The 2017 Can-Am Duels were a pair of Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series stock car races held on February 23, 2017, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Both contested over 60 laps, they were the qualifying races for the 2017 Daytona 500.
Practice First practice Joey Logano was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 46.604 seconds and a speed of .
Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 46.604 193.116 2 43 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 46.619 193.054 3 2 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 46.621 193.046Official first practice results
Qualifying Chase Elliott scored the pole for the Daytona 500 with a time of 46.663 and a speed of . He said afterwards that everyone at Hendrick Motorsports did "a lot of work this off-season. This team definitely has a knack for these plate tracks, as they showed with Jeff Gordon and then last year with here and Talladega." He also mentioned how these accomplishments don't "just happen by staying the same, as everybody knows. Everyone is always trying to get better and make their cars better and faster, and the engine shop is always finding new things. So I think that's just proof that they're improving with everybody else and taking that next step, which is really impressive." He ended by saying he was "happy to be a part of it, and hopefully we can run good next Sunday."
Qualifying results Pos Driver Team Manufacturer 124 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 46.800 46.663 288 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 46.810 46.665 32 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 46.820 46.707 414 Clint Bowyer Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 46.854 46.736 578 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Toyota 46.826 46.800 611 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 46.845 46.823 74 Kevin Harvick Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 46.867 46.829 85 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 46.864 46.853 920 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 46.840 46.871 1031 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 46.859 46.876 1118 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 46.855 46.932 1213 Ty Dillon (R) Germain Racing Chevrolet 46.869 47.009 1317 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 46.874 — 1448 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 46.900 — 1519 Daniel Suárez (R) Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 46.905 — 1642 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 46.923 — 1722 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 46.929 — 1821 Ryan Blaney Wood Brothers Racing Ford 46.937 — 196 Trevor Bayne Roush Fenway Racing Ford 46.944 — 2077 Erik Jones (R) Furniture Row Racing Toyota 46.950 — 2127 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 46.989 — 2241 Kurt Busch Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 47.017 — 231 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 47.023 — 2410 Danica Patrick Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 47.042 — 2543 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 47.123 — 263 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 47.127 — 2734 Landon Cassill Front Row Motorsports Ford 47.285 — 2847 A. J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 47.298 — 2932 Matt DiBenedetto Go Fas Racing Ford 47.355 — 3095 Michael McDowell Leavine Family Racing Chevrolet 47.438 — 3137 Chris Buescher JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 47.513 — 3238 David Ragan Front Row Motorsports Ford 47.518 — 3375 Brendan Gaughan (i) Beard Motorsports Chevrolet 47.545 — 3472 Cole Whitt TriStar Motorsports Ford 47.592 — 3515 Michael Waltrip Premium Motorsports Toyota 47.599 — 367 Elliott Sadler (i) Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 47.730 — 3755 Reed Sorenson Premium Motorsports Toyota 48.043 — 3896 D. J. Kennington Gaunt Brothers Racing Toyota 48.175 — 3923 Joey Gase (i) BK Racing Toyota 48.428 — 4083 Corey LaJoie (R) BK Racing Toyota 48.584 — 4133 Jeffrey Earnhardt Circle Sport – The Motorsports Group Chevrolet 48.710 — 4251 Timmy Hill (i) Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet 48.886 —Official Qualifying Results
Practice (post–Qualifying) Both practice sessions scheduled for Thursday following qualifying was cancelled due to rain.
Duels Duel 1 First half Chase Elliott led the field to the green flag at 7:19 p.m. He side-drafted Brad Keselowski on the backstretch to jump in front and lead the first lap. Keselowski dove under him in Turn 2 to take the lead the following lap. While he was leading, teammate Joey Logano made an unscheduled stop on lap 12 for a flat tire and rejoined a lap down. Kyle Busch took the lead as the first caution of the race, a scheduled competition caution due to rain showers, flew on lap 25. Everyone pitted under the caution and Busch retained the lead. Matt DiBenedetto restarted from the tail-end of the field for speeding on pit road.
Second half The race restarted on lap 31. When the field reached the backstretch, Keselowski powered by Busch on the outside lane to take back the lead. Elliott dove inside Keselowski in Turn 2 to retake the lead on lap 37. The second caution flew with 12 laps to go for a two-car wreck on the frontstretch. Coming through the tri-oval heading towards Turn 1, Corey LaJoie rear-ended Reed Sorenson, who checked up, turning Sorenson down into Paul Menard, sending Sorenson down the track and into the inside retaining wall. Sorenson, who missed the race as a result of this wreck, said he guessed LaJoie "felt like he did what he had to do to make the race. I hope he's proud of that part of it. There's a lot of pressure going in to making this race. It's a very big deal for a small team like ours." Sorenson went on to finish last.
The race restarted with eight laps to go. The Fords of Kevin Harvick and Keselowski formed a line on the top side to make a charge at Elliott. The line started stalling out with five laps to go and Elliott drove on to score the victory, only challenged by Harvick and Jamie McMurray.
Duel 1 results Pos Grid Driver Team Manufacturer Laps Points1 1 24 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 60 102 12 1 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 60 93 4 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 60 84 2 2 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 60 75 5 20 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 60 66 10 6 Trevor Bayne Roush Fenway Racing Ford 60 57 13 43 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 60 48 9 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 60 39 18 72 Cole Whitt TriStar Motorsports Ford 60 210 8 19 Daniel Suárez (R) Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 60 111 6 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 60 012 7 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 60 013 15 32 Matt DiBenedetto Go Fas Racing Ford 60 014 14 34 Landon Cassill Front Row Motorsports Ford 60 015 20 23 Joey Gase (i) BK Racing Toyota 60 016 21 83 Corey LaJoie (R) BK Racing Toyota 60 017 17 75 Brendan Gaughan (i) Beard Motorsports Chevrolet 60 018 11 27 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 59 019 19 55 Reed Sorenson Premium Motorsports Toyota 48 020 3 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Toyota 60 021 16 37 Chris Buescher JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 60 0Official race results
Duel 2 First half Dale Earnhardt Jr. led the field to the green flag at 8:51 p.m. He and Denny Hamlin raced side-by-side for the lead for five laps before the field settled into a single-file train running against the wall. The race flow was broken up by the lap 26 competition caution, also scheduled due to earlier rain showers. Everyone pitted under the caution and Ryan Blaney exited pit road with the race lead. Hamlin (speeding) and Elliott Sadler (driving through too many pit boxes) restarted the race from the tail-end of the field.
Second half The race restarted on lap 31 and Earnhardt wasted little time taking the lead back from Blaney. Unlike the first Duel race, this race was more calm and reserved. Action started picking up with 18 laps to go when Jimmie Johnson made contact with Blaney on the backstretch, forcing Blaney into the outside wall. Five laps later, Johnson suffered a right-side tire blowout on the backstretch and slammed the wall in Turn 3, bringing out the second caution.
The race restarted with nine to go. On the final lap, Hamlin received a push from Austin Dillon, faked Earnhardt out on the backstretch and passed him going into Turn 3 to win the second Duel race.
Duel 2 results Pos Grid Driver Team Manufacturer Laps Points1 3 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 60 102 2 14 Clint Bowyer Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 60 93 11 41 Kurt Busch Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 60 84 13 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 60 75 1 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 60 66 12 10 Danica Patrick Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 60 57 5 31 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 60 48 8 42 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 60 39 6 13 Ty Dillon (R) Germain Racing Chevrolet 60 210 16 38 David Ragan Front Row Motorsports Ford 60 111 15 95 Michael McDowell Leavine Family Racing Chevrolet 60 012 7 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 60 013 4 5 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 60 014 19 96 D. J. Kennington Gaunt Brothers Racing Toyota 60 015 18 7 Elliott Sadler (i) Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 60 016 17 15 Michael Waltrip Premium Motorsports Toyota 60 017 20 33 Jeffrey Earnhardt Circle Sport – The Motorsports Group Chevrolet 60 018 10 77 Erik Jones (R) Furniture Row Racing Toyota 59 019 9 21 Ryan Blaney Wood Brothers Racing Ford 55 020 21 51 Timmy Hill (i) Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet 29 021 14 47 A. J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 60 0Official race results
Media Television FS1Booth announcersPit reporters Lap-by-lap: Mike JoyColor-commentator: Jeff GordonColor commentator: Darrell Waltrip Jamie LittleChris NevilleVince WelchMatt Yocum
Radio MRN RadioBooth announcersTurn announcersPit reporters Lead announcer: Joe MooreAnnouncer: Jeff StriegleAnnouncer: Rusty Wallace Turns 1 & 2: Dave MoodyBackstretch: Mike BagleyTurns 3 & 4: Kyle Rickey Alex HaydenWinston KelleySteve Post
References