2015 Budweiser Duels

Last updated
2015 Budweiser Duels
Race details [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]
Location Daytona International Speedway
Daytona Beach, Florida
CoursePermanent racing facility
2.5 mi (4 km)
DistanceRace 1:
60 laps, 150 mi (240 km)
Race 2:
64 laps, 160 mi (256 km)
Avg SpeedRace 1 144.462 mph (232.489 km/h)
Race 2 144.724 mph (232.911 km/h)
WeatherClear skies with a temperature of 41 °F (5 °C); wind out of the WNW at 8 mph (13 km/h)
Race 1
Pole position Jeff Gordon (W)
Most laps led Matt Kenseth (W)(32)
Winner Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (W)
Race 2
Pole position Jimmie Johnson (W)
Most laps led Jimmie Johnson (W)(40)
Winner Jimmie Johnson (W)
Television
Network Fox Sports 1 & MRN
Announcers Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds (Television)
Joe Moore and Jeff Striegle (Booth)
Dave Moody (1 & 2), Mike Bagley (Backstretch) and Kyle Rickey (3 & 4) (Turns) (Radio)

The 2015 Budweiser Duels were a pair of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car races that were held on February 19, 2015, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Both contested over 60 laps, they were the qualifying races for the 2015 Daytona 500. Hendrick Motorsports swept both races, with Dale Earnhardt, Jr. winning the first Duel and Jimmie Johnson winning the second Duel.

Contents

Report

Background

Daytona International Speedway, where the races were held. Daytona International Speedway.svg
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. [12] The standard track at Daytona International Speedway is a four-turn superspeedway that is 2.5 miles (4.0 km) long. [13] The track's turns are banked at 31  degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked at 18 degrees. [13]

Practice

First practice (February 14)

Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 44.413 and a speed of 202.643 mph (326.122 km/h). [14]

PosNo.DriverTeamManufacturerTimeSpeed
117 Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 44.413202.643
29 Sam Hornish, Jr. Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 44.512202.193
36 Trevor Bayne (W) Roush Fenway Racing Ford 44.512202.193
Official first practice results

Second practice (February 14)

Michael McDowell was the fastest in the second practice session with a time of 45.153 and a speed of 199.322 mph (320.778 km/h). [15] Ryan Newman was forced to change engines after blowing one half an hour into the session. [16] He will have to start from the rear in one of the Duel races. [16] Martin Truex, Jr. also dealt with engine gremlins due to a crack in his car's oil pan, but did not change engines. [16]

PosNo.DriverTeamManufacturerTimeSpeed
195 Michael McDowell Leavine Family Racing Ford 45.153199.322
248 Jimmie Johnson (W) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 45.155199.314
333 Ty Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 45.158199.300
Official second practice results

Pole qualifying

"I wasn't behind the 44 [Sorenson]. He came flying around, come up on the apron, jumps in front of me, then runs over the 51 [Allgaier], stacks us all up and then I run into him. It's idiotic to be out here doing this anyway. There's no sense in being able to try to put on some cute show for whatever the hell this is. Then you have a guy out there doing this in desperation. There's no reason to be out here. These guys have spent six months working on these cars, busting their butts on these cars. But it ain't his fault. It's NASCAR's fault for putting us out in the middle of this crap for nothing. We used to come down here and worry about who would set on the front pole in the biggest race of the year. Now all we do is come down here and worry about how a start‑and‑park like this out of desperation is going to knock us out of the Daytona 500. We've been in meetings for 45 minutes just trying to figure out what in the hell everybody is going to do just so we can make the race. It's stupid. There's no sense in doing this."

Clint Bowyer, after his incident in qualifying. [17]

The pole qualifying took place at 1:00 p.m. Eastern time on Sunday, February 15, a week prior to the Daytona 500 race itself. For the first time in the history of the Daytona 500, NASCAR eliminated the traditional single car qualifying format for the pole qualifying and introduced the Formula One-style knockout qualifying format, first introduced in the 2014 season. Unlike the other tracks however, the pole qualifying consists of three sessions of five minutes each, first introduced in the fall Talladega race:

The top two times in the final qualifying session will be locked in the front row of the Daytona 500 starting grid, while the other 41 starting spots would be determined by the two Budweiser Duels the following Thursday.

