2014 Budweiser Duels

2014 Budweiser Duels

Race details [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Location	Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida
Course	Permanent racing facility 2.5 mi (4 km)
Distance	Race 1: 60 laps, 150 mi (240 km) Race 2: 60 laps, 150 mi (240 km)
Avg Speed	Race 1: 192.259 mph (309.411 km/h) Race 2: 192.651 mph (310.042 km/h)
Weather	Mostly clear with a temperature of 73 °F (23 °C); wind out of the southeast at 15 miles per hour (24 km/h)
Race 1
Pole position	Austin Dillon (Richard Childress Racing) 45.914 seconds
Most laps led	Matt Kenseth (Joe Gibbs Racing) (31)
Winner	Matt Kenseth (Joe Gibbs Racing)
Race 2
Pole position	Martin Truex Jr. (Furniture Row Racing) 45.953
Most laps led	Brad Keselowski (Team Penske) (34)
Winner	Denny Hamlin (Joe Gibbs Racing)
Television
Network	Fox Sports 1 & MRN
Announcers	Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds (Television) Joe Moore and Barney Hall (Booth) Dave Moody (1 & 2), Mike Bagley (Backstretch) and Jeff Striegle (3 & 4) (Turns) (Radio)
Nielsen Ratings	2.0 (3.122 Million)

The 2014 Budweiser Duels were a pair of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car races that were held on February 20, 2014, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Both contested over 60 laps, they were the qualifying races for the 2014 Daytona 500. Joe Gibbs Racing swept the Duel races, with Matt Kenseth winning the first race. Kevin Harvick finished second, while Kasey Kahne, Marcos Ambrose and Dale Earnhardt Jr. rounded out the top five. Denny Hamlin won the second race, ahead of Jeff Gordon, while Kurt Busch, Paul Menard and Brian Scott rounded out the top five.

These were the first Budweiser Duel races to be held in primetime, as the races were previously held in the early afternoon. The Duels were telecast on Fox Sports 1.

Report

Background

Daytona International Speedway, where the races were held.

Daytona International Speedway is one of six superspeedways to hold NASCAR races, the others being Michigan International Speedway, Auto Club Speedway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Pocono Raceway and Talladega Superspeedway. ^[9] The standard track at Daytona International Speedway is a four-turn superspeedway that is 2.5 miles (4.0 km) long. ^[10] The track's turns are banked at 31  degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked at 18 degrees. ^[10]

Practice and qualifying

A. J. Allmendinger was the fastest in the first of two practice sessions for the Duel races with a time of 45.096 and a speed of 199.574 mph (321.183 km/h). Matt Kenseth, Joey Logano, Paul Menard, Dave Blaney, Ryan Truex, Trevor Bayne and Parker Kligerman were involved in a crash on the frontstretch of Daytona during early practice on February 19, that resulted in heavy damage for Logano, Menard, Blaney, Truex, and Kligerman. This forced the teams to set up backup cars for the Duel races the following evening. Workers had to repair two sections of the catch fencing, ending practice early. Brian Vickers and Cole Whitt were also involved in a crash earlier during this practice, forcing Vickers to a backup car while Whitt's team was forced to repair their primary, as Swan Racing's only backup was given to Kligerman. Blaney eventually withdrew from the race after his team could not secure a backup car. ^[11] Kligerman stated that it was the first flip of his career, and that he "assumed it would be rougher. It was pretty soft. I was up in the fence floating along. Then it just slid over softly". ^[11] Logano stated that Kenseth had "started making a move to go down" and that he "was making the run, and I was going to fill that hole. He started to come back up and I was there". ^[11] Denny Hamlin was the fastest in the second of two practice sessions for the Duel races with a time of 45.096 and a speed of 199.574 mph (321.183 km/h).

