Earnhardt wins Budweiser Duel 1

Another Daytona win for Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. came from the 25th and last starting position to win Duel 1 of the Budweiser Duel at Daytona. The win was Earnhardt's 15th fourth career Budweiser Duel win and 15th overall at Daytona International Speedway. The 2014 Daytona 500 winner will start Sunday's 57th running of the Great American Race third.

Jeff Gordon, Earnhardt's Hendrick Motorsports teammate and pole sitter Jeff Gordon came home second with Penske Racing's Joey Logano third. Tony Stewart was fourth, and Clint Bowyer fifth.

Two drivers, Justin Marks and Ron Hornaday were eliminated from the Daytona 500 based on the results of Duel 1.

Also locking in their spots for the Daytona 500 in the first Duel: Kevin Harvick, Kasey Kahne, Jamie McMurray, Landon Cassill, Cole Whitt, Paul Menard, Michael McDowell, JJ Yeley, Michael Annett and Kyle Larson. Those drivers finished sixth through 15th in the opening Duel. With Gordon in the top 15, Ty Dillon also locked in his spot by finishing 16th.

[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"]Casey Mears' engine expired on Lap 17 of the first Duel. Mears finished 25th in the first Duel and will likely need to rely on owner points to make the field for the Daytona 500.

Johnny Sauter went for a spin on Lap 27 through the infield and his No. 83 Toyota suffered heavy damage from that. AJ Allmendinger and Aric Almirola also suffered some damage in the incident. Almirola had the fastest time in all the rounds of group qualifying so he is locked into the Daytona 500 while Allmendinger should get into the race based on his spot in the owner points (13th). Sauter will likely need some help to get into the main event.

Trevor Bayne, who was celebrating his 24th birthday on Thursday and is a past Daytona 500 winner, got loose with some contact from Kyle Larson on Lap 52 and smacked the wall in Turn 2. Bayne's team has Carl Edwards' owner points from the No. 99 car and worst case, would likely make the Daytona 500 field that way.

Drivers that needed to race their way in and failed to were: Justin Marks and Ron Hornaday Jr

Budweiser Duel 2 is up next. Two-time Daytona 500 winner Jimmie Johnson will start from pole.

Quotes

CASEY MEARS, NO. 13 GEICO CHEVROLET SS – SIDELINED WITH ENGINE FAILURE
CAN YOU SUM UP YOUR FEELINGS RIGHT NOW?
"No. There are so many things that are so cool about this race track yet there are so many things that are out of your control. When we have something like this happen, it's difficult. I don't know. It doesn't look good obviously. I'm guessing we're going home unless something major happens in the second race or in this one. I don’t even know what to say. It rips your heart out. We're so good at these places yet these are the places where anything can happen, and 'anything' happened tonight. All we can do is hope and pray that things fall badly for other people. You don’t want that to happen either. This is a great group of guys and unfortunately I’ve been through this in the same scenario but this doesn't make us better at it. There's a lot of year left. Hopefully something crazy happens and we get in."

AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 47 KROGER/USO CHEVROLET SS – Involved in a multi-car accident on lap 27
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS? 
"Just disappointed. The Kroger/USO Chevy was fast. It was fun running up front. Just got stuck in the middle there and I don’t know if I moved up just a little bit and got the No. 83 (Johnny Sauter) or what happened. If I did it's my apologies. It was just tough trying to get out of the middle. The car was fast. It just sucks I hate this racing, I really do. Hopefully we get in the (Daytona) 500. If we do we will have a back-up car. The guys will work hard. I was trying to do the right things. I was trying to stay out of the trouble and I got put in the middle. I was trying to bail out of the middle. I didn’t want to be there. It was too early for that and just like I said, gee I need to see a replay. If I got into the No. 83 that is my bad. That is just the way this racing is."

WHAT HAPPENED? "
I’m not really sure. The Kroger/USO Chevy was really fast. I was having fun battling up front for the lead. I don't know what I did on the pit stop. We lost about eight spots. I think I was a little too easy trying to get in with the new rules. I got stuck in the middle and was trying to get out. I didn't want to be in there and it was too early in the race. If I got into Johnny (Sauter) in the No. 83 – I don't know if he moved up or I moved down. If I did, then that’s my bad. I was trying to get out and crashed. That's about it. It's just disappointing. Hopefully we'll be in the 500. The guys have worked hard. I didn't want to make them work harder. If we're not in the 500, then that’s all on me."

DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CHEVROLET SS – Budweiser Duel #1 Winner
YOU WIN THIS WITH YOUR NEW CREW CHIEF GREG IVES THAT HAS TO FEEL GREAT FOR YOU AND THIS TEAM: 
"Yeah it does. We have had a great car all week. I’m so glad to be able to get through the Duel in one piece because I know how good this race car is. We have a couple more practices to go through and try to stay out of trouble during those and put this thing on the grid. We are going to have a fun day on Sunday. We had to do a lot of blocking there at the end, but those guys were mounting some pretty hard charges. We made a lot of good moves tonight because the car is so good. TJ Majors (spotter) deserves a ton of credit for helping us win that race tonight. He called a great spotting job up on top of the hill there. He gave me all the information I needed to make the moves I needed to kind of keep them guys behind me. It was hard to keep them all back there they were stacking up."

FIRST OFF, CONGRATULATIONS.
"We had an awesome Nationwide Chevrolet. This crew has built an amazing race car. I don’t think I've had a car this good since 2004. It’s way better than last year’s car. I'm so excited to get through the dual and put the car on the grid for Sunday. We have some practices to get through but we'll be safe and put a good, fast race car on the grid. It's going to be a great Daytona 500. There's so much power out there and so many good race cars. It's going to be an awesome race. I'm proud of my crew. I'm proud of T.J. Majors. He did a great job spotting tonight. But these guys built an awesome race car. Everybody at Hendrick Motorsports… they should bronze this thing. It's amazing."

THE RACING, HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE IT?
"We had a fast race car so I could make some fun moves and could depend on my car to complete the moves. I saw that in practice a little bit too, so I was happy about my car. Leading though, I don't think anyone is safe. We had to make some aggressive moves at the end. That’s kind of out of character to drive that way but it was what I needed to do to win the race. You have to throw some pretty hard blocks when it comes down to it at the end. I don't think it’s necessary early in the race. Near the end of the race, everyone is pretty vulnerable out front. These cars give some pretty good runs. So I think we'll see a lot of passing and a great race Sunday."

FINALLY, GREG IVES IN VICTORY LANE. HOW IMPORTANT IS THAT TO GET THE NEW CREW CHIEF IN VICTORY LANE?
"It's going to give him some confidence. They should be real proud of the car they built. When you come down here, you have to drive the thing a little bit but you depend on the car so much. The car is a bigger part of the equation. The whole company should be really proud of the car they have here with the Nationwide Chevrolet. All the cars they built are doing real good."

GREG IVES, CREW CHIEF, NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CHEVROLET SS
"It's pretty awesome what this group can do. Everybody at the Hendrick shop… to see what they can produce is pretty awesome. All four cars are going to be starting 1-2-3. That's pretty awesome."

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 2ND
THIS IS ABOUT AS GOOD A ‘PRACTICE’ SESSION YOU COULD GET. HOW MUCH DID YOU LEARN ABOUT THIS CAR AND WHAT IT WILL DO WITH THIS SIZE OF A DRAFT? "Of course you always want to win the race. Congrats to Dale Jr. He drove a great race, was aggressive and made some good moves. I thought we worked really well together. Our Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet is excellent. That’s exactly what we ended to come out of this race with – other than the win – is a really good session like that where we're dicing it up, running three-wide and seeing what we’re driving like even though it' a little cooler conditions than what we’ll see Sunday. Overall it was a really, really good test session for us to come away with a good result and a car in one piece so I can take the green flag with this race car from the pole on Sunday. That’s awesome."

YOU MENTIONED JUNIOR. WHAT OTHER DRIVER-CAR COMBINATIONS DID YOU FIND WERE THE STRONG ONES THAT YOU’LL HAVE TO CONTEND WITH SUNDAY? "f course, Matt Kenseth. He' been really strong this whole week and was strong today other than the one time he got shuffled back. There at the end, everyone looked strong. The 22 (Joey Logano), the 4 (Kevin Harvick), the 1 (Jamie McMurray) was strong early in the race. Definitely Kasey Kahne my teammate was strong. I' looking forward to watching this second race. I'm glad I survived the first one. Now we can go relax a little bit and go work on it some more the next couple days to get ready for Sunday."

TONY STEWART, NO. 14 BASS PRO SHOPS/MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 4TH:
PRETTY GOOD COMEBACK AFTER THE EARLIER INCIDENT"
I think we have a pretty good race car, but I cost them a little extra work having to work on the right side but its real minimal stuff and stuff they can fix so I am not too worried about it."