In what will be his final Daytona 500 start, Jeff Gordon won the pole with a time of 44.711 and a speed of 201.293 mph (323.950 km/h). [18] Gordon felt that in the new qualifying format, "the driver finally gets to play a role". He also stated that he had "a fast race car" and that the pole position was "one of the most gratifying poles I've had, not just because it's my final Daytona". [18] His teammate Jimmie Johnson will start right alongside in 2nd. In the first round of qualifying, Clint Bowyer tried to go under Reed Sorenson when he got hit in the rear by Carl Edwards and turned right into Sorenson. Both cars slammed the wall and collected Bobby Labonte and J. J. Yeley. Denny Hamlin may have taken some damage. The session was red flagged with a minute and 22 seconds left. After the red flag was lifted, no one was able to make it back to the line before time expired. Upon exiting his car, Bowyer vented his frustrations at the Daytona qualifying procedure. [17]

The cars of Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Denny Hamlin failed post-qualifying inspection and will start from the rear of the field in their respective Duel races. [19] Earnhardt's car was found to be too low on the left front, [19] while the track bar on Hamlin's car was found to be 3–3.75 inches (76–95 mm) beyond the maximum allowed. [19] Both drivers expressed thoughts on Twitter post-penalties, with both looking forward to moving up the order in the Duels. [19]

Qualifying results

PosNo.DriverTeamManufacturerR1R2R3Grid
124 Jeff Gordon (W) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 45.13844.70044.7111 (1)
248 Jimmie Johnson (W) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 44.48944.57144.7461 (2)
311 Denny Hamlin [N 1] Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 45.03644.59044.79124 (2)
420 Matt Kenseth (W) Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 44.86544.99644.9522 (1)
518 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 44.72845.00144.9582 (2)
65 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 44.84545.11345.0303 (1)
719 Carl Edwards Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 45.84545.00945.4923 (2)
833 Ty Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 45.37844.84845.5684 (1)
93 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 45.07944.75245.6944 (2)
1088 Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (W) [N 1] Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 44.80645.01746.13525 (1)
111 Jamie McMurray (W) Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 44.50044.63246.6005 (1)
1278 Martin Truex, Jr. Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 45.37645.05947.2005 (2)
1383 Johnny Sauter BK Racing Toyota 45.09645.4046 (1)
1416 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 45.20945.5756 (2)
156 Trevor Bayne (W) Roush Fenway Racing Ford 45.21945.6267 (1)
169 Sam Hornish, Jr. Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 45.19945.6297 (2)
1743 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 44.47345.6398 (1)
1817 Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 44.48145.7288 (2)
192 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 45.21246.5469 (1)
2021 Ryan Blaney Wood Brothers Racing Ford 45.20746.5649 (2)
2122 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 45.26946.57410 (1)
2255 Michael Waltrip (W) Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 44.68947.24010 (2)
2323 J. J. Yeley BK Racing Toyota 45.1680.00011 (1)
2432 Bobby Labonte Go FAS Racing Ford 45.2110.00011 (2)
2527 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 45.38012 (1)
267 Alex Bowman Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 45.40212 (2)
2747 A. J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 45.40613 (1)
2831 Ryan Newman (W) Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 45.41413 (2)
294 Kevin Harvick (W) Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 45.45614 (1)
3041 Kurt Busch Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 45.46014 (2)
3114 Tony Stewart Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 45.46215 (1)
3210 Danica Patrick Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 45.46415 (2)
3313 Casey Mears Germain Racing Chevrolet 45.46716 (1)
3462 Brian Scott Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 45.49416 (2)
3546 Michael Annett HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 45.78917 (1)
3651 Justin Allgaier HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 45.79417 (2)
3742 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 46.01518 (1)
3838 David Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 46.07218 (2)
3995 Michael McDowell Leavine Family Racing Ford 46.08319 (1)
4026 Jeb Burton (R) BK Racing Toyota 46.15319 (2)
4115 Clint Bowyer Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 46.15520 (1)
4244 Reed Sorenson Team XTREME Racing Chevrolet 46.15920 (2)
4329 Justin Marks RAB Racing Toyota 46.23121 (1)
4434 David Ragan Front Row Motorsports Ford 46.28421 (2)
4535 Cole Whitt Front Row Motorsports Ford 46.38922 (1)
4698 Josh Wise Phil Parsons Racing Ford 46.53922 (2)
4740 Landon Cassill Hillman-Circle Sport LLC Chevrolet 46.56023 (1)
4866 Mike Wallace Premium Motorsports Toyota 46.75123 (2)
4930 Ron Hornaday, Jr. The Motorsports Group Chevrolet 47.17224 (1)
Official qualifying results
KeyMeaning
(1)Race One
(2)Race Two