Races

Race 1

Austin Dillon led the field to the green flag at 7:16 p.m., and after leading the first 14 laps, Dillon lost the lead to Dale Earnhardt Jr. on lap 15. Matt Kenseth took the lead on lap 28, and held the lead until lap 37, when he pitted and the lead was passed to Earnhardt Jr. once again. Earnhardt Jr. and Kasey Kahne each held the lead for a lap before Kenseth cycled back to the lead with 21 laps to go. On the last lap, Kevin Harvick pulled up alongside Matt Kenseth, while Kahne got to the inside, creating a three-wide photo finish in which Kenseth prevailed. Michael McDowell and Joe Nemechek failed to make the Daytona 500. ^[12] Kenseth stated that he "was kind of embarrassed to walk in the garage" but felt that his race performance "builds confidence in all of us, makes us feel like you can go out and get the job done if everybody does their jobs and we do everything right". ^[12] Harvick's car failed post-race inspection because his car exceeded the maximum split on the track bar. He was disqualified, but his speed in qualifying was enough to get him into the Daytona 500. ^[13] Greg Zipadelli, the competitions director at Harvick's team – Stewart-Haas Racing  – referred to the infraction as "an adjustment during the race and it was more than it should have been". ^[13]

Race 2

Martin Truex Jr. led the field to the green flag at 8:40 p.m., and Brad Keselowski took the lead on lap 2. Keselowski held the race lead for the next portion of the race, holding it until his pit stop on lap 36, which handed the lead to Casey Mears. On his pit stop, Keselowski was deemed to have been speeding while exiting, and had to serve a pass-through penalty. Denny Hamlin took the lead with 23 laps to go, and maintained the race lead until the end of the race, winning under caution. ^[12]

Coming through turn four on the final lap, Jimmie Johnson ran out of gas, got loose after being tapped in the left corner panel, overcorrected and hit the wall collecting Jamie McMurray in the process. Truex Jr. had no way to avoid the wreck and rear-ended McMurray. While slowing to avoid the wreck, Clint Bowyer got rear-ended by Ryan Truex, slid to the runoff area taking David Ragan with him. Bowyer flipped over in the air and landed on all four wheels with the only damage being a destroyed drive-train. Ragan and Michael Waltrip were also caught in the wreck and both hit the inside wall head-on. Carl Edwards was caught by McMurray, but sustained minimal damage. McMurray made contact with Johnson again as they continued on into the grass, destroying the front ends of their cars. ^[12] Bobby Labonte and Terry Labonte, who were both 30 seconds behind the leader on the final lap, raced their way into the Daytona 500, at the expense of Eric McClure, Morgan Shepherd and Ryan Truex. ^[12] Hamlin's team owner, Joe Gibbs, stated Hamlin had "worked extremely hard" for the result, and he thought his team was "all hungry when the year started". ^[12]

Results

Duel 1

Qualifying

No.	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Time	Speed	Grid
3	Austin Dillon (R)	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	45.914	196.019	1
16	Greg Biffle	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	45.961	195.818	2
31	Ryan Newman	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	45.987	195.707	3
88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	46.104	195.211	4
17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	46.153	195.004	5
9	Marcos Ambrose	Richard Petty Motorsports	Ford	46.179	194.894	6
43	Aric Almirola	Richard Petty Motorsports	Ford	46.235	194.658	7
22	Joey Logano [N 1]	Team Penske	Ford	46.253	194.582	8
20	Matt Kenseth	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	46.255	194.574	9
5	Kasey Kahne	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	46.262	194.544	10
18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	46.272	194.502	11
4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Chevrolet	46.291	194.422	12
10	Danica Patrick [N 1]	Stewart-Haas Racing	Chevrolet	46.301	194.380	13
47	A. J. Allmendinger	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	46.366	194.108	14
36	Reed Sorenson	Tommy Baldwin Racing	Chevrolet	46.376	194.066	15
38	David Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	46.455	193.736	16
30	Parker Kligerman (R) [N 1]	Swan Racing	Toyota	46.489	193.594	17
14	Tony Stewart [N 2]	Stewart-Haas Racing	Chevrolet	46.544	193.365	18
55	Brian Vickers [N 1]	Michael Waltrip Racing	Toyota	46.681	192.798	19
26	Cole Whitt (R)	Swan Racing	Toyota	46.744	192.538	20
95	Michael McDowell	Leavine Family Racing	Ford	46.804	192.291	21
98	Josh Wise	Phil Parsons Racing	Ford	46.860	192.061	22
87	Joe Nemechek	Identity Ventures Racing	Toyota	47.249	190.480	23
23	Alex Bowman (R)	BK Racing	Toyota	47.447	189.685	24
77	Dave Blaney [N 3]	Randy Humphrey Racing	Ford	No time	No speed	25

