When the field came up on Brian Keselowski to put him a lap down on lap 38, Kevin Harvick used it to his advantage as he made the pass on Greg Biffle to take the lead. Harvick would then hold the lead through pit stops and on the final restart with three to go to take the victory in the first Budweiser Duel at Daytona International Speedway.
It marks the second straight win for Harvick after winning the Sprint Unlimited on Saturday night.
“I think the way it worked out is that you were free and I was definately free on the bottom,” Harvick said. “That’s why I think the top was the way to go. You had to be careful when you made moves or you’d be put to the back pretty quick.”
A pre-race superstition has also built for Harvick as he has put son Keelan in the seat before the start of both races.
“We’re just having a good time,” Harvick said. “Having Delana and Keelan here is relaxing. Keeps me balanced.”
Greg Biffle would finish second, just like in the Sprint Unlimited, as teams work at continuing to learn how the new Gen 6 car will handle in the draft.
“It seemed like the top lane was fast, and then four of us made the bottom work,” Biffle said. “I don’t know if anybody knows yet.”
Juan Pablo Montoya would come through the field late in the race to finish third, followed by Jimmie Johnson and Regan Smith. Tony Stewart finished fifth, followed by Brad Keselowski, Casey Mears and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Joey Logano finished 11th, followed by Bobby Labonte, David Gilliland, Joe Nemechek, Michael Waltrip and Scott Speed.
“I think we have a really good car,” Speed said. “We were really good in the race, blew the pit stop and then in the back had nobody to work with.”
“The choice was obviously made by a bunch of us to run around in circles and just make laps,” Waltrip said.
Martin Truex Jr. crossed the line in ninth, however was blackflagged the last lap due to no side window.
There’d be one caution during the event with eight to go when Denny Hamlin would get loose, getting into Carl Edwards. Trevor Bayne and Regan Smith were also collected in the wreck.
“We were coming up on the pack and the 99 (Edwards) and 13 (Casey Mears) were trying to keep us back there,” Hamlin said. “He came up a bit, I came down and right when I came down to his right rear, I got sideways and was in trouble. Our car was handling good so goes to show you what happen depending what position you put yourself in aero wise.”
We had a really good car,” Bayne said. “You saw Carl get sideways there and get into us. It’s unfortunate. Look at before – we qualified third and then crashed the car so maybe we’ll do that again.”
“I was driving along minding my own business and thought I’d go up there and get a draft and Denny just got sideways behind me,” Edwards said. “This is the fourth car we’ve wrecked while we were down there. Got to thank my guys for wrecking so hard.”
Daytona 500 pole sitter Danica Patrick ran a pretty conservative race, finishing 17th.
“I learned some,” she said. “I feel like what I really need to do is go down to Harvick’s bus and figure out what he is doing cause he has it going on. the top was the way to go. I was easy on the gas at the beginning , to try and not get freight trained. “