Practice (post-qualifying)

Third practice (February 18)

Kyle Busch was the fastest in the third practice session with a time of 44.826 and a speed of 200.776 mph (323.118 km/h). [20] During this session, there was a four car wreck on the backstretch that involved Michael Annett, Jeb Burton, Denny Hamlin and Danica Patrick. [21] It started when Hamlin pulled out of line and Patrick tried to follow him, but made contact with the right-front corner of Hamlin's car when she over-corrected and hit the wall. Michael Annett tried to go high around Patrick on the outside when he got turned by Jeb Burton. Patrick, Annett and Burton all switched to backup cars. [21] After the incident, Patrick stated that her car "sort of just started turning toward the right, the back end was coming around and it swapped ends" and that Hamlin was trying to "make a third lane in the middle and it felt like it must have caught my bumper". [21] Hamlin felt that Patrick had intended to block his path, stating that a driver has "to give a little bit of extra room in practice" and that if he "had to guess, she probably saw in her mirror that I was going down there and tried to stay in front of me". [21]

PosNo.DriverTeamManufacturerTimeSpeed
118 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 44.826200.776
248 Jimmie Johnson (W) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 44.881200.530
36 Trevor Bayne (W) Roush Fenway Racing Ford 44.988200.053
Official third practice results

Fourth practice (February 18)

Alex Bowman was the fastest in the fourth practice session with a time of 44.889 and a speed of 200.495 mph (322.665 km/h). [22]

PosNo.DriverTeamManufacturerTimeSpeed
17 Alex Bowman Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 44.889200.495
25 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 44.897200.459
36 Trevor Bayne (W) Roush Fenway Racing Ford 44.913200.387
Official fourth practice results

Final practice (February 19)

Kyle Larson was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 46.705 and a speed of 192.699 mph (310.119 km/h). [23] This session had only five drivers take part in it doing single car runs.

PosNo.DriverTeamManufacturerTimeSpeed
142 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 46.705192.699
235 Cole Whitt Front Row Motorsports Ford 47.192190.710
346 Michael Annett HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 47.344190.098
Official fifth practice results

Races

Race One

First-half

Start

The first race started at 7:19 p.m. Eastern time when Jeff Gordon led the field to the green. Matt Kenseth took the lead with the bottom lane to lead lap one. The first caution of the race flew on lap 17 after Casey Mears blew an engine in turn 1. Kenseth and Gordon swapped the lead on pit road, and Gordon exited as the leader for the restart on lap 24. Michael Annett was forced to drop to the end of the longest line because his crew was over the wall too soon.

Trouble in the tri-oval

Kenseth used the bottom line and jumped in front of Gordon to take back the lead on lap 26, just ahead of the race's second caution when Johnny Sauter crashed in the tri-oval, following contact with A. J. Allmendinger, while Aric Almirola also picked up some damage to his car. [24]

Sauter stated that he was "just riding along" and that he was "trying to mind my business" before the contact with Allmendinger, with the point of impact being "in the left rear quarter panel". He also stated that it was "a bummer deal" for himself and his BK Racing team. [24] Sauter and Allmendinger did however, make the starting lineup for the race, on their qualifying speeds. Allmendinger apologised for the contact with Sauter, while stating that his JTG Daugherty Racing car was fast, while also criticizing the racing that was occurring, stating that he "was trying to stay out of trouble and got put in the middle and I was trying to bail out of the middle". [24] Michael McDowell dropped to the end of the longest line, for the restart on lap 33, after his crew was over the wall too soon.

