2011 Gatorade Duels

The 2011 Gatorade Duels were a pair of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car races that were held on February 17, 2011 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Both contested over 60 laps, were the qualifying races for the 2011 Daytona 500. The first race was won by Kurt Busch for the Penske Racing team. Regan Smith finished second, and Kevin Harvick clinched third. Afterward, the second race was won by Jeff Burton. Clint Bowyer followed in the second position, ahead of third placed Michael Waltrip.

During the first race, Ryan Newman was the leader at the start. However, by the end of the lap Menard became the leader. Afterward, the first caution was given after Newman spun sideways. On the 11th lap, Harvick moved to the first position. Twenty laps later, Busch became the leader. With four laps remaining, Michael McDowell's engine failed, prompting the second caution to be given. At the restart, Kenseth was the leader, but he was passed by Busch one lap later. Busch remained in the first position to win the first Gatorade Duel.

During the second race, Jeff Gordon was the leader at the start, but after one lap he was passed by Bowyer. On the third lap, Casey Mears' engine failed, prompting the first caution of the race to be given. After the restart, Kyle Busch became the leader. On lap 13, Edwards passed Busch to move into the first position. On the 15th lap, the second caution of the race was given, after Joey Logano collided into the wall. At the restart, Edwards remained the leader, ahead of Kyle Busch. At the end of the race, Burton had assistance from Bowyer to win the race. A total of 80,000 people attended both races.

Report

Background

Daytona International Speedway, the race track where the races were held.

The track, Daytona International Speedway, is one of six superspeedways to hold NASCAR races, the others being Michigan International Speedway, Auto Club Speedway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Pocono Raceway and Talladega Superspeedway.^[1] The standard track at Daytona International Speedway is a four-turn superspeedway that is 2.5 miles (4.0 km) long.^[2] The track's turns are banked at 31 degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked at 18 degrees.^[2] The defending winners of the races were Jimmie Johnson^[3] and Kasey Kahne.^[4]

Practice and qualifying

Prior to the races, there were two practice sessions to practice for the race, which were both held on February 16, 2011.^[5] The first practice session lasted 90 minutes, while the second lasted 55 minutes long after rain delays.^[6] In the first practice session, which was delayed because of rain,^[6] Kyle Busch was quickest with a time of 44.943 seconds. He was followed by Greg Biffle, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Johnson, and Juan Pablo Montoya in the next four positions.^[7] Also in the session, Earnhardt, along with Martin Truex, Jr., collided together, and into the wall. Both sustained major damages to their car, which prompted them to move to back-up cars, meaning Earnhardt had to forfeit the pole position for the race and in the Daytona 500.^[8] During the second practice, Kahne was quickest with a time of 44.985 seconds, only one-thousandth of a second faster than Joey Logano. Jeff Gordon followed in the third position, ahead of David Ragan and Kyle Busch.^[8] The qualifying grids were chosen by how they qualified in Daytona 500 pole position qualifying, giving the pole position to Earnhardt in the first race,^[9] and Gordon in the second.^[10]

Races

The qualifying races for the 2011 Daytona 500 began at 2:00 p.m. EST and was televised live in the United States on Speed.^[11] The conditions on the grid were dry before the race, the air temperature at 70 °F (21 °C) with sunny skies expected.^[12] Sonny Gallman began pre-race ceremonies, by delivering the invocation. Next, Johnny Mayo, performed the national anthem.^[12]

Race 1

Kurt Busch was the winner after the first Gatorade Duel.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Ryan Newman racing in the first race.

Following the invocation and the performance of the United States National Anthem, Children of Ed Shull gave the command for drivers to start their engines.^[11] On the pace laps, Johnson, after changing their engine, and Earnhardt, who had to move to a back-up car had to fall behind all the other drivers in the event after doing major changes during practice. At the start, Ryan Newman was the leader going through the first corner, but on the same lap Paul Menard, with assistance from Mark Martin, passed him. On the second lap, the first caution was given because Newman spun sideways. During the caution, he drove to pit road for a pit stop.^[12]

At the lap 6 restart, Menard remained the leader ahead of Martin. On the same lap, Martin became the leader, after having assistance from Tony Stewart. By the ninth lap, Martin and Stewart had a 1.7 second lead over the third position. Two laps later, Earnhardt moved to the tenth position, while Harvick became the leader. On the 22nd lap, Johnson moved up to ninth while Harvick and Kurt Busch switched the first position in between them. On the following lap, Kahne became the leader, but after four laps, Harvick reclaimed the first position. However, on the 30th lap, Kahne took the lead from Harvick, only to get it removed by Kurt Busch one lap later. At lap 32, Earnhardt moved up to the ninth position, while Johnson moved up to fifth.^[12]

