First off:
The Busch Clash.
You can watch it for yourself, but the quick version of how Tuesday night ended is that Ryan Blaney had the race if he executed perfectly, but he didn’t execute perfectly (perfection is hard to do!). Chase Elliott caught up to him, Blaney’s block was unsuccessful and then the two tangled, opening the door for Kyle Busch. Classic.
No beef—Blaney and Elliott are buddies—and no impact on the standings, since it was an exhibition, but nice way to open up the year.
Then, last night, Hendrick Motorsports swept the front row, which translates to: Hendrick Motorsports had the two fastest qualifiers, who will now start alongside one another at the front of the field on Sunday. Alex Bowman won the pole. William Byron is the other driver up front.
Both Bowman and Byron will still race tonight in the Duels, in which the rest of the field will be settled. There are 44 drivers in action and the field’s only 40 cars big, so four of the non-chartered cars are going to get bumped, which raises the stakes.
In the first duel, which should start a little after 7:15 PM EST on FS1, Bowman and Aric Almirola will lead the pack at the green flag. Other notables in this act: Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Matt DiBenedetto, Joey Logano, Ryan Newman, Cole Custer, Erik Jones, Tyler Reddick, Ty Dillon, Jamie McMurray.
In the second duel, which should start around 8:45 PM EST, Byron and Bubba Wallace will take the race to green. Kevin Harvick, Austin Dillon, Elliott, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Blaney, Chase Briscoe, Brad Keselowski, Martin Truex Jr., and Chris Buescher are all also in this heat.
It was noteworthy that Wallace qualified so well, in that it was the first time he’s been behind the wheel of the 23 in any sort of formally competitive setting. Bodes well for his chances of being a contender tonight, Sunday, and throughout the year.
Vroom vroom.
