Harvick passed Trevor Bayne on lap 37 to take the lead of Duel 1. He led the remaining 23 laps.

Danica Patrick, who will start the 500 from the pole, played it safe and dropped to the back early on to ensure her car would not sustain damage.

Greg Biffle, Juan Pablo Montoya, Jimmie Johnson, and Kurt Busch rounded out the top 5 of Duel 1.

The first duel was relatively uneventful until lap 52 when Denny Hamlin appeared to get loose and bumped Carl Edwards.  Edwards was turned into the wall triggering a multi-car accident that damaged the cars of Hamlin, Edwards, Trevor Bayne, and Regan Smith.

Kyle Busch used a fuel-only pit stop at lap 41 to take the lead coming off pit road. He ran most of the remaining laps with teammate Matt Kenseth behind him. But, with two laps to go, Kasey Kahne and Austin Dillon were able to pass Kenseth. They couldn’t mount a charge to pass Busch, though.

Busch said after the race that the original plan was to take two tires, but his crew chief made the call to go fuel-only.

Kahne, Dillon, Clint Bowyer, and Kenseth finished second through fifth, respectively.

Jeff Gordon, who will start the 500 on the front row, led the first 40 laps of Duel 2, before a pass-through penalty for speeding on pit road ended his chances of winning the duel.

Martin Truex Jr, who ran in the lead pack for most of Duel 2, was black-flagged for losing a side window. He finished 19th. Mike Bliss also had to make a pit stop to fix his window net, which came down. That cost him a chance at making the Daytona 500. Brian Keselowski was the only other driver who did not qualify for the race.

The win marks Busch’s 15th win in NASCAR’s top three series this season. (Yawn!)

Top 5: Busch, Colin Braun, Mike Bliss, Scott Wimmer, and Josh Wise.

Cale Gale, Landon Cassill, Joey Logano,  David Ragan, and Steve Wallace rounded out the top 10.

Notables: Carl Edwards (11th), David Stremme (13th), Brian Keselowski (15th), Jason Leffler (16th), Clint Bowyer (18th), Brad Keselowski (19th), David Reutimann (26th), and Kelly Bires (36th).

Give a call to Colin Braun and Josh Wise. Both of these young drivers had tremendous days running up near the front all race, and they held on to post good finishes. Brian Keselowski also posted a top 15.

Carl Edwards also deserves a nod for battling back from three laps down to rally to finish 11th.

Mike Bliss also gets a call. He spun early but battled back to finish third.