Jeff Gordon was speeding to an easy victory in the second Budweiser Duel. Starting from the pole, he connected with teammate Kasey Kahne and appeared to have the fastest car.
Too bad he flashed some speed in the wrong place.
During a green-flag pit stop, Gordon was penalized for being too fast entering pit road, opening the door for others and allowing Kyle Busch to assert himself up front. Busch then hooked up with teammate Matt Kenseth, giving him a blocker for Kahne and others to win his second career Budweiser Duel unchallenged. Kahne jumped up to second, with help from fellow Chevrolet driver Austin Dillon while Clint Bowyer came home in fourth place. Kenseth, who got motored by on the final lap slid back to round out the top-5 finishers.
As for the transfer spots, Mike Bliss was black-flagged for a window net down early in the race which took the No. 19 out of contention. With Bliss first in line for a DNQ without a top-15 finish in the Duels that led to many teams running a conservative race. Just 13 of the 22 cars finished on the lead lap, as there were no caution flags and just six wound up in the lead draft at the finish. Josh Wise, who was in the final transfer spot of 16th place admitted that with his team and many others down on equipment, with the Gen-6 development it was critical not to tear up any sheet metal.
The race’s only incident came during green-flag stops, around Lap 40 where Ryan Newman lost control trying to enter the pits. Only suffering minimal damage, he brought the No. 39 Chevy back around but lost too much time, slumping to 21st, two laps off the pace.
Busch averaged 193.966 miles an hour for the Duel, the second-fastest average speed in the history of the qualifying races.
*Budweiser Duel #2: Results*
1) Kyle Busch
2) Kasey Kahne
3) Austin Dillon
4) Clint Bowyer
5) Matt Kenseth
6) Mark Martin
7) Paul Menard
8) Jeff Burton
9) Jamie McMurray
10) David Ragan
11) Marcos Ambrose
12) Jeff Gordon
13) Aric Almirola
14) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., one lap down
15) Dave Blaney, one lap down
16) Josh Wise, one lap down
17) Travis Kvapil, one lap down
18) Terry Labonte, one lap down
19) Michael McDowell, one lap down
20) J.J. Yeley, one lap down
21) Ryan Newman, two laps down
22) Mike Bliss, five laps down
