Ryan Blaney captures opening Can-Am Duel, Hendrick struggles

The Hendrick Motorsports makeover was no thing of beauty during the CanAm Duels at Daytona International Speedway.

In fact, the performance from Hall of Fame owner Rick Hendrick's re-tooled team was downright ugly _ and discouraging just three days prior to the Daytona 500.

Team stalwart Jimmie Johnson totaled his car early Thursday night. Later, rising star William Byron lost control and was out. Alex Bowman finished the race unscathed, but clearly that was the plan for the 24-year-old pole sitter for Sunday's race.

Meanwhile, Ryan Blaney slipped into the lead during the restart of a two-lap overtime following a caution to hold off Joey Logano, who led all but six laps of what became a 62-lap race.

Team Penske ended the opening Duel 150 with an impressive 1-2 finish for the second time this week. Logano, who was second to teammate Brad Keselowski during Sunday's Advance Auto Parts Clash, just wished the order of cars had been different Thursday.

"I thought we all worked really well together," the 2015 Daytona 500 winner said himself and Blaney. "You work with each other when you can, and then you try to win the race at the end."

Blaney got a helping hand from 24year-old rookie Bubba Wallace.

Wallace, the first African-American driver in the Great American Race since Wendell Scott in 1969, helped push Blaney to the finish line and ended with a surprising third-place finish himself.