Erik Jones’ shot at Daytona Duel glory with Richard Petty’s iconic #43 derailed as Austin Cindric emerges victorious after review

On Thursday, February 13, 2025, NASCAR Cup Series driver Austin Cindric won the Duel 2 race at Daytona, derailing Erik Jones' efforts. For the first time in nearly 50 years, the iconic #43 number, driven by seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion won the Duel race at Daytona, but a last-minute caution changed everything.

During the final lap, a multi-car collision occurred in turn four, involving Cody Ware, Anthony Alfredo, and Kyle Larson, bringing out a yellow flag. In the meantime, Erik Jones was seen to have crossed the finish line ahead of Cindric. This marked the first win of the #43 car since 1977 when Richard Petty drove his Dodge to victory.

However, later during the review, NASCAR revealed that Austin Cindric was leading the race and Jones was a few inches behind him when the caution flag was raised. Ultimately, the #2 Ford Mustang Dark Horse driver won the Duel 2 race. NASCAR analyst Bob Pockrass shared the news on his X account:

"Cindric is the winner after review of leader at time of caution."

Austin Cindric already locked his seat into the front row, finishing before pole winner Chase Briscoe, and the Duel 2 win will generate extra points for him.

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Austin Cindric gave his take on the new DVP policy by NASCAR for the 2025 season

In January, the former NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Austin Cindric opened up about his thoughts on NASCAR's changed damaged vehicle policy. The sanctioning body made major changes in the DVP rule ahead of the 2025 season.

The new rule allows the drivers involved in accidents to take their car to the garage and make repairs. The drivers will not be eliminated from the race and can rejoin the race after making the required changes.

During an interview with Frontstretch reporter Phil Allaway, Cindric expressed his views on the new rule and believes it is a "big" difference. He added:

"As far as the DVP, I mean, it's a big change. Teams are probably rushing to deal with it as we speak. I talked quite a while with Brian about that and what it changes for the teams and what it changes for my feedback with the car."(8:40 onwards)

"You get to where you're three laps down or more; it's really difficult to recover anything past cars that wreck out from there on out. So, being able to understand what the best ways we can maximize the new rules I think will be important," he concluded. (9:03 onwards)

Austin Cindric is competing in his fourth season with Team Penske and wrapped up the 2024 season in 11th place with a single win, followed by four top-five and seven top-ten finishes.