Race results

Pos	Grid	No.	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status	Led
1	9	20	Matt Kenseth	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	60	Running	31
2	10	5	Kasey Kahne	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	60	Running	1
3	6	9	Marcos Ambrose	Richard Petty Motorsports	Ford	60	Running
4	4	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	60	Running	14
5	22	98	Josh Wise	Phil Parsons Racing	Ford	60	Running
6	7	43	Aric Almirola	Richard Petty Motorsports	Ford	60	Running
7	14	47	A. J. Allmendinger	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	60	Running
8	16	38	David Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	60	Running
9	3	31	Ryan Newman	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	60	Running
10	18	14	Tony Stewart	Stewart-Haas Racing	Chevrolet	60	Running
11	20	26	Cole Whitt (R)	Swan Racing	Toyota	60	Running
12	2	16	Greg Biffle	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	60	Running
13	13	10	Danica Patrick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Chevrolet	60	Running
14	24	23	Alex Bowman (R)	BK Racing	Toyota	60	Running
15	19	55	Brian Vickers	Michael Waltrip Racing	Toyota	60	Running
16	8	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	60	Running
17	17	30	Parker Kligerman (R)	Swan Racing	Toyota	60	Running
18	1	3	Austin Dillon (R)	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	60	Running	14
19	5	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	60	Running
20	11	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	60	Running
21	21	95	Michael McDowell	Leavine Family Racing	Ford	59	Running
22	23	87	Joe Nemechek	Identity Ventures Racing	Toyota	59	Running
23	15	36	Reed Sorenson	Tommy Baldwin Racing	Chevrolet	20	Wheel Bearing
24	12	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Chevrolet	60	Disqualified

Duel 2

Qualifying

No.	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Time	Speed	Grid
78	Martin Truex Jr.	Furniture Row Racing	Chevrolet	45.953	195.852	1
99	Carl Edwards	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	45.986	195.712	2
2	Brad Keselowski	Team Penske	Ford	46.084	195.296	3
24	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	46.144	195.042	4
27	Paul Menard	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	46.173	194.919	5
33	Brian Scott	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	46.207	194.776	6
48	Jimmie Johnson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	46.240	194.637	7
13	Casey Mears	Germain Racing	Chevrolet	46.253	194.582	8
7	Michael Annett (R)	Tommy Baldwin Racing	Chevrolet	46.255	194.574	9
15	Clint Bowyer	Michael Waltrip Racing	Toyota	46.267	194.523	10
11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	46.278	194.477	11
42	Kyle Larson (R)	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	46.294	194.410	12
21	Trevor Bayne	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	46.312	194.334	13
41	Kurt Busch	Stewart-Haas Racing	Chevrolet	46.373	194.078	14
51	Justin Allgaier (R)	HScott Motorsports	Chevrolet	46.436	193.815	15
40	Landon Cassill	Hillman-Circle Sport LLC	Chevrolet	46.456	193.732	16
66	Michael Waltrip	Michael Waltrip Racing	Toyota	46.529	193.428	17
35	Eric McClure	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	46.655	192.905	18
1	Jamie McMurray	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	46.706	192.695	19
34	David Ragan	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	46.795	192.328	20
32	Terry Labonte	Go FAS Racing	Ford	46.842	192.135	21
52	Bobby Labonte	HScott Motorsports	Chevrolet	46.999	191.493	22
83	Ryan Truex (R)	BK Racing	Toyota	47.282	190.347	23
93	Morgan Shepherd	BK Racing	Toyota	47.483	189.542	24

