Close finishes highlight Duel qualifying races

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Kasey Kahne won a drag race off the final corner to beat Tony Stewart to the finish line by .014 seconds in the second of two Gatorade Duel 150 qualifying races Thursday at Daytona International Speedway -- and that was the second-closest finish of the afternoon.

In Duel 1, Jimmie Johnson -- driving a backup car and electing to stay out on old tires -- edged Kevin Harvick by .005 seconds as the field was set for Sunday's Daytona 500.

By virtue of his finish, Johnson will start from the third position in Sunday's race, with Kahne beside him in the fourth position on the grid. Harvick nailed down the fifth starting spot with his runner-up finish, and Stewart will take the green flag in sixth position.

Pole-sitter Mark Martin (21st in Duel ) and second-place starter Dale Earnhardt Jr. (21st in Duel 2, after damaging the body of his car) claimed their positions on the grid in this past Saturday's time trials.

For Johnson, the four-time defending Cup champion, fighting to hold the lead on old tires was an adventure. Even as he took the checkered flag at the end of a four-lap, green-flag run to the finish, Johnson wasn't sure the race was over.

"Really didn't know how many laps we had left," Johnson said, speaking in staccato sentences. "I was hopeful it was going to be done soon. My spotter wasn't really sure. As I went by the start/finish line sideways, I looked up and hoped that it was the checkered, because I felt like I was going to spin out. I stayed on the gas, saved it. Everybody else let off around me. I knew the race was over.

"Certainly an exciting final few laps. With the car on older tires, the push I was getting from the RCR cars and from the 18 [Kyle Busch], when they get close to the rear bumper of my car, literally would start turning the wheel to the right to save it. It stuck. Didn't turn around on me.

"Thankful I made it back. I think we put on one heck of a race."

With finishes in the first race of 14th and 15th, respectively, Michael McDowell and Max Papis grabbed the two transfer spots into the 500 available to drivers forced to race their way into NASCAR's most prestigious event. A casualty of Duel 1 at the 2.5-mile superspeedway was Michael Waltrip, who was in danger of seeing his streak of 23 consecutive Daytona 500 starts end after a hard crash into the inside wall on Lap 53.

Waltrip's fortunes, however, took a major turn for the better when Scott Speed, the second-fastest qualifier in time trials among drivers not locked into the field, passed Casey Mears for the second transfer position in Duel 2, thereby putting Waltrip into the 500 based on his fifth-best qualifying speed among go-or-go-home drivers.

Driving a backup car, Mike Bliss drove his way into Sunday's field with a 13th-place run in Duel 2, putting owner Tommy Baldwin in the Great American Race for the second consecutive year.

Kahne led only three laps of the second Duel but held off Stewart as the drivers streaked toward the finish line.

"I enjoy racing Tony, because if you beat that guy, you've really done something on that day," said Kahne, who rode a push from Kurt Busch's Dodge to the front of the field.

After catching a piece of the wreck that started with contact between Waltrip and Regan Smith on Lap 53 in Duel 1, Jeff Gordon will go to a backup car for the Daytona 500 -- despite finishing 10th in the qualifying race. "We got a little bit loose that second half of the race and made an adjustment and freed the car up a little too much," said Gordon, a three-time winner of the 500. "I felt like we learned a lot. Unfortunately, we tore up the car when Michael and Regan got together."

Related:
• Ups and downs, ins and outs at Daytona
• Waltrip embodies upheaval of Duel races
• Johnson, Hendrick are locked and loaded