Projected starting lineup for 2021 Daytona 500 - NASCAR

Heading into Thursday’s Bluegreen Vacations Duel races at Daytona International Speedway, we knew the front row for Sunday’s Daytona 500 main event after single-car qualifying Wednesday.

Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman is on the Busch Pole, his fourth consecutive front-row start in The Great American Race and first driving the No. 48 Chevrolet. His teammate, William Byron, will officially be credited with second-place starting position when the green flag drops Sunday (2:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), although he may need to drop to the back if his team uses a backup car after a Thursday night wreck.

We also knew Thursday’s twin 60-lap races would set the remainder of the running order, as well as the final two spots in the field.

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As a refresher, Duel 1 results set the inside row of the Daytona 500 starting lineup. Duel 2 set the outside row. The 36 Charter teams are guaranteed a spot in the Daytona 500 field, and eight Open, non-Charter teams competed for the final four spots via a mix of Duel results and single-car qualifying speeds from earlier in the week.

After the Bluegreen Vacations Duel races, here is the projected Daytona 500 starting lineup. Again, this is a NASCAR.com projection — the official lineup will be released later.

* indicates one of the four open teams that made the field.

Starting	Driver	Team
1.	Alex Bowman	No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports
2.	William Byron	No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports
3.	Aric Almirola	No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing
4.	Austin Dillon	No. 3 Richard Childress Racing
5.	Christopher Bell	No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing
6.	Bubba Wallace	No. 23 23XI Racing
7.	Ryan Newman	No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing
8.	Kevin Harvick	No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing
9.	Joey Logano	No. 22 Team Penske
10.	Kyle Busch	No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing
11.	Ryan Preece*	No. 37 JTG Daugherty Racing*
12.	Chase Elliott	No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports
13	Kyle Larson	No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports
14.	Ryan Blaney	No. 12 Team Penske
15.	Daniel Suarez	No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Team
16.	Corey LaJoie	No. 7 Spire Motorsports
17.	Michael McDowell	No. 34 Front Row Motorsports
18.	David Ragan*	No. 36 Front Row Motorsports*
19.	Jamie McMurray	No. 77 Spire Motorsports
20.	Kurt Busch	No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing
21.	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing
22.	Chris Buescher	No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing
23.	Matt DiBenedetto	No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing
24.	Brad Keselowski	No. 2 Team Penske
25.	Denny Hamlin	No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing
26.	Martin Truex Jr.	No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing
27.	Cole Custer	No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing
28.	Joey Gase	No. 53 Rick Ware Racing
29.	Tyler Reddick	No. 8 Richard Childress Racing
30.	Chase Briscoe	No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing
31.	Erik Jones	No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports
32.	Derrike Cope	No. 15 Rick Ware Racing
33.	Quin Houff	No. 00 StarCom Racing
34.	Ross Chastain	No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing
35.	Cody Ware	No. 51 Rick Ware Racing
36.	Anthony Alfredo	No. 38 Front Row Motorsports
37.	Josh Bilicki	No. 52 Rick Ware Racing
38.	BJ McLeod	No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports
39.	Austin Cindric*	No. 33 Team Penske
40.	Kaz Grala*	No. 16 Kaulig Racing