2009 Gatorade Duels

The 2009 Gatorade Duels were a pair of 150 miles (240 km) qualifying races for the 2009 Daytona 500, and were held on February 12, 2009, at the 2.5 miles (4.0 km) Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida.

The races set the field for the 51st running of "The Great American Race", and are the only races in the NASCAR Sprint Cup that qualifies drivers and their teams for a points-paying race. The top 35 drivers from the previous season automatically made "The Great American Race" regardless of position. Race one sets the field for spaces on the inside of the pole sitter (in this case, Martin Truex, Jr.), which is locked in via the traditional two-lap process on February 8, while race two sets the field on the outside behind other front row driver. The field for race one consisted of the cars that qualified in odd-numbered positions (1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, etc.) and race two conversely saw cars that qualified in even-numbered positions (2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, etc.). All starting positions for the 500 were determined by the duels, except for the front row which is locked in after qualifying. In the races, the top two finishers not in the Top 35 from the previous season automatically qualify. The remaining cars are locked in via qualifying speeds, point owners exemptions and (if needed) a past champion's provisional going to the most recent past champion.

For the third consecutive year, a driver each from Joe Gibbs Racing and Hendrick Motorsports won the Duels.

Both races had spectacular finishes. In the first duel, Jeff Gordon beat out Tony Stewart, Joey Logano, Jimmie Johnson and Aric Almirola. That group was within .40 of a second within each other on the last lap. Race two had Kyle Busch holding off Mark Martin and Brian Vickers by .26 of a second over Martin and .264 of Vickers.

Results
Top ten finishers
Race #1 Race #2
Finish Car # Driver Team Make Finish Car # Driver Team Make
124Jeff GordonHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet118Kyle BuschJoe Gibbs RacingToyota
214Tony StewartStewart-Haas RacingChevrolet25Mark MartinHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet
348Jimmie JohnsonHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet383Brian VickersTeam Red BullToyota
420Joey LoganoJoe Gibbs RacingToyota442Juan Pablo MontoyaEarnhardt Ganassi RacingChevrolet
58Aric AlmirolaEarnhardt Ganassi RacingChevrolet511Denny HamlinJoe Gibbs RacingToyota
62Kurt BuschPenske Championship RacingDodge696Bobby LabonteHall of Fame RacingFord
79Kasey KahneRichard Petty MotorsportsDodge788Dale Earnhardt, Jr.Hendrick MotorsportsChevrolet
836Scott RiggsTommy Baldwin RacingToyota899Carl EdwardsRoush Fenway RacingFord
998Paul MenardYates RacingFord941Jeremy MayfieldJeremy Mayfield RacingToyota
1026Jamie McMurrayRoush Fenway RacingFord1044A. J. AllmendingerPetty MotorsportsDodge

Those in boldface were qualified as top two finishers not in 2008 owner points top 35 exemptions.
Also making race on speed: Bill Elliott (#21), Regan Smith (#78), Travis Kvapil (#28).
Making race using champions provisional: Terry Labonte (#66).

Did not qualify
Failed to make race
Race 1 Race 2
Joe Nemechek (#87) Mike Wallace (#71)
Brad Keselowski (#09) Kelly Bires (#51)
Mike Skinner (#23). Derrike Cope (#75)
Carl Long (#46) Norm Benning (#57)
Kirk Shelmerdine (#27) Mike Garvey (#73)
Tony Raines (#37) Geoffrey Bodine (#64)
Boris Said (#08)

References
    This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.