NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers raced for positions to start the Daytona 500 in the Budweiser Duels with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson winning while Danica and Denny have issues with each other.

Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson secured their positions in the front row for the start of the Daytona 500 with Jeff earning the pole position last Sunday (2/15). Last night (2/19) the rest of the field raced to secure their chance to run in the All American Race Sunday (2/22).

The Daytona 500 has a qualifying process unlike any other race during the NASCAR Sprint Cup series year. The 15 spots behind the front row on the inside are set by the order the cars finish in the first Budweiser Duel. The 15 spots behind the front row on the outside are set by the order the cars finish in the second Budweiser Duel. You can find out how the rest of the field is set by clicking here.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. drove his #88 Chevrolet to the win in Duel #1 to secure his place in row two on the inside for the start of the Daytona 500.

Jimmie Johnson was able to win Duel #2 with his #48 Chevrolet. However, since he had already secured his starting spot in the front row, Kyle Busch will be starting from the second row on the outside Sunday.

See the complete starting line-up for the Daytona 500 here.

The Budweiser Duels were not without incident or drama. One of the big stories of the night was an on-track incident between Danica Patrick and Denny Hamlin during Duel #2. The two cars were very close to each other going through a turn and Denny may have touched Danica’s rear bumper. The result was Danica spinning out and wrecking.

You can watch the raw footage of Danica’s confrontation with Denny Hamlin after the race below. In the video Danica’s teammate and co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing Tony Stewart calmly added his two-cents to Denny.

A co-worker asked me who I thought would win the Daytona 500 Sunday. My response was that both Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. have very strong cars based on what I have seen to this point. Matt Kenseth grabbed the win in the Sprint Unlimited last Saturday (2/14). Everything I have read and seen from Daytona in the past week has also indicated that defending Sprint Cup Champion Kevin Harvick has a strong car as well.

I believe I would tend to think that either Dale Jr. (the defending winner of the 2014 Daytona 500) or Kevin Harvick will likely win the Daytona 500. However, that being said it is the Daytona 500. You can ask surprise 2011 Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne, anything is possible.

By: Buck Stevens

(Feature photo courtesy of NASCARmedia.com/305110Jeff Zelevansky/NASCAR via Getty Images)