DAYTONA BEACH, Fla: For much of Thursday night’s second Bluegreen Vacation Duel No. 2 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway, it appeared B.J. McLeod had a starting spot in Sunday’s DAYTONA 500 in the bag.
McLeod, starting at the rear of the field in the 60-lap shootout, steadily moved through the field and found himself inside the top 10 and climbed to a race-high third place before McLeod’s night took a series of unfortunate turns.
Prior to green flag pit stops McLeod got shuffled out of the lead lap pack and dropped to last behind his challenger, Kaz Grala.
Luckily for McLeod, his Hendrick Motorsports pit crew kept him in the hunt for the coveted final position for the Great American Race.
On his march back towards the front, McLeod found himself caught up in a multi-car accident on Lap 48, which damaged his sponsorless No. 78 Chevrolet SS.
Thankfully, the damage proved to be cosmetic and after a quick trip to pit road for service, the B.J. McLeod Motorsports driver returned to competition on the lead lap and still in the hunt.
Restarting near the back of the pack, McLeod was able to slowly inch forward, and while Grala had maintained a presence inside the top five with five laps remaining in the Duel, his group lost momentum, which allowed him to catch the No. 36 Front Row Motorsports Ford Mustang with McLeod in position for the starting spot on the white flag lap.
Grala, however, with drafting help overtook McLeod’s No. 78 Chevrolet on the backstretch. The group caught a bundle of traffic ahead with McLeod opting to go high and Grala on the bottom.
The momentum stalled briefly on the top lane with Grala inching ahead by 0.067 seconds to take the last spot available in the field and sending McLeod home from Sunday’s race alongside NY Racing’s J.J. Yeley.
McLeod, however, wasn’t disappointed with the result. The longtime NASCAR Xfinity Series owner was upbeat about his team’s performance and hoped it showed the garage that his team – which competes both in the Cup and Xfinity Series with just 10 people is capable of.
“Yes, I had a good car, I had a great car for what I had to work with,” offered McLeod after the race. “It was not a car capable of running in the top-10 in the 500 on Sunday. That’s why I’m not let down. We learned tonight what we need to be better. My car has way too much drag in it. There’s things I know I can work on now that will make me better the next time we come back.
“That means more to me than getting out there and trying to get a 15th-place finish in my sixth (DAYTONA) 500. It doesn’t affect me one little bit.”
McLeod’s weekend at the “World Center of Racing” isn’t over.
He is one of 44 cars vying for a starting position in Saturday afternoon’s United Rentals 300 NASCAR Xfinity Series race.
With points to fall back on in the event of inclement weather or an issue in qualifying, McLeod is poised to make his first Xfinity Series start since Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway last September.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01 or email at [email protected].
