Busch and Burton win Duels at Daytona

Kurt Busch will attempt an unprecedented Budweiser Shootout/Gatorade Duel/Daytona 500 triple on Sunday.

The Penske Racing Dodge driver will start The Great American Race from pole position after winning the first Gatorade Duel this morning.

The 2004 Sprint Cup Champion was pushed to the win by Regan Smith’s Chevrolet, in a race that again saw drivers pair up from the outset.

The second Gatorade Duel was taken out by Jeff Burton, who drafted with Richard Childress team-mate Clint Bowyer throughout the race.

Duel 1 saw Kevin Harvick and Matt Kenseth work together to take third and fourth, with the Ford driver proving able to ‘push’ his Chevrolet rival for long periods without overheating.

The superior cooling on the Ford FR9 engines was underlined in Duel 2, where Roush team-mates Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle ran line astern while the Chevrolet, Toyota and Dodge pairs were continually forced to switch positions.

Having watched Duel 1 from the garage, Jeff Gordon ensured he had a Ford ‘pusher’ for his Duel, working with 19-year-old rookie Trevor Bayne for the entire race.

The duo continually fell back on restarts however, and ended up making contact on the run to the chequered flag while battling within the top 10. Gordon, Bayne and David Ragen all sustained damage in the incident.

While Gordon only made light contact with Bayne and the outside wall, it is not known whether he will need a back up car for the 500, which could push him from the front-row to the back of the grid.

Joe Gibbs Racing team-mates Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin will start the 500 further down the field than they’d like, having been taken out of contention in Duel 2 during separate incidents.

Logano made heavy contact with the inside wall in the tri-oval after a nudge from Michael Waltrip, while later Hamlin endured similar contact from Kyle Bush in the third Gibbs entry, sending the FedEx Toyota spinning out of Turn 2.

Brad Keselowski also brought out a caution when he was turned by Todd Bodine.

While Bodine was later involved in another incident with Steven Wallace with just five laps remaining, Brad Keselowski ensured Brian Keselowski will make his maiden Daytona 500 appearance on Sunday, pushing his older brother into one of two coveted ‘transfer spots.’

Third place for Waltrip also saw the #15 NAPA entry race its way into the 500, while Travis Kvapil and Dave Blaney make it in on speed.

Duel 1 saw JJ Yeley and Bill Elliot race their way in, with the former receiving crucial help from Marcos Ambrose.

The Australian, who complained of a vibration inside the final 10 laps, finished 21^st in Duel 1.

Dale Earnhardt Jr finished eight spots up the road in 13th, after losing time waiting for his drafting partner Mark Martin to catch him late in the race.

After winning the pole position in qualifying, Earnhardt will start the 500 from the back of the field, having wrecked his race car in Wednesday practice.

Result: Duel 1

1	Kurt Busch	Dodge	Shell / Pennzoil	62
2	Regan Smith	Chevrolet	Furniture Row Companies	62
3	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	Budweiser	62
4	Matt Kenseth	Ford	Crown Royal Black	62
5	Kasey Kahne	Toyota	Red Bull	62
6	Juan Montoya	Chevrolet	Target	62
7	A.J. Allmendinger	Ford	Best Buy	62
8	Mark Martin	Chevrolet	GoDaddy.com	62
9	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	Peak / Menards	62
10	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	U.S. Army	62
11	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	Lowe’s / Kobalt Tools	62
12	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet	Office Depot / Mobil 1	62
13	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet	Amp Energy / National Guard	62
14	Brian Vickers	Toyota	Red Bull	62
15	Bill Elliott	Chevrolet	Phoenix Construction	62
16	Bobby Labonte	Toyota	Kroger / USO	62
17	J.J. Yeley	Chevrolet	Red Line Oil	62
18	Kevin Conway	Toyota	Extenze	62
19	Joe Nemechek	Toyota	AM FM Energy	62
20	Dave Blaney	Chevrolet	Tommy Baldwin Racing	62
21	Marcos Ambrose	Ford	Stanley	62
22	Andy Lally	Chevrolet	Adobe Road Winery	60
23	Michael McDowell	Toyota	HP Racing LLC	53
24	David Gilliland	Ford	Taco Bell	40

