DUELS AT DAYTONA: Heartbreak for Ty Dillon, a Daytona 500 start for Austin Cindric

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DAYTONA BEACH — In Thursday night’s opening Duel, Ty Dillon was looking like he’d race his way into the Daytona 500. Cruelly, he fell one position short, finishing sixth, roughly the length of a bumper behind fifth-place Ryan Preece.

To help with the explanation, let’s start with the rule book.

© John David Mercer, USA TODAY Sports Ty Dillon

With 36 cars locked into every NASCAR race through its charter system, and with 44 teams entered for 40 starting positions at Daytona, eight drivers are battling for four available spots.

Rules call for the two fastest non-charter teams on pole day to get starts on Sunday, with the highest finishing drivers on Thursday getting the other two, unless one of those highest finishers was also one of the two fastest non-charter qualifiers. Four non-charter drivers were lined up for each Duel.

© Nigel Cook/News-Journal Aric Almirola races to win Duel 1 at Daytona International Speedway on Thursday night, Feb. 11, 2021. The Duel at Daytona races help set the starting field for the Daytona 500.

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Preece was already locked into the 500 based on having one of the two fastest pole-qualifying laps among the non-chartered teams. With him finishing just ahead of Dillon Thursday, the next available 500 berth went to Austin Cindric, since he was third fastest on pole day, and not hard-luck Dillon.

© Photo provided Austin Cindric

Cindric, who finished 16th in Thursday’s first Duel, is in the No. 33 Ford owned by Roger Penske, who added the Daytona 500 to Cindric’s full-time Xfinity Series schedule for 2021. Next season, he’ll replace Matt DiBenedetto in the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford, which has a technical alliance with Penske.

Cindric isn’t just starting his first Daytona 500, but his first-ever Cup Series race after three full-time years in the Xfinity Series, including a six-win championship season in 2020. 

Perhaps it was a lack of Cup Series experience that led to a pit-road speeding penalty Thursday night that shoved him to the back of the pack.

“I never felt so small in my life,” he said of the misstep. “I gained a lot of confidence tonight. At the same time, you can’t mess up the easy stuff.”

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: DUELS AT DAYTONA: Heartbreak for Ty Dillon, a Daytona 500 start for Austin Cindric