Category: Race Central

With all of the qualifying complete, here is the starting line-up for the Daytona 500 on Sunday February 22nd.

After taking the lead after a round of pit stops on lap 26, Jimmie Johnson would hold off all challenges en route to scoring the victory in the second Budweiser Duel at Daytona.

“It’s a special night. What a race car,” Johnson said. “That car is mad first. I’m stoked for my teammate (Dale Earnhardt Jr.) to win the first duel. We won the second, and Jeff (Gordon) and I have the front row locked down. It’s been an awesome week for all our Hendrick Motorsports cars. A big shout out to all the guys in the shops and a big shout out to my awesome sponsor Lowe’s. I’m just happy to start out the week like we have.”

Johnson had already locked himself into a second place starting spot for the Daytona 500 during the qualifying session last Sunday. The victory for Johnson gives Hendrick Motorsports a sweep of the Budweiser Duels.

Kyle Busch would lead the first 25 laps, though lost the lead on pit road as a result of a pit road speeding penalty.

“I thought our race was pretty good,” he commented. “I wish we would have won obviously – just one short. We were a restart off. I didn’t get the best of jumps there, Jimmie (Johnson) did – really bad on me. That just kind of set the tone for the final two laps, but proud to have a fast Crispy M&M’s Camry there. It made us look a lot better there than it did in the Sprint Unlimited, so proud of that.”

Carl Edwards would finish 19th as he starts off a new chapter with Joe Gibbs Racing this season, followed by Greg Biffle and Martin Truex Jr.

Ryan Blaney finished sixth in his debut with the Wood Brothers, followed by Reed Sorenson.

“It was a really smooth race for us,” Sorenson commented. “Everything went our way. We were really smooth on pit road the one time we came down and that’s all we can really ask for is to try to control the things we control – no mistakes on pit road, and everything else is kind of up in the air. You never know if you’re gonna get caught up in a wreck. Luckily, we were ahead of those incidents tonight and didn’t get caught up in a wreck like some other guys did, and just fortunate to be in the spot we were at. I thought out car had really good speed.”

Sorenson wrecked during Sunday’s qualifying session and stated afterwards that he did not have a back-up car, but his XTREME Motorsports team spent Monday putting together a car to get him into the event.

“I’m real proud of these guys,” Sorenson said. “Monday morning, we didn’t know if it would be possible to pull it off. But we did. I’m extremely happy for all the guys back in Charlotte that worked on this car and all the work these guys had to do when they got here. They had a lot left and did an awesome job putting it together. It’s a big deal for a team like this to make the Daytona 500. I’m proud of everyone, and now we can have fun. We have nothing to lose in the race and we’re gonna give it all we’ve got.”

Mike Wallace finished eighth to transfer, followed by Justin Allgaier and Danica Patrick.

Patrick had to fight back to the top-10 after getting caught up in a wreck with four laps to go. Denny Hamlin tried to give Patrick a bump from behind going into the corner, turning her down across Brian Scott’s nose. Bobby Labonte and Ryan Newman also made contact in the process.

“First and foremost the GoDaddy car is in the (Daytona) 500 and that was what we wanted to accomplish today,” she commented. “Kurt (Busch) my teammate was great help at the end I went high and he was right there with me. We got a finish out of it.  But I mean the incident with Denny (Hamlin) I am all about learning.  I’m all about doing the right thing, but he said he needs to run close to move forward. Well you are turning me and it happened in practice too when he cut across my rear bumper. It pulls the back end around. That is why it looked like I tracked down, but I was just going down the straightaway.  Here we are in the race and I’m seeing him in my mirror and he’s so tucked up underneath me, so close.  I get being close, but he is then going to my left rear.  It just gets it light and it spun around.  I don’t want to have these issues, but if we are going to have these issues then we are going to have to deal with them.  We can’t be putting ourselves out of the race on someone else’s expense.”

Patrick would have a conversation with Denny Hamlin post-race, as it marks the second incident this week between the pair.

“I was just trying to get – push her (Danica Patrick) – and get close, but I didn’t – no contact made her spin,” Hamlin explained. “I just said, ‘You’ve got to tighten her car up.’ I can’t predict who has a loose setup or not. I mean, we’re superspeedway racing. I treat her as equal as anyone on the race track. She deserves her spot here, but you have to be able to run close to somebody on a superspeedway. You have to have your car stable enough to handle those situations and, to me, it’s not much different than what it was with the 22 (Joey Logano) and the 4 (Kevin Harvick) last week only I wasn’t pushing her. I was just close to her and her car got loose and she spun. Thank goodness she got her way in the 500. I didn’t want to be responsible for that. I treat her as an equal on the race track. I’m not going to say, ‘It’s Danica, so I’ve got to make sure I just leave some extra room.’ If you’re out here in the Cup Series, you have to be able to handle those situations.”

