The Hendrick Motorsports makeover was no thing of beauty during the Can-Am 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 24-year-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.
Waiting for Wallace afterward was No. 43 car owner Richard Petty.
"I've never seen him that excited," Wallace said. "That was a cool thing. Sunglasses were off. That was probably the highlight of the night, better than finishing third."
Meanwhile, Hendrick Motorsports never had a chance despite an offseason shake-up that created high hopes entering SpeedWeeks.
Following last season, Hendrick infused his team with a youth movement following the retirement of Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. in successive years and Kasey Kahne's ouster last fall.
The 20-year-old Byron, 22-year-old Chase Elliot and 24-year-old Bowman joined seven-time champion Cup Series winner Johnson, 42. Bowman, Johnson and Byron held the first three spots in the opening Duel Thursday night, but their showing was less splash than crash.
Bowman, nicknamed 'The Showman," played it safe.
Bowman earned the pole position for Sunday's race in the No. 88 car Dale Earnhardt Jr. made famous and handpicked Bowman to drive after Junior retired last season.
Seeking to avoid any mishaps, Bowman immediately fell to the back of the 20-car pack and never was in the mix, ultimately finishing 14th.
Johnson was not so lucky. Johnson's famed No. 48 car got loose on Lap 8 and a left rear tire blew out, sending him careening into Aric Almirola and totaling both cars.
The wreck continued Johnson's hard luck during the Duels and will force him into a back-up car for the third straight year at the Daytona 500. Johnson actually will be in his third car this week because he wrecked on the final lap during the Advance Auto Parts Clash on Sunday.
"Terrible way to start," Johnson, a two-time 500 winner, said. "We will pull out that next bullet and get ready."
The misfortune for the baby-faced Byron, the 2017 Xfinity Series winner, did not arrive until 38th lap when he lost control of the No. 24 car long driven by Jeff Gordon. Byron will run his first Daytona 500 also in a back-up car.
"It was going pretty well before then," Byron said. "I hate it that we tore up a car, but we will go to work and get ready for the 500."