2019 Gander RV Duels

The 2019 Gander RV Duels were a pair of Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series stock car races held on February 14, 2019, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Both contested over 60 laps, they were the qualifying races for the 2019 Daytona 500.

Background
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. The standard track at Daytona International Speedway is a four–turn superspeedway that is 2.5 mi long. The track's turns are banked at 31 degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked at 18 degrees.

Qualifying
William Byron scored the pole for the race with a time of 46.319 and a speed of 194.305 mph.

Duel 1
The fastest qualifier, William Byron drove off in the lead on the drop off the green flag. The 150 miles requires one pit stop. Most of the teams pitted on lap 13, Byron stayed out until lap 15. It cost him the lead. Kevin Harvick led the freight train of cars that pitted early, they passed Byron on the backstretch as he was trying to get back up to speed.

Caution displayed on Lap 25 as Jimmie Johnson bumped Kyle Busch who spun down the backstretch. Kyle kept it off the wall and out of the grass, avoiding damage to the car. The second driver during Speedweeks to fall victim to Johnson’s driving.

Kevin Harvick’s Ford Mustang held the lead on the restart and the field ran a couple of laps side-by-side. Before reverting to a single file line, which seems to be the norm until someone wants to vie for the top spot. Byron chose to move to the rear of the field, protect his car, and not take a chance of damaging what is obviously a fast machine.

Finish
The field remained essentially static until they reached the backstretch on the final lap. Several drivers dropped low to try and improve their position, but Kevin Harvick held onto the win. The Mustangs of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Paul Menard finished 2nd and 3rd. A 1-2-3 finish for Ford Performance. Matt DiBenedetto placed 4th and Martin Truex Jr. 5th. The five will line up in spots 3-11 for the Daytona 500, Provided them keep their cars clean in practice and don’t have to make repairs or go to a back-up.

Duel 2
Duel 2 started pretty much the same as the first race. Pole sitter Alex Bowman drove off into turn 1 with the lead. The field strung out into single file racing. A few drivers tried out the bottom line to assess the ability of their car. Making a single car pass was possible with a good run and a spot to slip into. However, if you stepped out of line the usual result was a trip to the end of the line.

Half the field pitted on lap 12, most of the rest pitted on lap 13. Clean stops for all except Erik Jones, who was too fast on pit road and had to serve a drive-through penalty.

As the field cycled through pit stops and reformed Clint Bowyer and his Ford Mustang set the pace. Denny Hamlin ran in 2nd. Then the Mustangs of Aric Almirola, Joey Logano, and Ryan Blaney filled spots three through five. Like Byron, Bowman dropped to the rear to protect his front row starting spot.

Finish
Everyone stayed in line until the final lap. Joey Logano Logano dove low into turn one followed by his teammate Blaney. By the exit of the second turn, Logano had the lead. Across the finish line, it was again a 1-2-3 finish for the Mustangs. Clint Bowyer took 2nd, Almirola 3rd, with Denny Hamlin in 4th, and Kurt Busch in 5th.

Erik Jones finished in 20th, one lap down. Joey Gase and Ryan Truex, Martin Truex Jr’s brother, failed to make the Daytona 500 field.