TY DILLON, NO. 33 CHEERIOS CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 16TH
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR YOU TO MAKE THE DAYTONA 500?
"It means so much. It's hard to explain. I've been coming here since I was a little kid watching my Grandfather's car race and win races. I feel like I have seen so much history go down here. I can’t thank Cheerios and Kroger and Joe Falk for the opportunity to allow myself to get my name in this race. I don’t know if people know, I love this sport and love the passion. I love what it takes to be a part of this and to put my name in its greatest race. We have no points so we are going to go for it. I learned a lot. Once I kind of got off the defensive side and just learning and got to the offensive side of driving these things in the pack I got a lot more comfortable and kind of got in my own zone and was able to pass more cars. I learned a lot and I’m in the Daytona 500. You don’t know how much this means to me. This is so awesome. This means a lot to me. I can’t thank Cheerios and Kroger and Chevrolet enough for the opportunity."

HOW NERVE WRACKING WAS THAT RACE FOR YOU KNOWING WHAT WAS ON THE LINE?
"It was hard. I want to be in it so bad. I have wanted to be a part of this for so long. It just meant a lot to me. Once I got comfortable and learned a little, I was excited and was able to play more offense than defense and really take off."

[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"]MICHAEL ANNETT, NO. 46 PILOT/FLYING J CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 14TH:
YOU’VE MADE THE GREAT AMERICAN RACE: 
"Yeah that is awesome I can finally maybe get a night of sleep, breathe a little bit. It was funny we took the checkered and the spotter said 'I've got you 14th on my view.' They said 'we have 14 on the monitor'. I was like 'alright what is confirmed?' We are in. That is awesome. These guys they had a heck of a month putting a team together in about two weeks, coming down here and then have to go to a back-up car yesterday. It is a testament to HScott Motorsports, Hendrick engines and this is awesome. I owe the No. 42 (Kyle Larson) a big thank you. He gave me a big shot down the backstretch. I’m glad to see he got in too. I would have felt bad if that shot pushed him out of the top 15. It worked out great. Now let's go watch our teammate the No. 51 (Justin Allgaier) get in."

LANDON CASSILL, NO. 40 CARSFORSALE.COM CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 9TH:
HOW WERE YOU ABLE TO GET YOURSELF IN POSITION TO RACE IN?
“It’s how restrictor plate racing works right now. It’s all about what is behind you and I really didn’t look out the windshield a whole lot the last couple of laps. I found the timing that I needed, that I felt I needed to have over the 20 car behind me. I just watched him in my mirror and anticipated his move. I told myself before this race that I felt like I needed to make leadership moves that would put the people behind me into a position where I made their decision for them. I felt like that was what I was trying to do with the 20 car and trying to make his decision to stay behind me, for him. Whether he liked it or not."

IT LOOKED LIKE AT THE END YOU HAD TO STAY IN FRONT OF MATT KENSETH TO PROTECT YOUR POSITION. TALK US THROUGH THOSE LAST COUPLE LAPS. “It’s just all about the cars behind you. There’s more horsepower behind you than in front of you. My spotter and I had been working on that all last year and it paid off with some top-five and top-15 finishes last year. The Hillman Racing and carsforsale.com Chevy… these guys have been working their butts off this car. I’m extremely proud to get them another Daytona 500 start."

WAS IT HARD TO GO UP THERE AND TRY AND DECIDE TO RACE AND GO UP THERE AND GET IN IT OR DID YOU BIDE YOUR TIME?
“I was biding my time a little bit, but not that much. The biggest thing was that I didn’t race the first half of the race right, and I realized that after the first couple of cautions. So I kind of made a plan for myself in how I needed to race the second half. It was much more aggressive and picked a different line and it allowed me to defend my spot a little bit better."

WHAT ARE YOUR EMOTIONS RIGHT NOW?
“I feel a whole weight of relief off of me right now."

ONCE AGAIN YOU ARE GOING TO BE IN THE DAYTONA 500: 
“It’s amazing. It’s an amazing relief. I’m extremely proud to be here. I’m proud for my team they worked really hard on this car. I felt like before the race the biggest thing I needed to focus on was to put myself in a position that made the cars behind me where I could control the decision they were making. That is kind of the spot that I got in at the end, where I needed Matt Kenseth’s help to keep me in the race. I knew I had to make that decision for him because he wasn’t going to do that on his own. It was some aggressive racing at the end. They definitely raced harder than I was expecting, but there is a lot on the line here. It’s an amazing feeling to be able to start the Daytona 500 and I can’t wait."

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