NASCAR Budweiser Duel lineups set for Thursday

By Tony DiZinnoFeb 18, 2014, 9:00 AM EST
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So, qualifying is in the books for the Daytona 500, which means little in the grand scheme of things but means more in some respects because we get to talk about it for a week.

The tangible outcome of the Daytona 500 qualifying speeds though, is that they set the grid for Thursday’s Budweiser Duel… which then sets the grid for the actual Daytona 500.

The lineups below are determined by said qualifying speeds, with three exceptions. Danica Patrick, Tony Stewart and Bobby Labonte will move to the back of their respective Duel race because of engine changes.

DAYTONA DUEL NO. 1

Pos Car Driver Team
1 3 Austin Dillon # DOW Chevrolet
2 16 Greg Biffle 3M Ford
3 31 Ryan Newman Caterpillar Chevrolet
4 88 Dale Earnhardt. Jr. National Guard Chevrolet
5 17 Ricky Stenhouse. Jr. Nationwide Insurance Ford
6 9 Marcos Ambrose Stanley Ford
7 43 Aric Almirola Smithfield Ford
8 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford
9 20 Matt Kenseth Dollar General Toyota
10 5 Kasey Kahne Farmers Insurance Chevrolet
11 18 Kyle Busch M&M’s Toyota
12 4 Kevin Harvick Budweiser Chevrolet
13 10 Danica Patrick GoDaddy Chevrolet
14 47 AJ Allmendinger Kroger/USO Chevrolet
15 36 Reed Sorenson Golden Corral Chevrolet
16 38 David Gilliland Love’s Travel Stops Ford
17 30 Parker Kligerman # Swan Energy Toyota
18 14 Tony Stewart Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet
19 55 Brian Vickers Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota
20 26 Cole Whitt # Speed Stick Gear Toyota
21 95 Michael McDowell K-Love Ford
22 98 Josh Wise Curb Records Ford
23 87 Joe Nemechek(i) 300 Rise of an Empire Toyota
24 23 Alex Bowman # Dr.Pepper Toyota
25 77 Dave Blaney Plinker Arms Ford

DAYTONA DUEL NO. 2

Pos Car Driver Team
1 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Chevrolet
2 99 Carl Edwards Fastenal Ford
3 2 Brad Keselowski Miller Lite Ford
4 24 Jeff Gordon Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet
5 27 Paul Menard Peak/Menards Chevrolet
6 33 Brian Scott(i) Whitetail Chevrolet
7 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe’s Chevrolet
8 13 Casey Mears GEICO Chevrolet
9 7 Michael Annett # Pilot/Flying J Travel Centers Chevrolet
10 15 Clint Bowyer 5-hour Energy Toyota
11 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Express
12 42 Kyle Larson # Target Chevrolet
13 21 Trevor Bayne(i) Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford
14 41 Kurt Busch Haas Automation Chevrolet
15 51 Justin Allgaier # Brandt Professional Agriculture Chevrolet
16 40 Landon Cassill(i) Hillman Racing Chevrolet
17 66 Michael Waltrip BlueDEF/AAA Toyota
18 35 Eric McClure(i) Hefty Ultimate/Reynolds Wrap Ford
19 1 Jamie McMurray McDonald’s Chevrolet
20 34 David Ragan CSX – Play It Safe Ford
21 32 Terry Labonte C&J Energy Services Ford
22 52 Bobby Labonte Phoenix Construction Chevrolet
23 83 Ryan Truex # Borla Exhaust Toyota
24 93 Morgan Shepherd(i) SupportMilitary.org Toyota

Toyota No. 8 car wins the 24 Hours of Le Mans for third consecutive year

24 Hours of Le Mans
JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER/AFP via Getty Images
Associated PressSep 20, 2020, 10:30 AM EDT
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LE MANS, France — Toyota Gazoo’s No. 8 car comfortably won the 24 Hours of Le Mans by five laps Sunday to secure a third straight victory in the prestigious endurance race.

It was also a third consecutive win for Swiss driver Sebastien Buemi and Japan’s Kazuki Nakajima driving. Brendon Hartley was the other driver, having replaced two-time Formula One champion Fernando Alonso.

Buemi and Hartley sat on the side of the car as Nakajima drove toward the podium. Hartley won for a second time after tasting success with the Porsche LMP Team in 2017 before an unhappy season in Formula One.

The Swiss team’s Rebellion No. 1 featured American driver Gustavo Menezes and Brazilian Bruno Senna – the nephew of late F1 great Ayrton Senna.

It finished one lap ahead of Toyota Gazoo’s No. 7, with Rebellion’s No. 3 finishing in fourth place.

For much of the race it looked like Toyota’s No. 7 would win after leading comfortably from pole position. But late into the night the car encountered an engine problem and the 30-minute stop in the stands proved costly.

The race was first held in 1923. A total of 252,500 spectators attended in 2019, but there were none this year when the race started three months late because of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

“We miss the fans,” New Zealander Hartley said. “I look forward to seeing all the fans again.”

In other divisions:

—United Autosports won the LMP2 division with the entry of Filipe Albuquerque, Paul Di Resta and Phil Hanson.

–In LMGTE Pro, the victory was claimed by Aston Martin Vantage AMR of Maxime Martin, Alex Lynn and Harry Tincknell (who drives for Mazda in the DPi division of IMSA).

–TF Sport won the LMGTE Am class.

The Toyota No. 7 took pole after former F1 driver Kamui Kobayashi narrowly edged out the Rebellion No. 1 team in qualifying.

In damp and humid conditions Mike Conway got away cleanly from the start, while Senna held off Buemi.

After nearly seven hours, Toyota’s No. 8 fell back after a 10-minute stop in the stands to fix a brake-cooling problem on Kazuki Nakajima’s car. Rebellion’s No. 1, driven by Frenchman Norman Nato, took advantage to move into second place behind Toyota’s No. 7.

Then came the decisive moment at 2:40 a.m. as the No. 7 – also featuring Argentine Jose Maria Lopez – encountered a turbo problem. When the car came back out it was back in fourth.

“We had a few problems early in the race,” Nakajima said. “Later they had a bigger issue than us.”

Rebellion’s No. 1 encountered a problem on the hood at around 9 a.m. and the change took six minutes, allowing the Rebellion No. 3 (Nathanael Berthon-Louis Deletraz-Romain Dumas) to close the gap.

It was becoming a tight battle between the two Rebellion cars behind Toyota’s No. 8.

At 12 p.m. Rebellion No. 3 with Dumas behind the wheel was only one second ahead of No. 1 driven by Menezes. Then both cars came in for a driver change with Deletraz swapping for Dumas on a lengthy stop, and Nato for Menezes as Rebellion No. 1 suddenly moved ahead of its team rival.

Dumas, a winner in 2016 with Porsche, appeared unhappy at the strategy decision to bring his car in first and the length of the stop. There were tense explanations in the team garage.

Colombian Tatiana Calderon, an F1 test driver with Alfa Romeo, was in the Richard Mille Racing Team in the LMP2 category. She was joined by German Sophia Florsch – an F3 driver – and Dutchwoman Beitske Visser. They placed ninth out of 24 in their category.