Budweiser Duels Set the Field for the Daytona 500

Duel #1 

The first Budweiser Duel was a fairly uneventful race. Austin Dillon took the lead at the start and most drivers lined up behind him in more of a “freight train” race. Kevin Harvick and A.J. Allmendinger were on the move with Allmendinger being fairly aggressive in his racecar. Reed Sorenson ended his race after a flat tire caused by issues with a brake caliper that sent him to the garage by halfway.

Matt Kenseth took the lead from Dillon and pretty much never looked back. Dale Earnhardt Jr. gambled on not taking any tires on his pit stop, even though he slid pretty good getting into his pits and flat spotted his tires, hanging on to see if the tires would hold out until the end of the race. The race itself was caution free, with an exciting finish between Matt Kenseth, Kevin Harvick, and Kasey Kahne, with Matt Kenseth coming out the victor of the first duel.

It was announced after the race that Kevin Harvick’s car had failed post race inspection which will send him to the rear of the field for the Daytona 500.

Duel #2

Brad Keselowski took off in the lead and for a while it looked like he was going to be the driver to beat. For the most part the drivers once again were pretty much single file. Kurt Busch had a good run along Landon Cassill and Casey Mears, however Mears would run out of gas with two laps to go. Pit stops took place with 24 laps to go out of the 60 lap race. This would put the end to Brad Keselowski’s good run as he was caught leaving pit road too fast and had to make a drive through penalty.

When pit stops were done, Denny Hamlin emerged as the new leader and took control of the race. As the final laps neared the drivers started to jockey for position and it was only a matter of time before something happened. On the last lap Jimmie Johnson was in the outside lane and ran out of gas triggering a seven car pile-up which would send Clint Bowyer upside down but luckily landing on all four tires instead of flipping more. Other cars involved were Michael Waltrip who took a pretty hard hit into the inside wall, Jamie McMurray, Carl Edwards, David Ragan, and Martin Truex Jr. After the smoke cleared Denny Hamlin was declared the winner.

In closing, seven out of the eight rookies did make it into the Daytona 500. Failing to make the field was Eric McClure, Ryan Truex, Joe Nemechek, Morgan Shepherd, and Michael McDowell. Several cars from the second duel will more than likely need to go to their back up cars sending them to the rear of the field for the Daytona 500 Sunday.

Official Starting Lineup for the Daytona 500 per nascar.com

Drivers marked with “#” signifies a rookie; a “(i)” signifies a driver is not eligible to earn points

Failed to qualify: No. 35 Eric McClure, No. 83 Ryan Truex, No. 87 Joe Nemechek, No. 93 Morgan Shepherd, No. 95 Michael McDowell

Withdrew: No. 77 Dave Blaney