Stats are Just Numbers - Can-Am Duels Edition

Tonight is the Duel in Daytona, literally. Tonight is the two races that tell if you make or miss the Daytona 500 and for 4 Drivers the dream of winning the Daytona 500 will go up in smoke. Josh Wise, Reed Sorenson, Robert Richardson Jr., David Gilliland, and Cole Whitt will all have to make the race by tonight's Duel by finishing in the highest finishing position possible. Michael McDowell is on the bubble with the fact that if Ryan Blaney and Matt DiBenedetto finish in the highest spots in their Duels, he will be locked in by speeds if Both DiBenedetto and Blaney are highest finishers Robert Richardson Jr. makes the Daytona 500 on speed. Below are interesting Stats about these drivers and the Can-Am Duels.

Bubble Drivers? 

  • David Gilliland has made the Daytona 500 7 Times in his Career including a Pole in 2007 with Robert Yates Racing. Most of All Bubble Drivers. Reed Sorenson is second with 6 and Michael McDowell is 3rd with 4.
  • Matt DiBenedetto will make his Daytona 500 Debut on Sunday but tonight's race will decide where he starts.
  • Ryan Blaney is 2-for-2 on making the Daytona 500, He made last year's via the Duel

Duel Stats

  • In 2010, Jimmie Johnson and Kasey Kahne had a combined victory margin of .019 over second place drivers Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart.
  • Dale Earnhardt set a record by winning one of the Twin 125 races for ten consecutive years, twelve times overall, as well as six Bud Shootouts, before winning the 1998 Daytona 500.
  • Jeff Gordon won a Twin 125 in 1993, his rookie season. It marked his first win in a NASCAR Winston Cup event, however, it did not count as an official points-paying victory. He did not win an official points race until the 1994 Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte.
  • In 2007 Jeff Gordon won the race, but failed the post race inspection. He then "earned" the lowest Daytona 500 starting spot for a race winner, starting in 42nd place, but he was still credited with the victory.
  • Since the race became a non-championship heat race in 1971, two drivers who did not win a Cup race, Coo Coo Marlin and Mike Skinner, have won the race
  • Four drivers have been killed in qualifying races. Talmadge "Tab" Prince was killed in 1970, Raymond "Friday" Hassler in 1972, Ricky Knotts in 1980 and Bruce Jacobi in 1983 (although he was in a coma for four years before dying in 1987).
  • Denny Hamlin won the second Gatorade Duel on February 14, 2008, making him the first ever Toyota driver to win a Sprint Cup race.
  • Oddly, despite Richard Petty's wins at Daytona in championship competition, none of his official 200 wins included a qualifying race (1959–71).
  • Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson have the chance to Repeat from last season as both are in the Same duel they were in in 2015.

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