Newman would fight his way back to 11th, followed by Kurt Busch, David Gilliland and David Ragan. Ragan also had to fight his way back after going for a spin at lap 23. Ragan would come cross the front of Allgaier, turning himself down the track and making slight contact with the inside frontstretch wall.

“I can’t describe the emotions that went through that 60 lap race,” Ragan commented. “Early on I didn’t think that we were going to have an opportunity to get on the lead lap. I didn’t know how our car was going to handle because it had damage. I can’t say enough about our Front Row Motorsports team. KFC is on-board this weekend and we have a good looking race car and I can’t be more proud to have them in the Daytona 500. Bob Jenkins has put a lot into this effort. To have three Front Row Motorsports cars locked into the Great American Race is a great accomplishment. I am excited. The good Lord was looking after us tonight. I can’t say enough about our team. We have two more days to perfect our backup car, to tune on this car and we will have a good shot to win that Daytona 500.”

Austin Dillon and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. would complete the top 16.

The second Budweiser Duel would also feature a big wreck as Sam Hornish Jr. and Jeb Burton would bounce off of each other, with Burton then getting into Hornish and turning him into Alex Bowman, triggering the wreck. Austin Dillon would also catch a piece of the wreck in the process.

“The 9 (Hornish) came up a little bit and it caught me really loose,” Burton commented. “I got weaving back and forth and got back into the 9. These cars are so on the edge and it’s very disappointing. Hate that we got tore up, but we’ll just keep fight.”

“Just really thankful for everybody at TBR and being part of Team Chevy,” Bowman said. “It’s my fault. I caught the 11 there and tried to go to the outside of him and obviously the 19 went with him as that’s his teammate. It’s my fault that we got back there. if we’re in the Daytona 500, that’s great. if we aren’t, we’ll go get them at Atlanta.”

“Just looked like the 26 (Burton) might of got tight, had a bunch of steering wheel in there and just came around on him,” Hornish explained. “It’s so cool out there that there’s a lot of grip, leading to a lot of three-wide racing. We were just trying to keep the car clean. Got a little bump there – thought we’d be okay, and then got a big hit and got turned into the wall.”

The incident would result in Burton and Bowman being two of the drivers to miss the Daytona 500.

After taking the lead with 17 laps to go, Dale Earnhardt Jr. would not look back as he scored the victory in the first Budweiser Duel at Daytona International Speedway.

“We’ve had a great car all week and I’m so glad to have gotten through the Duel in one piece because I know how good this car is,” Earnhardt Jr. commented. “We have a couple practices to go through, but if we can get through in one piece – then we’re going to have fun on Sunday. We had do a lot of blocking there to keep the lead, but having such a good car gave us the ability. Got to give a lot of credit to TJ Majors for making the calls to allow me to make the moves.”

The victory gives Earnhardt Jr. a third place starting spot for the Daytona 500 on Sunday. Earnhardt Jr. had to start at the rear of the field due to failing post-Daytona 500 qualifying inspection.

Jeff Gordon, who locked up the pole via qualifying last weekend, would finish second in the Budweiser Duel. Joey Logano finished third, followed by Tony Stewart and Clint Bowyer. Bowyer was in a back-up car following a crash in qualifying on Sunday.

“It’s definitely a breath of fresh air,” he commented. “If it wasn’t for adversity, how do you have any fun in life? The good thing is our Toyota was really strong when it came to go. I felt like I was amongst cars that I’d have to beat in the 500. Certainly we’ll need to make some adjustments and get it ready to go.”

Kevin Harvick would finish sixth, followed by Kasey Kahne, Jamie McMurray, Landon Cassill and Cole Whitt. For Whitt and Cassill, it was a relief to finish in the top 10 to lock themselves into the field.

“It’s amazing,” Cassill shared. “I’m extremely proud to be here for my team as they worked hard on this car. I felt before this race, the biggest thing I had to do was put myself in position to get in.”

“I can tell you that I will sleep a lot better tonight than I have the past couple of nights,” Whitt commented. “Can’t say enough about these guys. We’ve worked hard the past couple of nights. I’m so excited that we were able to get in and start it off like this.”

Paul Menard finished 11th, followed by Michael McDowell, JJ Yeley, Michael Annett, Kyle Larson and Ty Dillon. Yeley thought that he was in trouble when his window net came down mid-run.

“We usually tape the latch and it started fluttering,” Yeley said. “So I grabbed a hold of it and tried to keep it up. I dropped out of the field just hoping for a caution. With the wreck, I was able t get down, fix it and get in.”