Second-half

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. used a slight push from the bottom line to take the lead on lap 35. Kenseth took the lead back from Earnhardt on the bottom to take back the lead on lap 39. On lap 43, Earnhardt used a slingshot move to overtake Kenseth for good. The third caution of the race flew on lap 51 when Trevor Bayne got loose, came down on Kyle Larson and hit the wall in turn 1. During this period, Ty Dillon broke his gear shifter. The race restarted with five laps to go and Earnhardt, Jr. held off Jeff Gordon to win race one. [25] Earnhardt praised the work of his spotter TJ Majors in victory lane, stating that he "gave me the information I needed to make the moves I needed" and that he was "looking forward to getting to Sunday and trying to get another Daytona 500 win". [25] Dillon, finished 16th after the gearshift issues, and was able to make the field. He described the result as "hard to explain" and that he had "been coming here since I was a kid watching my grandfather's cars race". [25] Ron Hornaday, Jr. and Justin Marks failed to make the race. [26]

Results

PosGridNo.DriverTeamManufacturerLaps
12588 Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (W) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 60
2124 Jeff Gordon (W) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 60
31022 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 60
41514 Tony Stewart Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 60
52015 Clint Bowyer Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 60
6144 Kevin Harvick (W) Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 60
735 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 60
851 Jamie McMurray (W) Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 60
92340 Landon Cassill Hillman-Circle Sport LLC Chevrolet 60
102235 Cole Whitt Front Row Motorsports Ford 60
111227 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 60
121995 Michael McDowell Leavine Family Racing Ford 60
131123 J. J. Yeley BK Racing Toyota 60
141746 Michael Annett HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 60
151842 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 60
16433 Ty Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 60
17220 Matt Kenseth (W) Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 60
182129 Justin Marks RAB Racing Toyota 60
1992 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 60
20843 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 60
212430 Ron Hornaday, Jr. The Motorsports Group Chevrolet 60
2276 Trevor Bayne (W) Roush Fenway Racing Ford 60
231347 A. J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 27
24683 Johnny Sauter BK Racing Toyota 27
251613 Casey Mears Germain Racing Chevrolet 17

Race 2

First-half

Start

Before the start, Josh Wise stalled at the entrance of pit road and took his car to the garage. This ultimately eliminated him from racing in the Daytona 500. The second race started 18 minutes late at 9:19 p.m. with Jimmie Johnson leading the field to the green flag. Kyle Busch took the lead on lap one. The first caution of the race flew on lap 19 for a spin by David Ragan, exiting turn 4. Ragan had cut across the nose of Justin Allgaier and got turned down onto the apron, making contact with the inside wall. Kyle Busch was first off pit road, but he was caught speeding on pit road and was forced to drop to the end of the line, allowing Johnson to retake the lead for the restart, on lap 25. Allgaier was also sent to the rear, as his pit crew came across the wall too soon.

Second-half

The second caution of the race flew on lap 37 for a multi-car wreck in the tri-oval. It started exiting turn 4 when Jeb Burton turned down into Sam Hornish, Jr. who turned into Alex Bowman. Austin Dillon destroyed his splitter driving through the grass trying to avoid the wreck, which caused the race to be red flagged for five minutes. Neither Bowman nor Burton qualified for the Daytona 500. The race restarted with 20 laps to go. With 14 laps to go, Kurt Busch was given a drive-through penalty for passing below the double yellow line. The third caution of the race flew with three laps to go for a four car wreck in turn 3. Denny Hamlin gave Danica Patrick a push which turned her around and collected Brian Scott and Bobby Labonte. Scott failed to qualify for the Daytona 500 as a result, while Labonte relied upon a past champion's provisional to get into the race.

