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

Denny Hamlin would hold off Kurt Busch and Jeff Gordon to win the second Budweiser Duel as a wreck happened behind them after Johnson ran out of fuel.

Lap 1 Truex leads ahead of Jeff Gordon

Lap 2 Truex and Keselowski side-by-side for the lead down the backstretch.

Lap 3 Keselowski to the lead ahead of Truex

Lap 5 Keselowski leads as Hamlin and Gordon are side-by-side for second. Keselowski pulls ahead with Gordon and Edwards in toe.

Lap 8 Keselowski leads Edwards Gordon Scott

Lap 13 Keselowski leads Edwards Gordon Scott KuBusch Cassill Mears Regan Larson McMurray

Lap 17 Larson pulls out of line – McMurray goes by for ninth.

25 to go A whole whack of the field pit including leader Keselowski. He brings Edwards, Gordon, Johnson, McMurray, KuBusch off pit road. Hamlin leads

24 to go Hamlin heads down pit road with Mears

23 to go Keselowski too fast off pit road – he will have to serve a penalty. Hamlin keeps the lead.

22 to go McClure heads down pit road. Hamlin leads Keselowski (who needs to serve penalty), KuBusch, Gordon. Keselowski ducks down pit road to serve his penalty. Hamlin leads KuBusch and Gordon.

20 to go Hamlin leads as Gordon and Johnson run side-by-side for the lead. Keselowski got a flat tire while serving his penalty

19 to go Hamlin leads KuBusch and Gordon

15 to go Hamlin leads KuBusch Gordon Johnson McMurray

2 to go Mears, in a transfer spot, is out of gas.

Coming to the flag……big huge wreck. Truex, Johnson, McMurray, Bowyer, M Waltrip, Ragan, Edwards. Bowyer did a barrel roll in the air. Started due to contact with McMurray and Johnson; Johnson commented that he was out of fuel and trying to get out of the way.

Denny Hamlin crosses the finish line ahead of Kurt Busch, Jeff Gordon and Paul Menard.

Matt Kenseth would hold off an impressive move on the last lap by Kevin Harvick and Kasey Kahne to win the first of the two Budweiser Duels at Daytona International Speedway.

Lap 1 Dillon and Biffle side-by-side for the lead. Dillon ahead by a car as Earnhardt and Biffle are side-by-side for second.

Lap 4 Dillon leads Earnhardt Ambrose Harvick

Lap 12 Dillon leads Earnhardt Ambrose Harvick Allmendinger Gilliland Whitt Wise Logano Stewart

Lap 14 Kenseth starts a line on the bottom while the top five run single-file.

Lap 15 Dillon leads Earnhardt and Ambrose while Kenseth and Harvick are side-by-side. Kenseth moves a little head and Harvick slams down behind Kenseth. Earnhardt slides down in front of Kenseth and takes the lead from Dillon. Earnhardt leads Kenseth Harvick.

Lap 16 Sorenson has to bring his car to pit road as the engine doesn’t sound good.

Lap 17 Earnhardt leads Kenseth Harvick Almirola

Lap 18 Earnhardt leads as Kenseth and Almirola are side-by-side for second. Down the back, Earnhardt pulls ahead with Kenseth and Harvick in toe.

Lap 24 Earnhardt and Harvick side-by-side for the lead

Lap 25 Earnhardt leads Kenseth Kahne Biffle

Lap 28 Kenseth takes the lead from Earnhardt

Lap 29 Kenseth leads as Earnhardt and Biffle are side-by-side

Lap 32 Kenseth leads Earnhardt Ambrose

24 to go Kenseth leads a group down pit road including Ambrose Biffle Harvick KyBusch Stewart. Earnhardt to the lead

23 to go Earnhardt leads the second group down pit road ahead of Kahne Stenhouse Newman Whitt.

20 to go Kenseth leads with help from the lap car of McDowell. Harvick runs second with pack two.

18 to go Harvick chases the lap car out so he is on Kenseth’s bumper. Kahne runs third followed by Ambrose Almirola Wise Kligerman

12 to go Kenseth leads Harvick

10 to go

9 to go Kenseth leads Harvick Kahne Ambrose Earnhardt Newman Logano Vickers Patrick Allmendinger

5 to go Logano pulls out of the single-file train to o for the lead.

4 to o Kenseth leads Harvick Kahne Earnhardt Ambrose

FL Harvick pulls out, Kahne makes it three-wide

Kenseth wins ahead of Harvick by 2 one-hundreths of a second, Kahne third by 6 one-hundreths of a second. Ambrose. Earnhardt. Wise. Almirola. Gilliland. Newman. Stewart. Whitt. Bifle. Patrick. Bowman.

To the house: Vickers, Logano, Kligerman, Dillon, Stenhouse, KyBusch, McDowell, Nemechek, Sorenson.

Dillon is of course locked in to the front row pole spot via his qualifying effort last Sunday.

With Stewart locking himself in, that opens up the champion’s provisional to Kurt Busch