On lap 34, Harvick took the lead from Kurt Busch, but on the same lap, Busch reclaimed the position. On the following lap, Menard was tenth, while A. J. Allmendinger passed Johnson for the fifth position. On lap 38, green flag pit stops began, as Bill Elliott and Brian Vickers pitted. On the following lap, most of the drivers participating in the race pitted for fuel. On lap 41, Matt Kenseth and Kurt Busch pitted. Two laps later, Kenseth became the leader, with assistance from Harvick. On the 45th lap, Kenseth was the leader, ahead of Harvick, Kahne, Juan Pablo Montoya, and Regan Smith. Seven laps later, Johnson moved up into the eighth position. On lap 56, the second caution was given after Michael McDowell's engine failed. At the lap 60 restart, Kenseth was the leader, but on the final lap, he was passed by Kurt Busch and Smith. Kurt Busch remained the leader to win the race, ahead of Smtih, Harvick, and Kenseth.^[12][13][14]

Race 2

Jeff Burton was the winner after the second Gatorade Duel.

Following the first Gatorade Duel, Murphy Reynolds gave the command for drivers to start their engines. At the start, Gordon and Trevor Bayne were the leaders. On the first lap, Clint Bowyer became the leader after having assistance from Jeff Burton. On the following lap, Jamie McMurray moved into the third position, after drafting with Kyle Busch. On the third lap, the first caution was given because Casey Mears' engine failed. At the lap 6 restart, Bowyer was the leader, ahead of Burton, Kyle Busch, and Greg Biffle. Two laps later, Busch became the leader. On the 11th lap, Carl Edwards moved up to third, while McMurray moved up to second. Two laps later, Edwards became the leader. On lap 14, Gordon reclaimed the first position, as Trevor Bayne moved up to second. On the following lap, the second caution was given after Logano collided into the wall. Most of the drivers participating in the race pitted during the caution. At the lap 20 restart, Edwards was the leader ahead of Kyle Busch.^[12]

On the 21st lap, Kyle Busch fell to the ninth position, after having no assistance. Two laps later, Bowyer took the first position, but after two more laps, he was passed by Gordon. At lap 27, Truex, with assistance from Hamlin became the leader for only a lap before Edwards reclaimed the position. Afterward on lap 30, Burton became the leader ahead Biffle and Gordon. Seven laps later, Gordon, with assistance from Bayne became moved into the first and second positions. On the 39th lap, Brad Keselowski spun sideways, prompting the third caution to come out. At the lap 43 restart, Gordon remained in the first position, but on the following lap, Edwards retook the lead. On the 46th lap, Hamlin spun sideways to cause the fourth caution. Edwards remained the leader at the lap 49 restart. Five laps later, the fifth caution was given, after Todd Bodine crashed. With three laps remaining in the race, Burton and Bowyer were in the first two positions. Burton remained the leader to cross the finish line in first, ahead of Bowyer in second. Also on the final lap, there was an accident at behind the front runners. Michael Waltrip finished third, Kyle Busch clinched fourth, and Brian Keselowski rounded out the first five positions.^[12][15]

In the end, the following five drivers failed to qualify for the Daytona 500 because they could not finish high enough in their respective Duels or turn a fast enough qualifying lap: Casey Mears, Todd Bodine, Derrike Cope, Kevin Conway, and Michael McDowell.^[16]

Post-race

Following the first race, Kurt Busch drove to victory lane. During the press conference, Busch said, "It's the Double Deuce power right now." He continued, "To be in those positions, you have to have a good drafting partner. I had that with Regan Smith [Thursday], had it with [Jamie] McMurray on Saturday night [in the Shootout]. But you can't be in those positions if you don't build a great race car." Also by winning the race, he will be the leader at the start of the Daytona 500, after Earnhardt was involved in an accident.^[17]

Once the second race was over, Burton drove to victory lane after winning the race. In the next press conference, he said, "It’s great to be in Victory Lane but we’ve got to keep it in perspective that this wasn’t the Daytona 500. You want me to tell you what’s going to happen on Sunday? We’re going to have 400 miles of some stuff happening, but then 100 miles of a lot of things happening. We’re going to have six or seven cautions in the last 100 laps, it’s going to be a short race to [the] chequered [flag] and that’s what’s going to happen." "You’re going to do things in the end that you didn’t do in the first 400 laps, and we’re going to have the same Daytona 500 that we’ve had for the past six or seven years. It’s going to be different how we get there, but it’s the same thing every time come down here," Burton continued.^[18] A crowd of 80,000 people attended the race.^[19][20]

Results

Qualifying 1 and 2

Race results 1

References