Dale Earnhardt Junior held off pole-sitter Jeff Gordon to win the first Budweiser Duel race.
Race results from Duel #1 | Full story from MRN
Jimmie Johnson took the checkered flag in the second Duel.
Race results from Duel #2 | Full story from MRN
There’ll be 49 drivers starting tonight’s twin 150-mile qualifying races with 43 advancing to Sunday’s 57th running of the “Daytona 500”. Four-time Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon, who won the pole in last weekend’s qualifying session; and Jimmie Johnson, one of Gordon’s Hendrick Motorsports teammates, have front-row starting spots locked in for “The Great American Race” regardless of where they finish in tonight’s doubleheader. There’ll be 25 drivers taking the green flag in Duel #1, led by Gordon … who announced last month that the 2015 season would be his last as a full-time driver. Other notable competitors in that first race are “Sprint Unlimited” winner Matt Kenseth, who will start from the outside of the front row; Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano from Team Penske, starting alongside each other in Row 5; 2014 Sprint Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick and defending “Daytona 500” winner Dale Earnhardt Junior.
In Duel #2, Johnson will share the front row with Kyle Busch and lead a field of 24 that includes Roush Fenway Racing teammates Greg Biffle and Ricky Stenhouse Junior; Sam Hornish Junior, in his first season at Richard Petty Motorsports after replacing Marcos Ambrose in the #9 Ford; Ryan Newman, runner-up to Harvick in the 2014 Chase; and Denny Hamlin, who joined Kenseth in winning last year’s “Duels.”
Danica Patrick was forced to a backup car for tonight’s “Budweiser Duel” qualifying race after being involved in a 4 car crash during “Daytona 500” practice Wednesday afternoon. Contact with Denny Hamlin along the backstretch sent Patrick’s #10 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet into the outside wall and on to the garage area with major damage. Michael Annett and rookie Jeb Burton were also involved, and will drive backup cars in tonight’s events. Patrick, Annett, and Burton will have to start from the rear of the field in their respective races. The highest-qualified driver in that group is Patrick, who was scheduled to start fifteenth in the second race. Hamlin’s car was not seriously damaged.
– written by John Singler
Motor Racing Network
Concord, North Carolina
mrn.com
