Photo finish decides Duel 2 at Daytona, Corey LaJoie races into Daytona 500

A surprised Cindric was informed of the decision on pit road minutes after the race ended. 

Cindric — who qualified second for the Daytona 500 on Wednesday — will look to earn his second Daytona 500 win on Sunday. 

A dejected Jones was forced to drive back to pit road after initially going to celebrate at the start-finish line. 

"It's a bummer," Jones told Fox Sports. "It's the rule, if the yellow's out the race is over. It's unfortunate. It was fun contending for the win. I did everything I could, it just didn't work out. Hopefully we can be in that same spot on Sunday."

"Joey (Logano) and I were sitting ducks with the middle lane fading there," Cindric told Fox Sports. "Super proud of my team. It's cool. I feel bad for Erik that he had to drive all the way over there."

Jones, Chris Buescher, Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano rounded out the top-five, with Corey LaJoie, Todd Gilliland, Ryan Blaney, John Hunter Nemechek and Christopher Bell rounding out the top-10. 

Other notable finishers include Kyle Larson in 11th, Anthony Alfredo in 13th, BJ McLeod in 17th, Jimmie Johnson in 19th and Alex Bowman in 22nd.

As the highest-finishing open car, LaJoie earned the final spot in Sunday's Daytona 500. Fellow open driver Anthony Alfredo was involved in the last-lap crash and will not race in the Daytona 500. BJ McLeod also missed the Daytona 500 with a 17th-place finish. 

"You forget how special this race is," LaJoie told Fox Sports. "When you're racing full-time, it's the first (race) of 36. But when it's the one you think about for months, it means that much more."

Two more Cup Series practice sessions will precede Sunday's Daytona 500. The 67th "Great American Race" will go green shortly after 2:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, with coverage on Fox, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.