Gordon, Busch Rule Gatorade Duels

DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. — Jeff Gordon — winless since October 2007 — and Kyle Busch both got the season off to a great start Thursday afternoon at Daytona International Speedway by winning the pair of Gatorade Duel at Daytona 150-mile races. The races set the field for Sunday’s Daytona 500 and by winning, Gordon and Busch will now start 3rd and 4th, respectively.

Two other Indiana natives, Ryan Newman and Tony Stewart, had their races end at the opposite end of the spectrum. Stewart swapped the lead with Gordon twice in the closing laps in dramatic fashion while racing for the first time in his No. 14 self-owned car. That first result? 2nd-place.

Newman, on the other hand, got tangled up in a wicked crash along the backstretch after getting bumped by David Reutimann. The nudge turned Newman’s No. 39 a quick right and nearly head-on into the backstetch wall. After getting out, Newman made sure Reutimann (whom we later declared as a guy with “a race car faster than he is”) knew his anger by raising his arms at the No. 00 while it drove by the crashed Chevrolet under caution.

Likely the biggest winners of Thursday, though, weren’t the winning drivers. Instead, A.J. Allmendinger, Jeremy Mayfield, Scott Riggs and Regan Smith managed to score the two transfer spots for non-qualified drivers and officially qualify for Sunday’s Daytona 500. Allmendinger, who’s faced quite the ride since being booted from Red Bull Racing in 2008, had to put on his sunglasses on pit road to cover the tears in his eyes.

Tomorrow, come back and see us because I’ll have some photos up as well as a little bit of discussion about the amazing fishing and other aquatic sports at Daytona International Speedway.