Result: Duel 2

1	Jeff Burton	Chevrolet	Caterpillar	60
2	Clint Bowyer	Chevrolet	Cheerios / Hamburger Helper	60
3	Michael Waltrip	Toyota	NAPA Auto Parts	60
4	Kyle Busch	Toyota	M&M’s	60
5	Brian Keselowski	Dodge	K-Automotive Motorsports	60
6	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	Bass Pro Shops / Tracker	60
7	Brad Keselowski	Dodge	Miller Lite	60
8	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	FedEx Express	60
9	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	NAPA Auto Parts	60
10	Carl Edwards	Ford	Aflac	60
11	David Reutimann	Toyota	Aaron’s Dream Machine	60
12	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet	Drive to End Hunger	60
13	Travis Kvapil	Ford	Long John Silver’s	60
14	Derrike Cope	Toyota	Sta-Bil	60
15	Greg Biffle	Ford	3M	60
16	Robert Richardson Jr.	Ford	North Texas Pipe	60
17	Robby Gordon	Dodge	Speed Energy	60
18	Terry Labonte	Ford	U.S. Chrome	60
19	Trevor Bayne	Ford	Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto	60
20	David Ragan	Ford	UPS “We Love Logistics”	60
21	Todd Bodine	Toyota	Tire Kingdom / Valvoline	54
22	Steve Wallace	Toyota	5-Hour Energy	54
23	Joey Logano	Toyota	The Home Depot	15
24	Casey Mears	Toyota	GEICO	2

Official Daytona 500 starting grid

1	Dale Earnhardt Jr.*	Chevrolet	Amp Energy / National Guard
2	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet	Drive to End Hunger
3	Kurt Busch	Dodge	Shell / Pennzoil
4	Jeff Burton	Chevrolet	Caterpillar
5	Regan Smith	Chevrolet	Furniture Row Companies
6	Clint Bowyer	Chevrolet	Cheerios / Hamburger Helper
7	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	Budweiser
8	Michael Waltrip	Toyota	NAPA Auto Parts
9	Matt Kenseth	Ford	Crown Royal Black
10	Kyle Busch	Toyota	M&M’s
11	Kasey Kahne	Toyota	Red Bull
12	Brian Keselowski	Dodge	K-Automotive Motorsports
13	Juan Montoya	Chevrolet	Target
14	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	Bass Pro Shops / Tracker
15	A.J. Allmendinger	Ford	Best Buy
16	Brad Keselowski	Dodge	Miller Lite
17	Mark Martin	Chevrolet	GoDaddy.com
18	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	FedEx Express
19	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	Peak / Menards
20	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	NAPA Auto Parts
21	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	U.S. Army
22	Carl Edwards	Ford	Aflac
23	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	Lowe’s / Kobalt Tools
24	David Reutimann	Toyota	Aaron’s Dream Machine
25	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet	Office Depot / Mobil 1
26	Greg Biffle	Ford	3M
27	Brian Vickers	Toyota	Red Bull
28	Robert Richardson Jr.	Ford	North Texas Pipe
29	Bill Elliott	Chevrolet	Phoenix Construction
30	Robby Gordon	Dodge	Speed Energy
31	Bobby Labonte	Toyota	Kroger / USO
32	Trevor Bayne	Ford	Motorcraft / Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center
33	J.J. Yeley	Chevrolet	Red Line Oil
34	David Ragan	Ford	UPS “We Love Logistics”
35	Marcos Ambrose	Ford	Stanley
36	Steve Wallace	Toyota	5-Hour Energy
37	Andy Lally	Chevrolet	Adobe Road Winery
38	Joey Logano	Toyota	The Home Depot
39	David Gilliland	Ford	Taco Bell
40	Travis Kvapil	Ford	Long John Silver’s
41	Joe Nemechek	Toyota	AM FM Energy
42	Dave Blaney	Chevrolet	Tommy Baldwin Racing
43	Terry Labonte	Ford	U.S. Chrome
44	Derrike Cope	Toyota	Sta-Bil
45	Kevin Conway	Toyota	Extenze
46	Todd Bodine	Toyota	Tire Kingdom / Valvoline
47	Michael McDowell	Toyota	HP Racing LLC
48	Casey Mears	Toyota	GEICO

*Earnhardt Jr will drop to the rear of the field due to switching to a backup car. The entire inside lane will move up, meaning that Kurt Busch will lead the field to the green flag.