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.
Report
Background
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. The standard track at Daytona International Speedway is a four-turn superspeedway that is long. The track's turns are banked at 31 degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked at 18 degrees.
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 .
Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 44.413 202.643 2 9 Sam Hornish Jr. Ford 44.512 202.193 3 6 Trevor Bayne (W) Roush Fenway Racing Ford 44.512 202.193Official 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 . Ryan Newman was forced to change engines after blowing one half an hour into the session. He will have to start from the rear in one of the Duel races. Martin Truex Jr. also dealt with engine gremlins due to a crack in his car's oil pan, but did not change engines.
Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 95 Michael McDowell Leavine Family Racing Ford 45.153 199.322 2 48 Jimmie Johnson (W) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 45.155 199.314 3 33 Ty Dillon Chevrolet 45.158 199.300Official second practice results
Pole qualifying
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: NASCAR randomly split the field into two groups for session 1 (one group had 25 cars, the other had 24). Each group had its own five minutes of track time. The fastest 24 cars overall from either group will advance to session 2. After a ten-minute break, these 24 cars would get five minutes of track time for session 2. The qualifying times from session 1 would reset prior to the start of session 2. The fastest 12 cars in session 2 will advance to session 3. Following a seven-minute break, these 12 cars would then compete for the top two guaranteed spots in the final five-minute session. Again, the qualifying times from session 2 would reset prior to the start of session 3. 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 . 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". 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.
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. Earnhardt's car was found to be too low on the left front, while the track bar on Hamlin's car was found to be beyond the maximum allowed. Both drivers expressed thoughts on Twitter post-penalties, with both looking forward to moving up the order in the Duels.
Qualifying results Pos Driver Team Manufacturer 1 24 Jeff Gordon (W) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 45.138 44.700 44.711 1 (1) 2 48 Jimmie Johnson (W) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 44.489 44.571 44.746 1 (2) 3 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 45.036 44.590 44.791 24 (2) 4 20 Matt Kenseth (W) Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 44.865 44.996 44.952 2 (1) 5 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 44.728 45.001 44.958 2 (2) 6 5 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 44.845 45.113 45.030 3 (1) 7 19 Carl Edwards Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 45.845 45.009 45.492 3 (2) 8 33 Ty Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 45.378 44.848 45.568 4 (1) 9 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 45.079 44.752 45.694 4 (2) 10 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. (W) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 44.806 45.017 46.135 25 (1) 11 1 Jamie McMurray (W) Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 44.500 44.632 46.600 5 (1) 12 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 45.376 45.059 47.200 5 (2) 13 83 Johnny Sauter BK Racing Toyota 45.096 45.404 — 6 (1) 14 16 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 45.209 45.575 — 6 (2) 15 6 Trevor Bayne (W) Roush Fenway Racing Ford 45.219 45.626 — 7 (1) 16 9 Sam Hornish Jr. Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 45.199 45.629 — 7 (2) 17 43 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 44.473 45.639 — 8 (1) 18 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 44.481 45.728 — 8 (2) 19 2 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 45.212 46.546 — 9 (1) 20 21 Ryan Blaney Wood Brothers Racing Ford 45.207 46.564 — 9 (2) 21 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 45.269 46.574 — 10 (1) 22 55 Michael Waltrip (W) Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 44.689 47.240 — 10 (2) 23 23 J. J. Yeley BK Racing Toyota 45.168 0.000 — 11 (1) 24 32 Bobby Labonte Go FAS Racing Ford 45.211 0.000 — 11 (2) 25 27 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 45.380 — — 12 (1) 26 7 Alex Bowman Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 45.402 — — 12 (2) 27 47 A. J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 45.406 — — 13 (1) 28 31 Ryan Newman (W) Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 45.414 — — 13 (2) 29 4 Kevin Harvick (W) Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 45.456 — — 14 (1) 30 41 Kurt Busch Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 45.460 — — 14 (2) 31 14 Tony Stewart Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 45.462 — — 15 (1) 32 10 Danica Patrick Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 45.464 — — 15 (2) 33 13 Casey Mears Germain Racing Chevrolet 45.467 — — 16 (1) 34 62 Brian Scott Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 45.494 — — 16 (2) 35 46 Michael Annett HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 45.789 — — 17 (1) 36 51 Justin Allgaier HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 45.794 — — 17 (2) 37 42 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 46.015 — — 18 (1) 38 38 David Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 46.072 — — 18 (2) 39 95 Michael McDowell Leavine Family Racing Ford 46.083 — — 19 (1) 40 26 Jeb Burton (R) BK Racing Toyota 46.153 — — 19 (2) 41 15 Clint Bowyer Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 46.155 — — 20 (1) 42 44 Reed Sorenson Team XTREME Racing Chevrolet 46.159 — — 20 (2) 43 29 Justin Marks RAB Racing Toyota 46.231 — — 21 (1) 44 34 David Ragan Front Row Motorsports Ford 46.284 — — 21 (2) 45 35 Cole Whitt Front Row Motorsports Ford 46.389 — — 22 (1) 46 98 Josh Wise Phil Parsons Racing Ford 46.539 — — 22 (2) 47 40 Landon Cassill Hillman–Circle Sport Chevrolet 46.560 — — 23 (1) 48 66 Mike Wallace Premium Motorsports Toyota 46.751 — — 23 (2) 49 30 Ron Hornaday Jr. The Motorsports Group Chevrolet 47.172 — — 24 (1)Official qualifying results Key Meaning (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 . During this session, there was a four car wreck on the backstretch that involved Michael Annett, Jeb Burton, Denny Hamlin and Danica Patrick. 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. 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". 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".
Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 44.826 200.776 2 48 Jimmie Johnson (W) Chevrolet 44.881 200.530 3 6 Trevor Bayne (W) Roush Fenway Racing Ford 44.988 200.053Official 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 .
Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 7 Alex Bowman Chevrolet 44.889 200.495 2 5 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 44.897 200.459 3 6 Trevor Bayne (W) Roush Fenway Racing Ford 44.913 200.387Official 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 . This session had only five drivers take part in it doing single car runs.
Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 42 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 46.705 192.699 2 35 Cole Whitt Ford 47.192 190.710 3 46 Michael Annett HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 47.344 190.098Official 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.
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. 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". 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