2011 Gatorade Duels At Daytona International Speedway: What Are They?

If you’re new to NASCAR, you’re undoubtedly wondering: “What the heck are the Gatorade Duels?”

That’s OK – unless you’ve been watching Speedweeks action for years, you’re probably a bit confused as to why Daytona International Speedway holds both Daytona 500 qualifying and the Gatorade Duels.

The Gatorade Duels (2 p.m. Eastern today, SPEED) are a pair of 150-mile races that will set the Daytona 500 lineup. Unlike every other race – where the field is set in order of the fastest cars in qualifying – the Daytona 500 has a multi-step process to determine its starting grid.

Sunday’s Daytona 500 qualifying only set the top two spots – Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon. Therefore, spots Nos. 3-43 are still up for grabs today. And for the cars outside the top 35 in owner points, this is their final shot to make it into the starting field.

The finishing order of Duel No. 1 will set the inside row for the Daytona 500 (odd-numbered positions 3-43; Duel No. 2 sets the outside row (even-numbered positions 4-42).

But the real excitement of the Duels comes not from the winner, but from the transfer drama. There are two “transfer” spots available in each of the Duel races. The non top-35 drivers must get one of those to make it into the Daytona 500, unless they had a fast enough qualifying speed to fall back on.

Drivers Bill Elliott, Joe Nemecheck, Travis Kvapil and Terry Labonte have their times as backups. So if they take one of the transfer spots, the next drivers in line – Michael Waltrip and Dave Blaney – could potentially make it in on their qualifying speeds.

The bottom line is any driver without a guaranteed spot in the Daytona 500 will be racing as hard as possible to make it into NASCAR’s Super Bowl. Make sure to watch the middle of the pack to keep up with that action.

It’s all very confusing, but those are the basics.