{"id":23367,"date":"2019-02-14T21:35:59","date_gmt":"2019-02-15T03:35:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=23367"},"modified":"2019-02-15T20:38:57","modified_gmt":"2019-02-16T02:38:57","slug":"kevin-harvick-joey-logano-lead-ford-sweeps-of-daytona-duel-qualifiers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2019\/02\/14\/kevin-harvick-joey-logano-lead-ford-sweeps-of-daytona-duel-qualifiers\/","title":{"rendered":"Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano lead Ford sweeps of Daytona Duel qualifiers"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. \u2013 Straight-line speed in qualifying is one thing. Speed and drivability in the draft is something quite different, as the Ford camp proved decisively in Thursday night\u2019s Gander RV Duel at Daytona 150-mile qualifying races at Daytona International Speedway.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Joey Logano, driver of the #22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, celebrates in victory lane after winning the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Gander RV Duel At DAYTONA #1 at Daytona International Speedway on February 14, 2019 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Kevin Harvick led the last 44 laps on Thursday night to win the first Duel and secure the third starting spot in Sunday\u2019s Daytona 500 (2:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).<\/p>\n

Reigning Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano captured the second Duel in much more dramatic fashion, charging from fourth to first on the final lap to beat Clint Bowyer to the finish line by .126 seconds.<\/p>\n

With a late pass of Tyler Reddick, who was already locked into for the Daytona 500 based on qualifying speed, Parker Kligerman earned the transfer spot into Sunday\u2019s race with a 12th-place finish in the first Duel.<\/p>\n

Brendan Gaughan grabbed the transfer position in the caution-free second Duel by finishing 15th, ahead of the Open cars of Casey Mears (who was already locked into the 500 on speed) and Joey Gase.<\/p>\n

In Duel No. 1, Harvick finished .165 seconds ahead of fellow Ford driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who edged Paul Menard at the line for the runner-up position. Matt DiBenedetto ran fourth, followed by Martin Truex Jr. and Bubba Wallace.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Joey Logano, driver of the #22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, leads a pack of cars during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Gander RV Duel At DAYTONA #1 at Daytona International Speedway on February 14, 2019 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Sean Gardner\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Aric Almirola ran third in the second Duel behind his Stewart-Haas Racing teammate, giving Ford drivers the top three positions in each of the Duels in the debut year of the Mustang in Cup racing\u2014a far cry from Sunday\u2019s time trials, where Chevrolets posted the five best laps in single-car runs.<\/p>\n

With two Mustangs behind him, Harvick didn\u2019t expect any outlandish moves in the closing laps of Duel 1.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just glad we finally came out on the right side of this, and everything\u2019s not tore up,\u201d said Harvick, who had finished fourth, third and second in his previous three Daytona qualifying races.<\/p>\n

The Duel victory was the first for Logano, who won the Daytona 500 in 2015. As the laps wound down, he was planning his move and got an assist from Team Penske teammate and drafting partner Ryan Blaney.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have the whole race to think about making a move, and we were all out there just waiting,\u201d Logano said. \u201cEveryone behind me really wanted to go, and I just knew that I had to wait. The later you can do it, the less the risk if it doesn’t work. I got a good run from the 12 (Blaney) behind me and went to the bottom and got a good run.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Joey Logano, driver of the #22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, crosses the finish line to win the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Gander RV Duel At DAYTONA #1 at Daytona International Speedway on February 14, 2019 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cWas able to side-draft the 10 (Almirola) and pull him back and just barely get enough to break that plane in front of the 14 and clear him up. From there I was just blocking to the finish. My spotter, TJ (Majors), did a great job feeding me all the information I needed to make a decision. We had a really fast Shell Pennzoil Mustang.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s cool to see a couple Mustangs in Victory Lane already. I hope it continues for the big race on Sunday. Great start for our race team. Off we go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bowyer led 41 laps. Logano led one\u2014the one that counted.<\/p>\n

A two-time Duel victor, and the winner of the 2007 Daytona 500, Harvick will start third in Sunday\u2019s race, with Stenhouse behind him in fifth and Menard in seventh. Logano claimed the fourth starting position with his victory. Bowyer will take the green in sixth, Almirola in eighth.<\/p>\n

Neither Stenhouse nor Menard could mount an effective challenge against Harvick in the closing laps of the first Duel.<\/p>\n

\u201cI spent the last 25 laps trying to figure out exactly what I was going to do,\u201d Stenhouse said. \u201cI think Paul was trying the same thing behind me. Paul would get a run on me out of the tri-oval. I felt like I’d get a run on Kevin out of the back straightaway. The 21 (Menard) wasn’t close enough to us, so I couldn’t make a move. Felt like I’d get stalled out.<\/p>\n

\u201cTried to back my entry up to the tri-oval. I was going to try it going into (Turn) 1. Nothing really materialized there. Down the back straightaway, the 21 went to go to the inside. I thought about blocking him. I felt like I could at least finish second if we stayed on the top. I was really kind of hoping the 19 (Truex) would have a little bit better run to get to us, maybe push us up close to the 4 (Harvick). Just nothing really materialized.\u201d<\/p>\n

