Daytona 500 duels: Logano and Elliott win, Mears and McLeod race in

I may have hoped for an instant vibe shift in NASCAR after the trial and the end of the Playoffs, but the energy at Daytona is still rather weird. Nothing horrible happened in the Duels (unless you’re Corey LaJoie or Anthony Alfredo), but the people who raced in did so under pretty weird conditions.

Anthony Alfredo pulled it off in duel 2 but was disqualified in tech, handing his starting spot to B.J. McLeod, which we love because a significant prize money take for him could lead to more Katherine Legge drives during the season. As for Casey Mears, he was very much out until he was in, thanks to an incident that seemed dumb to me at first, but the more times I watch it, the more impressive I find Mears’ maneuvers: