2008 Gatorade Duels
# 2008 Gatorade Duels

The 2008 Gatorade Duels were a pair of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car races that were held on February 14, 2008 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida, United States. Both, contested over 60 laps, were the qualifying races for the 2008 Daytona 500. The first race was won by Dale Earnhardt Jr. for the Hendrick Motorsports racing team. Reed Sorenson finished second, and Ryan Newman clinched third. Afterward, the second race was won by Denny Hamlin. Tony Stewart followed in the second position, ahead of third placed Jeff Gordon.

The races set the field for the 50th running of "The Great American Race". These races are the only ones in the NASCAR Sprint Cup that qualifies drivers and their teams for a points-paying race. As qualifying only sets the front row for the Daytona 500, these races are formatted as follows:

* The pole sitter for the Daytona 500 (Jimmie Johnson) was on the point for the first race, with odd-numbered racers who have times in the first event, with the third-fastest driver sitting next to the pole sitter on the front row, then fifth- and seventh-fastest drivers in the second row, and so on.
* The second-fastest overall driver (Michael Waltrip) was the pole sitter for race two, with the fourth-fastest driver alongside in the front row, then the sixth- and eighth-fastest cars in row two, and so forth.

Positions three through 39 were filled that way (not counting the pole drivers in each race) along with the top drivers in each race not locked in from the previous season's Top 35, automatically qualify for the race. After that, the three fastest cars that did not qualify in the races along with a past champions provisional (if needed) completes the 43-car field. Had all past champions made the race, the next fastest car would have been entered into the field.

## Top Ten Finishers

Failed to qualify for the Daytona 500 :

| Race 1 | Race 2 |
| - | - |
| 84-A. J. Allmendinger | 49-Ken Schrader |
| 21-Bill Elliott | 10-Patrick Carpentier |
| 60-Boris Said | 37-Eric McClure |
| 09-Sterling Marlin | 27-Jacques Villeneuve |
| 08-Carl Long | 50-Stanton Barrett |

Race 1 and 2

Top Ten Finishers

Race 1

Race 2

Pos.

No.

Driver

Car Make

Team

Pos.

No.

Driver

Car Make

Team

1

88

Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Chevrolet

Hendrick Motorsports

1

11

Denny Hamlin

Toyota

Joe Gibbs Racing

2

41

Reed Sorenson

Dodge

Chip Ganassi Racing

2

20

Tony Stewart

Toyota

Joe Gibbs Racing

3

12

Ryan Newman

Dodge

Penske Racing

3

24

Jeff Gordon

Chevrolet

Hendrick Motorsports

4

5

Casey Mears

Chevrolet

Hendrick Motorsports

4

9

Kasey Kahne

Dodge

Gillett Evernham Motorsports

5

99

Carl Edwards

Ford

Roush Fenway Racing

5

8

Mark Martin

Chevrolet

Dale Earnhardt, Inc.

6

43

Bobby Labonte

Dodge

Petty Enterprises

6

6

David Ragan

Ford

Roush Fenway Racing

7

42

Juan Pablo Montoya

Dodge

Chip Ganassi Racing

7

29

Kevin Harvick

Chevrolet

Richard Childress Racing

8

87

Kenny Wallace

Chevrolet

Furniture Row Racing

8

16

Greg Biffle

Ford

Roush Fenway Racing

9

77

Sam Hornish Jr.

Dodge

Penske Racing

9

44

Dale Jarrett

Toyota

Michael Waltrip Racing

10

15

Paul Menard

Chevrolet

Dale Earnhardt, Inc.

10

34

John Andretti

Chevrolet

Front Row Motorsports

(NOTE: Race 2 extended to 64 laps due to green-white-checker finish.)

Also Making Daytona 500: 83-Brian Vickers (Toyota)

Drivers in boldface qualified for Daytona 500.

vte2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup SeriesPoints races

Daytona 500

Auto Club 500

UAW-Dodge 400

Kobalt Tools 500

Food City 500

Goody's Cool Orange 500

Samsung 500

Subway Fresh Fit 500

Aaron's 499

Crown Royal Presents the Dan Lowry 400

Dodge Challenger 500

Coca-Cola 600

Best Buy 400

Pocono 500

LifeLock 400

Toyota/Save Mart 350

Lenox Industrial Tools 301

Coke Zero 400

LifeLock.com 400

Brickyard 400

Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500

Centurion Boats at the Glen

3M Performance 400

Sharpie 500

Pepsi 500

Chevy Rock & Roll 400

Chase for the Sprint Cup

Sylvania 300

Camping World RV 400

Camping World RV 400 presented by Coleman

AMP Energy 500

Bank of America 500

Tums QuikPak 500

Pep Boys Auto 500

Dickies 500

Checker O'Reilly Auto Parts 500

Ford 400

Exhibition races

Budweiser Shootout

Gatorade Duels

All-Star Race :

