Kyle Busch wins second Duel

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver broke out of line while running second to Martin on the backstretch with five laps remaining, getting a push from teammate Denny Hamlin.

After that he was able to remain in the lead while working with Hamlin, then could watch in his mirrors how the battle for second heated up as they approached the chequered flag.

"It sucked that Denny got bounced out there, but once I saw Mark coming - he had a fast race car too and probably had the car to beat and win this race, but we made the right moves," said Busch.

"Mark going to the high side in three and four and Jeff Dickerson being my spotter and spotting me just drove me right up there and kind of blocked him a little bit and then drove me down and blocked Brian Vickers there.

"It's the Gatorade Duels - if it was the Daytona 500 we probably would have been nosed up in the fence or something."

Martin crossed the line in second place after leading 36 of the 60 scheduled laps. He briefly lost first place at the start to Dale Earnhardt Jr but then got it back and held it until he was forced to pit for tyres and fuel with 14 laps to go.

The timing of his stop couldn't have been any better as the caution flag came out shortly after that when Ryan Newman crashed after being tapped by David Reutimann, allowing all the leaders to pit simultaneously while Martin stayed out to restart the race up front for the last eight laps.

After the JGR duo passed him he was able to remain in contention, but Busch was out of reach by the time he was able to get back to second place.

"What a great effort," said an excited Martin. "We are off to such a great start. I want to thank Rick Hendrick. I want to thank the race fans for supporting me. I wouldn't have this job if it weren't for all of our great race fans.

"I will tell you what, that put a smile on my face. This is a great race team and Rick Hendrick gave me a chance to drive this car and this is going to be the best year of my life.

Finishing third was Red Bull Toyota's Brian Vickers, who was a front-runner all race long, while Juan Pablo Montoya (Earnhardt Ganassi) was fourth having recovered from a long first stop which dropped him to the back of the field after he had run at the front in the first few laps. He then struggled for a while leading a second group of cars, waiting for a caution to come out in order to catch up with the leaders.

"I screwed up in the pits and came way too hot," Montoya said. "Actually thinking about it, I guess it's from driving the (Grand-Am) 24-hour car here. I came in, put neutral, then went to hit the brakes, and oh! As soon as I locked the tyres I locked the rears and I felt like an idiot.

"But I'm pretty happy. We just needed a caution. The encouraging thing is I think we have a chance at the 500 and that's pretty cool."

Hamlin was fifth ahead of Bobby Labonte, the best placed among the Fords in any of the duels. Earnhardt Jr was seventh after briefly being a lap down due a right-front tyre puncture that forced him into the pits. He got back on the lead lap in the last caution and was able to move up the field in the last few laps.

Behind Carl Edwards in ninth place was Jeremy Mayfield, who was the first of the non-guaranteed drivers to make the Daytona 500 field via the second duel. He took only two tyres on his last pitstop and was able to capitalise on that to lock himself in the 500 after announcing he was starting up his own team less than a month ago.

"I just can't believe it," said Mayfield. "Twenty-three days ago we didn't even have a race team or nothing. I walked into the shop and two hours later we bought a bunch of cars and went racing.

"We're in it for the long haul and I would never do this if I couldn't do it for the long haul. I'm just really proud of all my guys - everybody involved."

Finishing tenth was AJ Allmendinger, who also secured a spot for his first ever Daytona 500, and was the best among the Dodge drivers in the second duel.

"It means so much to the whole Richard Petty Motorsports organisation, getting in the Daytona 500," said the Californian. "The car wasn't what we wanted. We were struggling. I honestly have to thank my teammates Elliott (Sadler) and Reed (Sorenson) for halfway ruining their race to come back and save me. We were struggling really badly."

Following his crash during the race, defending Daytona 500 champion Newman will have to go to the back of the field on Sunday as he switches to his back-up car for the main event.

Pos  Driver             Car        Laps
 1.  Kyle Busch         Toyota     60
 2.  Mark Martin        Chevrolet  60
 3.  Brian Vickers      Toyota     60
 4.  Juan Montoya       Chevrolet  60
 5.  Denny Hamlin       Toyota     60
 6.  Bobby Labonte      Ford       60
 7.  Dale Earnhardt Jr  Chevrolet  60
 8.  Carl Edwards       Ford       60
 9.  Jeremy Mayfield    Toyota     60
10.  AJ Allmendinger    Dodge      60
11.  Clint Bowyer       Chevrolet  60
12.  David Stremme      Dodge      60
13.  Mike Wallace       Chevrolet  60
14.  Jeff Burton        Chevrolet  60
15.  David Reutimann    Toyota     60
16.  Regan Smith        Chevrolet  60
17.  Elliott Sadler     Dodge      60
18.  Kevin Harvick      Chevrolet  60
19.  Travis Kvapil      Ford       60
20.  Kelly Bires        Dodge      60
21.  Reed Sorenson      Dodge      60
22.  Derrike Cope       Dodge      58
23.  Norm Benning       Chevrolet  55
24.  Ryan Newman        Chevrolet  47
25.  Scott Speed        Toyota     44
26.  Mike Garvey        Dodge      27
27.  Boris Said         Ford       13