Matt Kenseth passed his Roush Fenway Racing teammate Greg Biffle on the last lap to win the second Gatorade Duel qualifying race at Daytona International Speedway on Thursday.
Racing their way into the Daytona 500 were Dave Blaney and Joe Nemechek. SPEED analyst Kenny Wallace struggled with fuel pressure in his RAB Racing Toyota and was unable to transfer into the 500.
Unlike the first Duel, Thursday’s second race was a much calmer affair early on, with the race going green the entire way.
Most of the field pitted between laps 38 and 42, setting up a late-race shootout.
Biffle, who qualified second for the Daytona 500, led 36 of the first 55 laps and was out front as the race wound down.
But with one to go, Kenseth took the lead, with Jimmie Johnson behind. Johnson and Regan Smith made contact on the backstretch, with Kenseth winning, ahead of Smith, Johnson, Elliott Sadler and Biffle.
A FULL REPORT WILL FOLLOW.
Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100.
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