Finish

In a green–white–checker finish, Johnson held off a last lap charge by Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards to win the race. [27] Johnson defined the Speedweeks at Daytona as "awesome" for his Hendrick Motorsports team, sweeping the Duels and the front row for the Daytona 500. Johnson also called his car as "mad fast". [27] Patrick confronted Hamlin on pit road after the race. [27] After the confrontation, Patrick told reporters that she had "no explanation for that", while also stating Hamlin was in the wrong by believing "that he's taking the air and getting it off the spoiler, and he's not squared up either". [27]

Results

PosGridNo.DriverTeamManufacturerLaps
1148 Jimmie Johnson (W) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 64
2218 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 64
3319 Carl Edwards Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 64
4616 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 64
5578 Martin Truex, Jr. Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 64
6921 Ryan Blaney Wood Brothers Racing Ford 64
72044 Reed Sorenson Team XTREME Racing Chevrolet 64
82366 Mike Wallace Premium Motorsports Toyota 64
91729 Justin Marks RAB Racing Toyota 64
101510 Danica Patrick Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 64
111331 Ryan Newman (W) Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 64
121441 Kurt Busch Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 64
131838 David Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 64
142134 David Ragan Front Row Motorsports Ford 64
1543 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 64
16817 Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 64
171662 Brian Scott Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 64
182411 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 64
191055 Michael Waltrip (W) Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 64
201132 Bobby Labonte Go FAS Racing Ford 60
2179 Sam Hornish, Jr. Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 36
221926 Jeb Burton (R) BK Racing Toyota 36
23127 Alex Bowman Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 36
242298 Josh Wise Phil Parsons Racing Ford 1

Media

Television

Fox Sports 1
Booth announcersPit reporters
Lap-by-lap: Mike Joy
Color-commentator: Larry McReynolds
Color commentator: Darrell Waltrip
Matt Yocum
Jamie Little
Chris Neville

Radio

MRN Radio
Booth announcersTurn announcersPit reporters
Lead announcer: Joe Moore
Announcer: Jeff Striegle
Turns 1 & 2: Dave Moody
Backstretch: Mike Bagley
Turns 3 & 4: Kyle Rickey
Winston Kelley
Steve Post
Alex Hayden

Notes

  1. 1 2 The qualifying times for Denny Hamlin and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. were disallowed post-qualifying, for technical infractions. They will start from the rear of the field in their respective Duel races. [19]

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The 2017 Can-Am Duels are a pair of Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series stock car races held on February 23, 2017, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Both contested over 60 laps, they were the qualifying races for the 2017 Daytona 500.

2018 Daytona 500

The 2018 Daytona 500, the 60th running of the event, was a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race held on February 18, 2018, contested over 207 laps—extended from 200 laps due to an overtime finish—on the 2.5-mile (4.0 km) asphalt superspeedway. It was the first race of the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season, and also marked the first race for the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 as Chevrolet's car for this season, replacing the SS. Austin Dillon of Richard Childress Racing won the race, Bubba Wallace making his first Daytona 500 start finished second while Denny Hamlin came in third. This was the last Daytona 500 starts for Danica Patrick, Trevor Bayne, Kasey Kahne, David Gilliland, Mark Thompson, BK Racing, Furniture Row Racing and D.J. Kennington.

2019 Daytona 500 61st running of NASCARs premier event, held at Daytona International Speedway in 2019

The 2019 Daytona 500, the 61st running of the event, was a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race held on February 17, 2019, Contested over 207 laps -- extended from 200 laps due to an overtime finish, on the 2.5-mile (4.0 km) asphalt superspeedway. After three multiple cars crash in the last 20 laps, only 19 of the 40 cars were running at the end of the race and only 14 completed every lap. It was the first race of the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season, and also marked the debut of the Ford Mustang, which Ford brought in as a replacement for the Fusion. This race was the final career start for Casey Mears.

2020 Daytona 500 62nd Running of the event, held in Daytona Beach, Florida

The 2020 Daytona 500, the 62nd running of the event, was a NASCAR Cup Series race held on February 16–17, 2020. It was contested over 209 laps -- extended from 200 laps due to an overtime finish, on the 2.5-mile (4.0 km) asphalt superspeedway. It was the first race of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season.

References

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