Kyle Busch brought home the victory in the second Budweiser Duel Thursday afternoon at Daytona after holding the lead for most of the second half of the race. Busch made it to the lead after the round of green-flag pit-stops concluded and he held the lead until the checkered flag flew. The race didn’t feature any cautions and it had very little action but, the No.18 team was happy with the outcome.
Jeff Gordon started the race on the pole but, it wasn’t soon before Ryan Newman passed him on lap one. Gordon would pass Newman again for the lead not too long after Newman had passed him. With 21 laps to go, the only round of green-flag pit-stops began and speeding penalties were distributed following the stops. Coming into the stops, Jeff Gordon led but, he received a too fast entering penalty and had to give up his lead. Terry Labonte and Ricky Stenhouse Jr also had speeding penalties and had to serve a pass through penalty.
With 20 laps to go, Ryan Newman spun his car while attempting to pit and Newman hit the outside wall with the back of his car. No yellow-flag flew and the race stayed under green-flag conditions. The race came down to the final few laps and Matt Kenseth was behind his JGR teammate Kyle Busch until Kenseth was freight trained on the final lap. Kasey Kahne made a move on the backstretch for the lead but, Kyle Busch blocked him and Busch was able to hold the rest of the field off and win the second Budweiser Duel.
Busch showed he had a strong car today and that’s why he ended up in victory lane. Busch said in victory lane that it is “Hard to pass the leader” which shows why we haven’t seen the last lap passes were accustomed to seeing at Daytona. The common aspect among both of the Duels today is that the winner of each came to the lead in the second half of the race. While Busch celebrated in victory lane, Brian Keselowski and Mike Bliss were not celebrating since they were the two drivers who did not make the Daytona 500. The field is now set for one of the most anticipated Daytona 500’s ever and race day is only two days away.
Results via Nascar.com
1. (4) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 60, $58977.
2. (3) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 60, $43963.
3. (8) Austin Dillon(i), Chevrolet, 60, $38963.
4. (9) Clint Bowyer, Toyota, 60, $33963.
5. (5) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, 60, $31963.
6. (14) Mark Martin, Toyota, 60, $29563.
7. (7) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 60, $28463.
8. (10) Jeff Burton, Chevrolet, 60, $27463.
9. (11) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 60, $27438.
10. (15) David Ragan, Ford, 60, $27413.
11. (12) Marcos Ambrose, Ford, 60, $27388.
12. (1) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 60, $27363.
13. (13) Aric Almirola, Ford, 60, $27338.
14. (6) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 59, $27313.
15. (19) Dave Blaney, Chevrolet, 59, $27288.
16. (16) Josh Wise, Ford, 59, $27263.
17. (21) Travis Kvapil, Toyota, 59, $27238.
18. (18) Terry Labonte, Ford, 59, $27188.
19. (17) Michael McDowell, Ford, 59, $27163.
20. (20) JJ Yeley, Chevrolet, 59, $27138.
21. (2) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 58, $27088.
22. (22) Mike Bliss, Chevrolet, 55, $27063.
