Kahne victorious in second Duel
Kasey Kahne won the second Gatorade Duel qualifying race for the Daytona 500, taking his first ever victory at Daytona
The Richard Petty Motorsports driver edged Tony Stewart (Stewart Haas) on the final lap, as the former champion took on some bump-drafting help from Earnhardt Ganassi's Juan Pablo Montoya on the outside line.
However that was not enough to beat Kahne's momentum on the inside, giving Ford its maiden victory with the new FR9 powerplant, which it currently does not plan to run in Sunday's Daytona 500.
Stewart finished second and only became a factor in the closing stages of the race, taking the lead with six laps remaining when Brian Vickers (Red Bull) got loose and hit the wall at the exit of Turn 3.
Montoya, who finished third, also led some laps in the early going, determinedly overtaking polesitter Dale Earnhardt Jr (Hendrick), before Penske's Brad Keselowski passed him a few laps later with help from his team-mate Kurt Busch.
The former champion led the most laps during the race and in the end crossed the line right behind Kahne in fourth and ahead of Kahne's RPM team-mate Elliott Sadler.
In the second half of the pack the battle for the two available spots for Sunday's race was even more interesting than the one up front, as Mike Bliss, Casey Mears, Bobby Labonte and Scott Speed alternated positions throughout.
In the end Bliss, who was running his back-up car after crashing his primary one in practice, finished 13th and earned the first spot. Behind him Speed grabbed the other one, and in doing so allowed Michael Waltrip to get into the race by virtue of his qualifying speed from last Saturday.
Also making the field thanks to their qualifying effort are Bill Elliott, Joe Nemechek and former champion Bobby Labonte.
Front row starter Earnhardt finished 21st in the end, with some damage to the right-rear quarter panel of his car.
Boris Said did not finish the race, but he had a start in the Daytona 500 guaranteed for the first time, thanks to his Latitude 43 team getting the top-35 owner points status from Jamie McMurray's #26 car from last year.
Teams will take part in two more practice sessions before Sunday's race.
Pos Driver Car Laps 1. Kasey Kahne Ford 60 2. Tony Stewart Chevrolet 60 3. Juan Montoya Chevrolet 60 4. Kurt Busch Dodge 60 5. Elliott Sadler Ford 60 6. Martin Truex Jr Toyota 60 7. Joey Logano Toyota 60 8. Marcos Ambrose Toyota 60 9. David Reutimann Toyota 60 10. Brian Vickers Toyota 60 11. Matt Kenseth Ford 60 12. Brad Keselowski Dodge 60 13. Mike Bliss Chevrolet 60 14. Scott Speed Toyota 60 15. Paul Menard Ford 60 16. Casey Mears Chevrolet 60 17. Bobby Labonte Chevrolet 60 18. David Gilliland Toyota 60 19. Robby Gordon Toyota 60 20. Derrike Cope Dodge 60 21. Dale Earnhardt Jr Chevrolet 60 22. Aric Almirola Chevrolet 60 23. Dave Blaney Toyota 60 24. Mike Wallace Dodge 60 25. Norm Benning Chevrolet 60 26. Sam Hornish Jr Dodge 58 27. Boris Said Ford 3
Daytona 500 line-up: Pos Driver Car 1. Mark Martin Chevrolet 2. Dale Earnhardt Jr Chevrolet 3. Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 4. Kasey Kahne Ford 5. Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 6. Tony Stewart Chevrolet 7. Kyle Busch Toyota 8. Juan Montoya Chevrolet 9. Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 10. Kurt Busch Dodge 11. Regan Smith Chevrolet 12. Elliott Sadler Ford 13. Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 14. Martin Truex Jr Toyota 15. AJ Allmendinger Ford 16. Joey Logano Toyota 17. Ryan Newman Chevrolet 18. Marcos Ambrose Toyota 19. David Ragan Ford 20. David Reutimann Toyota 21. Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 22. Brian Vickers Toyota 23. Greg Biffle Ford 24. Matt Kenseth Ford 25. Denny Hamlin Toyota 26. Brad Keselowski Dodge 27. Carl Edwards Ford 28. Mike Bliss Chevrolet 29. Michael McDowell Toyota 30. Scott Speed Toyota 31. Max Papis Toyota 32. Paul Menard Ford 33. John Andretti Ford 34. Robby Gordon Toyota 35. Travis Kvapil Ford 36. Sam Hornish Jr Dodge 37. Robert Richardson Jr Ford 38. Boris Said Ford 39. Jeff Burton Chevrolet 40. Bill Elliott Ford 41. Joe Nemechek Toyota 42. Bobby Labonte Chevrolet 43. Michael Waltrip Toyota Did not qualify: Casey Mears Chevrolet Todd Bodine Toyota David Gilliland Toyota Terry Cook Dodge Derrike Cope Dodge Aric Almirola Chevrolet Dave Blaney Toyota Reed Sorenson Toyota Mike Wallace Dodge Norm Benning Chevrolet Jeff Fuller Toyota
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