It was a familiar looking Earnhardt win at Daytona.
With a dominating win in the first Can-Am Duel on Thursday night, Dale Earnhardt Jr. made a statement that he has the car to beat in this Sunday’s Daytona 500.
Junior won his 5th career Duel qualifying race and will start third behind his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott. He will be looking for his third 500 win.
But this is Daytona and that means anything can and will happen over the course of 200 laps. Junior is not unbeatable and here are a few of the contenders that have what it takes to challenge him on Sunday in the Great American Race.
Photo courtesy of motorsport.com
Denny Hamlin: The only other car as good as the #88 is the #11 FedEx Toyota. Junior seemed to toy with Hamlin in the final laps of the first Duel before putting a trademark Earnhardt drafting move on him to take the lead with six laps to go. Hamlin won the Sprint Unlimited and likes his new crew chief Mike Wheeler quite a bit. His team is searching for more speed in the final practices and has the ability to get him off pit road fast like they did on Thursday.
Kevin Harvick: Despite failing inspection after pole qualifying, Harvick claims this is one of the best restrictor plate cars he’s had in years. He started at the back on Thursday night, but rocketed through the field in a hurry to finish fourth. He is the closer so look for him to be there at the end.
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Penske Racing: Brad Keselowski is still looking for his first 500 win, and Joey Logano is the defending champion. Both cars have been very fast in the draft all week. Logano joked that Junior is just so good on the superspeedways, but he was able to hold him off in last year’s Daytona 500 and at Talladega in the fall. Keselowski only won once in 2015, and has made it known he wants to add Daytona to his list of wins and racing fans know his penchant for doing whatever it takes to get to victory lane.
Matt Kenseth: He’s a two-time Daytona 500 winner and always seems to find himself in the right place when the trophy is on the line. Darrell Waltrip likes to call him crafty. It didn’t take long with Kenseth to link up with Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards in the second duel race so look for them to try and do it again to counter Earnhardt’s horsepower. But after the big crash at the end of the race, Kenseth will be forced to a backup car and start from the back, ruining what would have been his first front row start at Daytona. It shouldn’t take long for him to get to the front though.
Carl Edwards: Another driver who has never won the 500, but had his chances. In his second year with Joe Gibb Racing, Carl seems confident and has a fast Arris Toyota.
Jimmie Johnson: It’s not unusual to watch Johnson drive around by himself in Daytona practice, but he stood out during Thursday’s early practice when he was faster than a group of drafting cars. Then while battling for the win in the second Duel, Jamie McMurray decided not to give Johnson any room, leading to a huge pile up. He will also start a backup car at the back on Sunday. Chad Knaus will get the #48 a good raceday setup, Jimmie just has to stay out of the big one, which has been a problem in recent plate races.
Photo courtesy of nascar.nbcsports.com
Kyle Busch: If you didn’t learn last season not to count Busch out, then you didn’t watch close enough. He brought Gibbs a long-awaited Sprint Cup title in 2015, and now he wants to bring him his first Daytona 500 win in 23 years. He won the second Duel after getting a good pit stop that put him in front of Kenseth and Johnson and out of harms way when they crashed.
Martin Truex Jr.: He has put the roof flap controversy in qualifying behind him and is looking forward to his first race driving a Toyota for Furniture Row Racing. That means he will be looking to team up with the Gibbs cars and has already run well with them in practice. Truex was also caught up in the late wreck in the Duel, just like he was in the Unlimited, so he will be going to a backup car. Truex has had no luck at all since unloading the trailer, which means Sunday might be the time.
Paul Menard: An upset special, but he does have Childress power and a solid track record on plate tracks. Menard is a solid longshot pick.
Photo courtesy of tbo.com
Chase Elliott & Ryan Blaney: Two of the strongest rookies we’ve seen in the sport in quite some time. Elliott qualified on the pole and protected his car during the qualifying race so that he would preserve that starting spot. As I wrote almost two years ago now, Elliott is very talented and he is going to win races in 2016.
Blaney has worked well with Logano and Keselowski who are pretty much his Ford teammates despite driving for the Wood brothers. He had a great third place finish in the Duels and will roll off seventh on Sunday. Both could be there at the end in the 500, or both could have some huge learning experiences.
Speed For Thought 