“It means so much,” Dillon commented. “It’s hard to explain. I’ve been coming here since I was a little kid watching my grandfather’s cars race and win, and it feels so great to be in this race.”

“Unbelievable coming to the white flag we were out….and just had a great run and everything went out way,” McDowell said. “We are in the Daytona 500. This is awesome! This is a group effort, but man that was an intense last lap.”

Matt Kenseth would lead the first half of the event, but would finish 17th, followed by Justin Marks, Brad Keselowski, Aric Almirola and Ron Hornaday. Unfortunately, for both Marks and Hornaday, they will miss the Great American race.

The short race would not go without incident as on lap 17, Casey Mears would blow the motor due to a hole in the oil pan. Then on lap 28, Johnny Sauter would get turned out of line and go for a ride through the infield grass as a result of tight racing with A.J. Allmendinger and Almirola. Sauter and Allmendinger would be done for the day with damage.

“First of all, I’m disappointed that we wrecked,” Sauter shared. “Just riding along, trying to mind our own business and I think the 47 (Allmendinger) just got us in the left rear quarter panel. Just a bummer. We were on a catch 22 deal in do we rely on our speed, or try and get into the top 14. Just a bummer deal.”

Just disappointed,” Allmendinger commented. “The Chevy was fast. It was fun running up front. Probably moved up a little bit and got the 83 (Sauter)– and if I did, it’s my fault. It’s just tough trying to get out of the middle. It just sucks. I hate this racing, I really do. If we can get into the 500, we’ll have a good car. Just trying to get out of the middle. Didn’t need to be there that soon.”

The final caution would fly with nine laps to go when Bayne’s No. 6 Ford would step out on him, brushing against Kyle Larson and then up the track and back down.

After taking the lead with 20 laps to go, Matt Kenseth never looked back as he held the field off in a late race restart, getting ahead of the field and keeping the gap till the very end, with a perfectly timed block on Martin Truex Jr.

“It’s a great feeling,” Kenseth commented. “It’s always fun to win at Daytona – it’s fun to win anywhere. Just proud of all these guys. I had a feeling that we were going to have a lot of fun this week – all of our cars have speed.”

Kenseth is entering his third season with Joe Gibbs Racing and his 16th Sprint Cup Series season. The driver of the No. 20 Dollar General Toyota had success last year, making the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

Meanwhile, Martin Truex Jr. entered the year looking for something positive following a season that left him outside of the top 20 in points while girlfriend Sherry Pollex battled ovarian cancer. With new crew Cole Pearn on the pit box, the driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Chevrolet led a majority of the first half of the race before finishing second.

“The race was over when Kenseth got by me for the lead,” Truex said. “I knew that he was good here and it’d be hard to pass him. I guess he was just a better blocker than I was. We had a strong car and pushed hard out there, but just came up short.

“After the last year and a half, we needed that. really proud of the 78 team’s effort over the winter, and really excited for this season.”

Carl Edwards would finish third after making the switch from Roush Fenway Racing to JGR during the off-season, followed by Casey Mears and Kyle Larson. Logano would finish sixth, and then get into a post-race scuffle with Kevin Harvick after bump drafting between the pair caused Harvick to get into the outside wall and cut a tire. Jeff Gordon finished seventh in his final Sprint Unlimited.

“There was a lot of them that I dodged,” Gordon reflected on the wrecks he was able to miss. “I’m happy that we survived those. We had an awesome car; I really thought we had a car that could win the race. I got in the inside lane on the restart, and just got stuck there.”

Kyle Busch finished eighth, followed by Dale Earnhardt Jr. Earnhardt looked as though he would be a real contender throughout, but debris on the grill while leading caused the water and oil temperatures to spike, forcing him to make an unscheduled green flag pit stop. He was able to get back in line with a following caution, but the damage to the motor hindered his performance for the rest of the night.

Danica Patrick would round out the top 10, followed by Harvick, Ryan Newman, Tony Stewart and Greg Biffle.

Only the top 12 drivers finishes as the rest were taken out through the series of accidents that occurred during the night. The biggest wreck happened at lap 57 when Jamie McMurray would get a tap from Greg Biffle in the behind, swing down towards the apron off of the track, before coming back up across the track and into the path of field. In total, 13 drivers received damage during the wreck.

“Jamie was loose there, wiggling all over the place,” Biffle commented post-wreck.

“Well, it was when he had my back tires off of the ground,” McMurray fired back. “It was hard to hang on it when someone is right there. It’s part of it. It’s just hard to get off of a guy when you get there because of the run that you had there. I had a good run going there with the 27, but when the 16 got there, I just couldn’t hang on to it.”