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Chase Elliott wins first Duel qualifying race
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Chase Elliott held off challenges by Kevin Harvick and Jamie McMurray to win the first Duel qualifying race for the Daytona 500 on Thursday.
Because the Can-Am Duel races are awarding points, Elliott is now guaranteed to start the Daytona 500 tied with the winner of the second Duel atop the points standings. Elliott earned 10 points for the race win.
Elliott won the pole for Sunday’s Daytona 500 last weekend, posting the fastest time of all 42 cars attempting to make the race. Because he was guaranteed a spot on the front row, he could have taken Thursday night’s race easy and rode around in the back of the pack and saved his car.
Instead, Elliott raced up front the entire race. He fought back after being shuffled to the back part of the top 10 early in the race and once he got the lead late in the 60-lap race, he never relinquished it. As Harvick and McMurray tried to make runs behind him, they never got enough help to mount a serious challenge.
Since Elliott was already guaranteed to start first, McMurray will start Sunday’s race in third and Kevin Harvick will start it in fifth. Brad Keselowski finished fourth — he’ll start seventh — while Matt Kenseth finished fifth.
Corey LaJoie was the highest finishing non-charter driver in the Duel race and he got that spot by virtue of a bump of Reed Sorenson, the driver he was racing for one of the final spots in the Daytona 500.
LaJoie made contact with Sorenson’s rear bumper exiting the trioval and Sorenson went sliding into Paul Menard. Sorenson can still make the Daytona 500 on speed assuming Elliott Sadler is the highest-finishing driver in the second Duel.
“I just had to beat him [Soreonson],” LaJoie explained. “I didn’t want to be sipping Margaritas on the beach on Sunday. I wanted to be out there racing.
“If that was my mom, I’d probably spin her out to make the Daytona 500, too. That’s just frank. I’m not going on Reed’s Christmas card list this year, but that’s all right.”
1. Chase Elliott (will start first in Daytona 500)
2. Jamie McMurray (3rd)
3. Kevin Harvick (5th)
4. Brad Keselowski (7th)
5. Matt Kenseth (9th)
6. Trevor Bayne (11th)
7. Martin Truex Jr. (13th)
8. Aric Almirola (15th)
9. Joey Logano (17th)
10. Cole Whitt (19th)
11. Daniel Suarez (21st)
12. Kyle Busch (23rd)
13. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (25th)
14. Matt DiBenedetto (27th)
15. Landon Cassill (29th)
16. Chris Buescher (31st)
17. Joey Gase (33rd)
18. Corey LaJoie (35th)
19. Brendan Gaughan (39th)
20. Paul Menard (37th)
21. Reed Sorenson (?)
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
