It was a day for the underdogs as Part-Timer Brandon Salvato and newcomer Daniel Ruppel both squeak out wins in the Gatorade Duels. Both races were relatively uneventful trouble-wise, aside from the pace laps of both events. In Duel 1, Tim Kunkel shorted the ignition, causing the car to be unable to start. He finshed last. In Duel 2, Amy Tebo slammed into the door of defending champ Theodore Petersen. Tebo went to pit road for repairs and ended up finishing 20th.
DAYTONA 200 STARTING LINE-UP
1.) 53- Trebeschkov (Pole Winner) 3.) 16- Salvato 5.) 2- Earnhardt VI (R) 7.) 32- R. Sandri 9.) 86- Mckown 11.) 83- Asher 13.) 07- Sampson 15.) 69- Jonsson (R) 17.) 3- R. Petersen 19.) 20- Conway 21.) 73- Meyers 23.) 11- Hooper, Sr. 25.) 39- M. Sandri 27.) 13- Holcombe 29.) 10- Stockton (R) 31.) 31- Mongillo 33.) 24- Mackereth 35.) 4- Sandcastle (R) 37.) 91- Gamboa (R) 39.) 33- Bretherick 41.) 15- Kunkel* | 2.) 1- Henderson (Outside Pole) 4.) 41- Ruppel 6.) 49- Jensen 8.) 43- Leichtfuss (R) 10.) 40- Robinson 12.) 8- T. Petersen 14.) 75- Schreiner (R) 16.) 7- Clabaugh 18.) 42- Gallon 20.) 17- Pielert (R) 22.) 9- McConnell 24.) 77- Newitt (R) 26.) 88- Hooper Jr. (R) 28.) 6- Austin (R) 30.) 00- Shore (R) 32.) 82- Keel 34.) 5- Adams (R) 36.) 36- Peeters (R) 38.) 19- English (R) 40.) 44- Tebo (R) 42.) 25- Lopez |
*- Kunkel to go to rear for Engine change
Bold- Denotes Rookie
Bold- Denotes Rookie
Post-Race Quotes:
"Nice try today guys. Damn draft just wasn't working. See if Kevin's setup was any different than ours and we'll slap that on there. I gotta pee. I'm not taking interviews. I've got a lot of things to say, but I cain't say em on TV."
-Rob Peeters
"My God this is awesome man! This is the same chassis we destroyed at Watkins Glen at last year's finale, and we spent the offseason preparing this car thinking we would have a shot at scoring big here! This is amazing, these guys worked so hard to come here and get this done. I would like first of all to thank Sean English for racing hard in this duel, sadly the results do not show. West has been amazing since the TCS days, Mobil 1, Siemens, Pepsi, the crew, Jay Lopez and John Hooper Sr. for the amazing engine, and my crew chief ... I'm sure that if everything goes our way we will be back here Sunday"
-Daniel Ruppel
"The car was really on today. I think that that had to be one of the best cars I've ever driven. I think if we keep this set up, and find Rob during the 200, we should be up there giving em a challenge. Overall, the ExtenZe Camry was just awesome. And these guys are awesome to race around."
-Kevin Conway
"Well, obviously we have some work to do with these engines, that's the 3rd engine this entire team had gone through these speed weeks, but at least Salvato go the best one!"
-Tim Kunkel
"Well, we'll go 23rd, but the Gen6 has shown us it's plenty of time to get to the front."
-John Hooper, Sr.