For his part, Harvick felt his car was strong enough to keep Stenhouse and Menard behind him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were going to have to have a pretty big head of steam,\u201d Harvick said. \u201cThey were going to fill those holes pretty quick. Unless they had a huge head of steam, they weren’t going to clear me without a whole line of cars, unless the whole line was going to bail on me, which is highly possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I doubt they would have done that. I think at that particular time, especially in the qualifying races, everybody wants to win, but they don’t want to tear up their cars either. You want to put as little work as possible on your team, get to the race on Sunday. There’s still points on the line and a trophy. You had to be on your toes. Our car was fast enough to guard. They got side by side. That just slowed everything down.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a three-wide situation on Lap 26\u2014with Jimmie Johnson on the inside, Kyle Busch in the middle and Tyler Reddick on the outside\u2014Johnson\u2019s No. 48 Chevrolet moved up the track into the left rear quarter panel of Busch\u2019s Toyota, sending Busch spinning into the infield to cause the 60-lap race\u2019s only caution.<\/p>\n

After pitting with a flat tire and exiting alone, Busch soon lost a lap and ultimately finished 18th. But he teamed in a two-car draft with Kligerman, a fellow Toyota driver, to make the crucial pass of Reddick.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst of all, I have to thank Kyle Busch, us linking that TRD Toyota power together,\u201d Kligerman said. \u201cWithout him, there’s no way I get by Reddick.\u201d<\/p>\n

Daytona 500 pole winner William Byron, who did not compete in last Sunday\u2019s Advance Auto Parts Clash, dropped to the back mid-race and used the final lap for a practice pit stop before coming home 16th\u2014and preserving his car for the top starting spot in Sunday\u2019s Great American Race.<\/p>\n

Media Center Interviews:<\/h3>\n

Joey Logano – <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Brendan Gaughan and Clint Bowyer – <\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/DIS_MENCS_Duel2_Gaughan_Bowyer_021419.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Race – Gander RV Duel 2<\/strong><\/p>\n

Daytona International Speedway<\/strong><\/p>\n

Daytona Beach, Florida<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thursday, February 14, 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

                1. (3)  Joey Logano, Ford, 60.<\/p>\n

                2. (4)  Clint Bowyer, Ford, 60.<\/p>\n

                3. (9)  Aric Almirola, Ford, 60.<\/p>\n

                4. (6)  Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 60.<\/p>\n

                5. (10)  Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 60.<\/p>\n

                6. (8)  Ryan Blaney, Ford, 60.<\/p>\n

                7. (14)  Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 60.<\/p>\n

                8. (2)  Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 60.<\/p>\n

                9. (5)  Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 60.<\/p>\n

                10. (17)  Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 60.<\/p>\n

                11. (11)  David Ragan, Ford, 60.<\/p>\n

                12. (16)  Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 60.<\/p>\n

                13. (1)  Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 59.<\/p>\n

                14. (7)  Erik Jones, Toyota, 59.<\/p>\n

                15. (15)  Brendan Gaughan(i), Chevrolet, 59.<\/p>\n

                16. (19)  Corey LaJoie, Ford, 59.<\/p>\n

                17. (13)  Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 59.<\/p>\n

                18. (12)  Michael McDowell, Ford, 58.<\/p>\n

                19. (18)  Ross Chastain(i), Chevrolet, 57.<\/p>\n

                20. (21)  Joey Gase(i), Toyota, 57.<\/p>\n

                21. (20)  BJ McLeod(i), Chevrolet, 57.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Average Speed of Race Winner:  193.133 mph.<\/p>\n

Time of Race:  0 Hrs, 46 Mins, 36 Secs. Margin of Victory:  .126 Seconds.<\/p>\n

Caution Flags:  0 for  laps.<\/p>\n

Lead Changes:  4 among 4 drivers.<\/p>\n

Lap Leaders:   A. Bowman 1-11;C. Bowyer 12-13;*. Gaughan(i) 14-20;C. Bowyer 21-59;J. Logano 60.<\/p>\n

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  Clint Bowyer 2 times for 41 laps; Alex Bowman 1 time for 11 laps; * Brendan Gaughan(i) 1 time for 7 laps; Joey Logano 1 time for 1 lap.<\/p>\n

–30–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. \u2013 Straight-line speed in qualifying is one thing. Speed and drivability in the draft is something quite different, as the Ford camp proved decisively in Thursday night\u2019s Gander RV Duel at Daytona 150-mile qualifying races at Daytona International Speedway. Kevin Harvick led the last 44 laps on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":23360,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[287,154,16],"class_list":["post-23367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-daytona-international-speedway","tag-joey-logano","tag-nascar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/360175.jpg?fit=3093%2C2062&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-64T","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23367"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23367\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23369,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23367\/revisions\/23369"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}