DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Feb. 17, 2013) — Based on Sunday’s Pole Day results at Daytona International Speedway, Kurt Busch will start on the inside of Row 9 for Thursday’s first Budweiser Duel qualifying race.
The twin qualifying races, which will consist of 23 drivers in the first 150-miler and 22 in the second, will set the field for positions 3-43 for Sunday’s season-opening Daytona 500. The front row for the Daytona 500 was locked in during Pole Day with Danica Patrick capturing the pole and Jeff Gordon claiming the outside pole.
Busch, driving the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet SS, was 33rd fastest in Pole Day, covering Daytona’s 2.5-mile oval in 46.474 seconds at 193.657 miles per hour.
“We’ve had our share of bad breaks this weekend, but the good news is that we have a fast car in race trim,” said Busch. “We expected more in today’s qualifying run, but we’re excited about the way our Furniture Row Chevrolet SS has performed in the draft. We’ve been fast, but haven’t been able to really show our hand due to being collected in a pair of accidents (in Friday’s practice and Saturday night’s Sprint Unlimited race). We need our luck to change.”
Busch added, “We aren’t losing sight of our main goal and that’s the Daytona 500, it’s the biggest race of the year and that will be our only focus when we return to the track on Wednesday. What happened this weekend is history.”
Thursday’s Budweiser Duel races will be televised on SPEED with the first race beginning at 2 p.m. ET.
