The Daytona 500 field is fully set after the Budweiser Duels on Thursday, with Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch taking the top spots in each race.
Harvick and Greg Biffle finished one and two in the first duel, while pole winner Danica Patrick finished 17th. The most important part of the day for Patrick was that she kept her car intact, meaning that she will hold on to her front row starting spot on Sunday for the Great American Race.
Harvick has been driving extremely well all week and is now perfect at Speedweeks, winning the duel on Thursday on top of the exhibition race last weekend. Harvick previously won the Daytona in 2007 and now is the likely favorite heading into Sunday's race.
"We've been fortunate to win the first two races of Speedweeks. We've just got to keep a level head on our shoulders, not get too high over what we've done, just do the same things that we've done," he said to ESPN.com. "If it's meant to be, it's meant to be. I think we definitely have the car and team to be in contention to do that."
It was the first win for Harvick at a Daytona qualifier and there was a lot of action on the track, including on the 12th lap when Danica Patrick had to fall behind to the back of the pack. She finished 17th out of 23 cars and did exactly what she needed to do--keep her car intact.
Michael Waltrip finished 15th in the race and that was exactly where he needed to be to clinch a spot in Daytona. Some of the drivers were apprehensive in the new Gen-6 cars and there was one big crash in the first duel.
The race had five previous Daytona 500 winners, including Jimie Johnson, who came in fourth, as well as Dale Earnhardt Jr., who finished ninth, Waltrip, who came in 15th and Trevor Bayne, who finished 23rd.
Kyle Busch took the top spot in the second duel, with Kasey Kahne coming in behind him. The win was the first for Toyota during Speedweeks and he was able to stay ahead of Kahne as the laps winded down.
"I think Kevin looks really good. I always think Kevin is one of the guys to beat when we come to Daytona," Kahne said. "He's got this place figured out. I think he can be beat, yeah. There's a few of us in the second race who had really good cars, and I could move around really well, similar to what Harvick did in the first race."
