Kyle Busch will start from the second row of the grid for Sunday's Daytona 500, after winning the second of the Budweiser Duel qualifying races on Thursday afternoon at Daytona International Speedway.

He held off concerted pressure from Kasey Kayne, Austin Dillon and Clint Bowyer at the end of the 60-lap race, despite becoming separated from his new Joe Gibbs Racing team mate Matt Kenseth, the 2012 Daytona 500 winner. The result means that Busch will start the Daytona 500 from fourth place putting him alongside old rival Kevin Harvick who won the first Duel; Kahne will start from sixth and Dillon will take eighth place on the grid.

Jeff Gordon had from the green flag after holding off an initial challenge from Ryan Newman. Newman quickly fell back down the running order, and also suffered a spin as he came in for his mid-race pit stop which meant he finished two laps off the lead. Gordon continued in front until lap 39 when he came in for his own stop and ended up served with a drive-thru penalty for being too fast onto pit lane that meant he finished in 12th place.

That does not affect Gordon's starting position for the Daytona 500, however, as he was already locked-in on the front row in second place alongside polesitter Danica Patrick. The rest of the grid order for Sunday's race is determined by the Duel results: the cars competing in the second Duel were comprised of those that finished in even-numbered positions in Sunday's formal qualifying speed trials. The order in which they finished the Duel set the order in which they start on the outside line behind Gordon, with adjustments for any cars locked in by owner points or champion provisionals.

Mike Bliss was black-flagged on lap 13 after his window netting came down, and he was ordered to pit lane to have it attended to. That put him five laps off the lead by the end, and meant that he did not qualify for the Daytona 500.

Duel 2 results

1. #18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing 60 laps 48mins 25secs
2. #5 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports 60 laps + 0.093s
3. #33 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing 60 laps + 0.203s
4. #15 Clint Bowyer Michael Waltrip Racing 60 laps + 0.314s
5. #20 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing 60 laps + 0.403s
6. #55 Mark Martin Michael Waltrip Racing 60 laps + 0.831s
7. #27 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing 60 laps + 3.747s
8. #31 Jeff Burton Richard Childress Racing 60 laps + 9.425s
9. #1 Jamie McMurray Earnhardt Ganassi Racing 60 laps + 17.232s
10. #34 David Ragan Front Row Motorsports 60 laps + 17.442s
11. #9 Marcos Ambrose Richard Petty Motorsports 60 laps + 17.660s
12. #24 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports 60 laps + 38.154s
13. #43 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports 60 laps + 38.305s
14. #17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing 59 laps + 1 Laps
15. #7 Dave Blaney Tommy Baldwin Racing 59 laps + 1 Laps
16. #35 Josh Wise Front Row Motorsports 59 laps + 1 Laps
17. #93 Travis Kvapil BK Racing 59 laps + 1 Laps
18. #32 Terry Labonte FAS Lane Racing 59 laps + 1 Laps
19. #98 Michael McDowell Phil Parsons Racing 59 laps + 1 Laps
20. #36 JJ Yeley Tommy Baldwin Racing 59 laps + 1 Laps
21. #39 Ryan Newman Stewart-Haas Racing 58 laps + 2 Laps
22. #19 Mike Bliss Humphrey Smith Racing 55 laps + 5 Laps

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