley Herbst / 47 laps / crash / led 7 laps

19) #8-Kyle Busch / 47 laps / crash

18) #12-Ryan Blaney / 47 laps / crash / led 1 lap

17) #4-Josh Berry / 48 laps / fuel pump