Kyle Busch wins second Daytona 500 duel qualifying race

This event featured 500 front-row starter, Jeff Gordon, plus the cars that finished in the even-numbered positions from qualifying last Sunday.

Gordon elected to start the race in his Hendrick Chevrolet from the outside lane, having seen Trevor Bayne lead the first race from that position.

But Gordon's race did not start as planned as Ryan Newman led at the end of the opening lap in his Stewart-Haas Chevy. That did not last long, as he had to get out of the throttle exiting Turn 2 and fell back to 16th.

Gordon led the next 37 laps, but was caught speeding as he entered pitlane for his stop.

After the stops, Busch led in his Joe Gibbs Toyota from Clint Bowyer, Kasey Kahne, Paul Menard and Mark Martin, with all of the frontrunners bar Kahne having taken no fresh tyres at the stops.

First Kahne, then Bowyer, lost track position by trying to duck low under the leader. Kahne fought back to finish second, however, pulling beneath Matt Kenseth, who had previously surged up from eighth after the stops, to grab second with a lap to go.

Kenseth fell back to fifth during the final lap, behind the impressive Austin Dillon, who finished third, and Bowyer.

Busch said: "It's hard to pass the leader. Get out front, stay out front and hold everyone off behind us.

"There's not enough lane-by-lane racing here. Being able to beat the guys into the pits, and a great call to take fuel only, was the right one and thanks to my team-mate Kenseth pushing me right until the end."

In a caution-free race, punctuated only when Newman spun as he tried to enter the pits too fast, Gordon returned to finish 12th after his penalty.

Thursday's winners, Kevin Harvick and Busch, will start from the second row behind Danica Patrick and Gordon in Sunday's Daytona 500.

The only two non-qualifiers were Brian Keselowski and Mike Bliss.

Results - 60 laps:

Pos  Driver              Team/Car                        Time/Gap
 1.  Kyle Busch          Gibbs Toyota                     46m24s
 2.  Kasey Kahne         Hendrick Chevrolet             + 0.093s
 3.  Austin Dillon       Childress Chevrolet            
 4.  Clint Bowyer        Waltrip Toyota                 
 5.  Matt Kenseth        Gibbs Toyota                   
 6.  Mark Martin         Waltrip Toyota                 
 7.  Paul Menard         Childress Chevrolet            
 8.  Jeff Burton         Childress Chevrolet            
 9.  Jamie McMurray      Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet    
10.  David Ragan         Front Row Ford                 
11.  Marcos Ambrose      Petty Ford                     
12.  Jeff Gordon         Hendrick Chevrolet                 
13.  Aric Almirola       Petty Ford                     
14.  Ricky Stenhouse Jr  Roush Fenway Ford               + 1 lap
15.  Dave Blaney         Baldwin Chevrolet               + 1 lap
16.  Josh Wise           Front Row Ford                  + 1 lap
17.  Travis Kvapil       BK Toyota                       + 1 lap
18.  Terry Labonte       FAS Lane Ford                   + 1 lap
19.  Michael McDowell    Parsons Ford                    + 1 lap
20.  JJ Yeley            Baldwin Chevrolet               + 1 lap
21.  Ryan Newman         Stewart-Haas Chevrolet         + 2 laps
22.  Mike Bliss          Smith Chevrolet                + 5 laps