DYER STRIKES LATE, OUTDUELS THE DRAFT TO WIN DAYTONA 225

Daytona International Speedway opened the season the only way it knows how—tight packs, shifting alliances, and just enough chaos to keep everyone honest. When the Daytona 225 finally sorted itself out, Benjamin Dyer was the one driver who managed to stay clean, stay patient, and strike at exactly the right moment.

Drafting ruled the night, as expected, with the field locked together in long trains where one mistake could sweep up half the grid. The big track rewarded timing over outright speed, and with five cautions sprinkled in, the rhythm never quite settled. It was a race where drivers weren’t just racing the track—they were racing each other’s decisions.

Dyer, in the Chevrolet Silverado, never looked desperate, and that might’ve been the difference. Starting third, he hovered near the front without forcing the issue, letting others take turns controlling the pace. When the late-race shuffling began, he was in position—and more importantly, in control of himself.

Much of the early story belonged to Roy Schwalbach, who came out swinging from the pole. He led 43 laps and dictated the tempo through Stage 1, holding off challenges from Aiden Coleman and Morgan Anadell as the draft ebbed and flowed. But as the race tightened up late, that early dominance didn’t translate into track position when it mattered most.

Anadell and Coleman were part of nearly every meaningful move near the front, trading pushes and momentum as the race evolved. They weren’t alone either—Sam Luebbers worked his way into the mix and even grabbed the Stage 2 win, while Sean McMillan flashed raw speed early, setting the fastest lap before getting caught in the churn of mid-pack racing.

Behind them, the race took on a different tone. Chad Abernathey and Luebbers both found themselves bouncing between contention and trouble, each piling up 16 incident points in the thick of the draft. Meanwhile, Brandon Selby had the roughest go of anyone, collecting 20 incidents as the pack repeatedly tightened around him.

“The #96 Chevrolet Silverado was quick, but we just couldn’t stay outta the mess,” Selby said. “Every time we’d get a run goin’, somebody’d check up or we’d get clipped. Felt like we were racin’ the whole field at once.”

Isaac Morales wasn’t far behind in that category, logging 18 incident points in a race that never quite gave him a chance to settle in. “The #22 Ford F150 had some speed in it, just couldn’t get a clean lane,” Morales said. “Kept gettin’ stacked up in the middle and that’s a bad place to be here.”

One of the more entertaining threads of the night came between Benjamin Myrick and Chad Abernathey, who seemed to find each other at the worst possible times. Twice they were involved in the same incidents, and neither driver looked particularly thrilled about it. “I don’t know what Chad had goin’ on, but we kept endin’ up in the same zip code,” Myrick joked afterward. “At some point I figured we oughta just draft together and get it over with.”

While others were trading paint, Myrick quietly put together one of the best drives in the field, climbing from 12th to fourth by staying just outside the chaos until it counted. That same approach nearly worked for David McSorley as well—the previous winner at Daytona—who spent much of the night lurking in the second group before bringing it home eighth, unable to quite recreate last season’s late-race magic.

The defining moment came in the final laps, when the lead changed hands in rapid succession and the pack tightened one last time. With lanes forming and collapsing in seconds, Dyer found the right push at the right time, clearing the field just before the final caution froze the running order.

Behind him, Anadell secured second with another strong, controlled performance, while Coleman followed in third after staying in contention all night. Schwalbach’s early dominance faded to sixth, a reminder that leading early at Daytona doesn’t always mean finishing there.

When the points were tallied, Dyer walked away with the early championship lead, holding a 15-point edge over Anadell. It’s only Week 1, but the tone has been set—execution beats aggression, and patience still wins races.

Next up is the Flounder Pounder 150 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, where the draft disappears and tire wear takes over. After the unpredictable chaos of Daytona, drivers will trade pack survival for precision—but if this opener proved anything, it’s that nothing in this league comes easy.