Race results

Pos	Grid	No.	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Time/Retired	Led
1	11	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	60	Running	23
2	4	24	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	60	Running	0
3	14	41	Kurt Busch	Stewart-Haas Racing	Chevrolet	60	Running	0
4	5	27	Paul Menard	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	60	Running	0
5	6	33	Brian Scott	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	60	Running	0
6	13	21	Trevor Bayne	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	60	Running	0
7	12	42	Kyle Larson (R)	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	60	Running	0
8	1	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Furniture Row Racing	Chevrolet	60	Running	1
9	16	40	Landon Cassill	Hillman-Circle Sport LLC	Chevrolet	60	Running	0
10	10	15	Clint Bowyer	Michael Waltrip Racing	Toyota	60	Running	0
11	19	1	Jamie McMurray	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	60	Running	0
12	21	32	Terry Labonte	Go FAS Racing	Ford	60	Running	0
13	22	52	Bobby Labonte	HScott Motorsports	Chevrolet	60	Running	0
14	8	13	Casey Mears	Germain Racing	Chevrolet	60	Running	2
15	2	99	Carl Edwards	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	60	Running	0
16	7	48	Jimmie Johnson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	59	Accident	0
17	20	34	David Ragan	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	59	Accident	0
18	17	66	Michael Waltrip	Michael Waltrip Racing	Toyota	59	Accident	0
19	23	83	Ryan Truex (R)	BK Racing	Toyota	59	Running	0
20	15	51	Justin Allgaier (R)	HScott Motorsports	Chevrolet	59	Running	0
21	9	7	Michael Annett (R)	Tommy Baldwin Racing	Chevrolet	59	Running	0
22	24	93	Morgan Shepherd	BK Racing	Toyota	59	Running	0
23	18	35	Eric McClure	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	57	Running	0
24	3	2	Brad Keselowski	Team Penske	Ford	57	Running	34

Footnotes

1. Driver started at the rear of the field, for changing to a backup car post-qualifying.
2. Tony Stewart started at the rear of the field, for a post-qualifying engine change.
3. Dave Blaney withdrew from the Daytona 500 after wrecking his primary car in the pre-qualifying practice session. He was unable to secure a backup car.

References

1. "Daytona International Speedway". NASCAR.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC. January 3, 2013. Retrieved October 11, 2014.
2. "Qualifying Results". MRN.com. Motor Racing Network. February 17, 2014. Archived from the original on May 26, 2013. Retrieved February 21, 2014.
3. "Budweiser Duel 1 Lineup". MRN.com. Motor Racing Network. February 20, 2014. Archived from the original on May 30, 2013. Retrieved February 21, 2014.
4. "Budweiser Duel 2 Lineup". MRN.com. Motor Racing Network. February 20, 2014. Archived from the original on February 22, 2013. Retrieved February 21, 2014.
5. "Third Practice Results". MRN.com. Motor Racing Network. February 19, 2014. Archived from the original on October 20, 2014. Retrieved October 11, 2014.
6. "Fourth Practice Results". MRN.com. Motor Racing Network. February 19, 2014. Archived from the original on October 20, 2014. Retrieved October 11, 2014.
7. "Budweiser Duel 1 Results". MRN.com. Motor Racing Network. February 20, 2014. Archived from the original on October 20, 2014. Retrieved October 11, 2014.
8. "Budweiser Duel 2 Results". MRN.com. Motor Racing Network. February 20, 2014. Archived from the original on October 20, 2014. Retrieved October 11, 2014.
9. "Race Tracks". NASCAR. Turner Sports. Archived from the original on June 28, 2011. Retrieved February 21, 2013.
10. "Daytona International Speedway Track Facts". Daytona International Speedway. Archived from the original on October 16, 2012. Retrieved February 21, 2013.
11. Long, Dustin (February 19, 2014). "Wild Ride for Kligerman". MRN.com. Motor Racing Network. Archived from the original on October 20, 2014. Retrieved October 11, 2014.
12. Long, Dustin (February 20, 2014). "Kenseth, Hamlin Duel Winners". MRN.com. Motor Racing Network. Archived from the original on October 20, 2014. Retrieved October 11, 2014.
13. Long, Dustin (February 20, 2014). "Harvick's Car Fails Inspection". MRN.com. Motor Racing Network. Archived from the original on October 20, 2014. Retrieved October 11, 2014.