Gordon: I'm not favourite

Gordon dominated the latter stages of the 64-lap event despite not needing any kind of result because he had already guaranteed himself a front-row start in Sunday's prestigious race thanks to last weekend's Pole Qualifying session.

The 34 year-old has already won three Daytona 500s and says he is only one of several potential front-runners for this weekend's race.

"I don't know how you can just pick one guy," Gordon said. "This is restrictor plate racing. There's strong cars out here. I felt like the 38 [Elliott Sadler] was really strong in that first race. You know, I know that Tony [Stewart] and [Dale Earnhardt] Junior and Jimmie [Johnson] and those guys who weren't in our race are going to be strong among a lot of other guys.

"I definitely think we're one of the guys, I think with our track record here at Daytona. With the performance that we've got going for us already this week, you know, I'd like to think that we're one of the favourites. But whether we're the guy to beat or not, we'll find out in the closing laps of the 500.

"We don't expect to be leading every single lap. There's only one that we really want to lead, but you got to be in position to do it. We're going to work over the next couple days on the little things that we learned today and the day before and through the Bud Shootout and make it that much better for Sunday."