Keselowski and
Chris Buescher won the 150-mile qualifying races at Daytona International Speedway on Thursday night to put them side-by-side starting from the second row in NASCAR's sold-out, season-opening spectacular.
He won the race on the 60th and final lap of the second qualifying race for the Daytona 500 when leader
Joey Logano wrecked trying to block Buescher's run. Logano, who was visibly angry after wrecking his Team Penske Ford, said he misjudged Buescher's closing rate.
"Driver screwed up. That's really all there is to it," Logano said. "It's my fault. It stinks because it tore up our car and kind of puts us in a spot as a race team. It's just a dumb mistake."
Keselowski and Buescher will start Sunday behind NASCAR champion
Kyle Larson and his Hendrick Motorsports teammate
Alex Bowman. The Chevrolet drivers locked down the front row in Wednesday night time trials.
Six teams came to Daytona battling for four "open" spots in Sunday's 40-car field. Two spots were filled in time trials -- former Formula One champion
Jacques Villeneuve will make his Daytona 500 debut, as will
Noah Gragson for Beard Motorsports -- and one spot was available in each of the two qualifying races.
Grala earned one of them with a pass for 18th on the final lap of the first race. NY Racing, a team owned by Black entrepreneur John Cohen, raced its way into the Daytona 500 in the second race. The team pulled
Greg Biffle out of semi-retirement and at 52, Biffle will be the oldest driver in the field Sunday when he makes his 15th career Daytona 500 start.
https://www.espn.com/racing/nascar/story/_/id/33314770/brad-keselowski-wins-first-daytona-500-qualifying-race-floyd-mayweather-jr-team-makes-main-event