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Kenseth And Hamlin Tops In Budweiser Duels

Matt Kenseth races to the line to win the first of two Budweiser Duel events setting the lineup for the Daytona 500.  [Russ Lake Photo]

Fast qualifier Austin Dillon (#3) elected to start on the outside of the front row in the first of Thursday night’s Budweiser Duel 150’s at Daytona International Speedway. Greg Biffle (#16) was on the inside of the front row due to being the third fastest qualifier last Sunday [Russ Lake Photo]

Fast qualifier Austin Dillon (#3) started on the outside front row in the first of Thursday night’s Budweiser Duel 150’s at Daytona International Speedway. [Russ Lake Photo]

Austin Dillon (#3) led the first 14 laps of the first Budweiser Duel at Daytona. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (#88) took the lead on Lap 15. [Russ Lake Photo]

Austin Dillon (#3) led the first 14 laps of the first Budweiser Duel at Daytona. [Russ Lake Photo]

Matt Kenseth stood on his car in Victory Circle following his victory in the first Budweiser Duel at Daytona International Speedway Thursday night. [Russ Lake Photo]

Matt Kenseth stood on his car in Victory Circle following his victory in the first Budweiser Duel at Daytona Thursday night. [Russ Lake Photo]

A multi-car wrecked occurred on the last lap of the second Budweiser Duel at Daytona International Speedway Thursday night. While other cars wrecked around him, Clint Boyer’s car flipped high in the air and did a complete 360-degree turn while in the air and landed on its wheels. [Russ Lake Photo]

A multi-car wrecked occurred on the last lap of the second Budweiser Duel at Daytona. Clint Boyer’s car flipped, did a complete 360-degree turn while in the air and landed on its wheels. [Russ Lake Photo]

During the last lap wreck in the second Budweiser Duel at Daytona International Speedway Thursday night, Martin Truex Jr. drove his wrecked car, which was on fire, in an attempt to cross the finish line and complete the race. Truex will have to go to a backup car for the Daytona 500. Because of the car change, Truex will start at the rear of the field instead of his original starting position on the outside of the front row. [Russ Lake Photo]

Martin Truex Jr. drove his wrecked car, which was on fire, in an attempt to cross the finish line and complete the race. Truex will have to go to a backup car for the Daytona 500 and lose his front row starting position. [Russ Lake Photo]

While the field was wrecking behind him, Denny Hamlin (#11) took the checkered flag to win the second Budweiser Duel Thursday Night at Daytona International Speedway. He was followed across the line by Jeff Gordon (#24), Kurt Busch (#41) and Paul Menard (#27). [Russ Lake Photo]

Denny Hamlin (#11) took the checkered flag to win the second Budweiser Duel followed by Jeff Gordon (#24), Kurt Busch (#41) and Paul Menard (#27). [Russ Lake Photo]

Denny Hamlin celebrated in Victory Circle following his win in the second Budweiser Duel at Daytona International Speedway Thursday night. [Russ Lake Photo]

Denny Hamlin celebrates in Victory Circle following his win in the second Budweiser Duel at Daytona. [Russ Lake Photo]

Daytona Beach, Fla. – Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth were the class of the Budweiser Duel events, as they gave Joe Gibbs Racing a pair of victories at the Daytona International Speedway on Thursday evening.

On a warm night in Florida, a sizable crowd gathered to see the Budweiser Duel run under the lights for the first time.

The opening 150-mile race was caution free and Kenseth, driving the Dollar General Toyota, held command for 31 of the 60 laps.

The second Duel was ho-hum until the end when mayhem broke out just short of the finish line.

While Hamlin in the FedEx Express Toyota, Jeff Gordon, Kurt Busch and Paul Menard were taking the checkered flag, wrecks were taking place behind them.

It started when Jimmie Johnson ran out of fuel, collecting Jamie McMurray, Michael Waltrip, Clint Bowyer, Daytona 500 front-row starter Martin Truex Jr. and Carl Edwards.

Bowyer’s car turned over quickly and landed on its wheels, allowing him to cross the finish line as did Truex and Edwards.

In driving to his third consecutive Sprint Cup Series win, Hamlin said, “We are on a roll, although I didn’t execute well in the first part of the race.  I didn’t want to run single-file and decided to spice things up a little bit, which ended up taking me to the rear.  We raced back up, wanting to get to top-10 and was within a second of them when we pitted.  My pit crew did the rest, and we got back into the lead.”

He led 23 laps.

Behind Hamlin, Gordon, Busch and Menard in the second Duel were Brian Scott, Trevor Bayne, rookie Kyle Larson, Truex, Landon Cassill and Bowyer.

In the opener, Daytona 500 pole winner Austin Dillon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. led 14 laps each before yielding to the rapid Toyota of Kenseth, who led the final 34 circuits.  However, he was challenged at the end by Kevin Harvick, Kasey Kahne and Earnhardt.  The first three raced across the finish line three abreast with the edge going to Kenseth.

With Kenseth playing a role in a pair of recent incidents, he commented, “Whenever there’s an incident where it is your fault or mistake, I feel bad about wrecking cars.  I was kind of embarrassed to walk into the garage, so to get the race in today helps build our confidence.”

Kevin Harvick pushed the Budweiser Chevrolet to second place; however, his car failed the post-race inspection.  As a result, his finish was thrown out and he will be farther back in the Daytona 500 field.

Kahne moved into second ahead of Marcos Ambrose and Earnhardt.

Josh Wise gained a much-needed fifth place.

Rounding out the top-10 in the opener was Aric Almirola, A. J. Allmendinger, David Gilliland, Ryan Newman and Tony Stewart.

After leading at the outset, Dillon intentionally dropped back in the field, ending up 19th.

Needing to finish 15th or better to earn starting spots in Sunday’s Daytona 500 were rookies Cole Whitt and Alex Bowman in the first Duel and Cassill and Bayne in the second Duel.  And they made it happen to not only make the Daytona 500 but to give their teams a financial boost.

2014 Daytona 500 Starting LineUp
Row    Inside            Outside
1     Austin Dillon (3)    Martin Truex Jr. (78)
2    Matt Kenseth (20)    Denny Hamlin (11)
3     Kasey Kahne (5)        Jeff Gordon (24)
4    Marcos Ambrose (9)    Kurt Busch (41)
5     Dale Earnhardt Jr. (88)    Paul Menard (27)
6     Josh Wise (98)         Brian Scott (33)
7     Aric Almirola (43)     Trevor Bayne (21)
8     A J Allmendinger (47)     Kyle Larson (42)
9     David Gilliland (38)     Landon Cassill (40)
10     Ryan Newman (31)     Clint Bowyer (15)
11     Tony Stewart (14)     Jamie McMurray (1)
12     Cole Whitt (26)     Terry Labonte (32)
13     Greg Biffle (16)     Bobby Labonte (52)
14     Danica Patrick (10)     Casey Mears (13)
15     Alex Bowman (23)     Carl Edwards (99)
16     Brian Vickers (55)    Jimmie Johnson (48)
17     Brad Keselowski (2)     Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (17)
18     Joey Logano (22)     Michael Annett (7)
19     Kyle Busch (18)     Kevin Harvick (4)
20     Reed Sorenson (36)     Justin Allgaier (51)
21     Parker Kligerman (30)     Michael Waltrip (66)
22     David Ragan (34)

DNQ: Ryan Truex, Michael McDowell, Joe Nemechek, Morgan Shepherd, Eric McClure, Dave Blaney

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