Matt Kenseth won the first duel race. It is his second career duel race victory and Joe Gibbs Racing's seventh duel race victory.
Kenseth held off late charges from Kevin Harvick and Kasey Kahne. Marcos Ambrose finished fourth with Dale Earnhardt, Jr. rounding out the top five.
Josh Wise took a surprise sixth place finish and will start thirteenth on Sunday. Aric Almiolra finished seventh ahead of AJ Allmendinger, David Gilliland and Ryan Newman rounding out the top ten.
Tony Stewart finished eleventh ahead of rookie Cole Whitt. Greg Biffle finished thirteenth with Danica Patrick in fourteenth and Alex Bowman rounding out the top fifteen and being the final driver to race his way into the Daytona 500.
However, Kevin Harvick failed post-race inspection with a track bar infraction. He has been disqualified from the race one and will have to rely on either his speed from qualifying or a provisional to make the race. Brian Vickers has been promoted into the Daytona 500.
Pole-sitter for the Daytona 500 Austin Dillon finished nineteenth in race one.
Denny Hamlin became the fourteen different driver to win the Clash/Shootout/Unlimited and then go on to win a duel race and with Hamlin's victory, Joe Gibbs Racing became the first team ever to sweep the duel races. The sweep means Chevrolet streak of winning at least one duel race ends at thirteen consecutive years.
Hamlin held off the four Chevrolets of Jeff Gordon, Kurt Busch, Paul Menard and Brian Scott.
A late race accident shook up the field and who raced their way into the Daytona 500. Trevor Bayne finished sixth ahead of Kyle Larson. Despite getting into the accident, Martin Truex, Jr. finished eighth ahead of Landon Cassill and Clint Bowyer finished tenth despite flipping upside down.
Jamie McMurray finished eleventh with Terry and Bobby Labonte coming from over thirty seconds back to race their way into the Daytona 500 and finish twelfth and thirteenth respectively Casey Mears round out of fuel with two laps to go but because of the accident Mears was able to get up to fourteenth position. Carl Edwards crawled to the line to finish fifteenth while Jimmie Johnson was the final driver to race into the field in sixteenth position despite having his car totaled.
Brad Keselowski had a pit lane speeding violation and a flat tire cost him a shot at victory and he will qualify by his time from Sunday. The other three drivers to make the Daytona 500 on their qualifying speed are Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Joey Logano and Michael Annett.
Because all past champions raced their way into the field, seven drivers will use provisionals to make the Daytona 500. Kyle Busch will be the first of them followed by Kevin Harvick after his disqualification from race one. Reed Sorenson and Justin Allgaier make up row twenty with Parker Kilgerman, Michael Waltrip and David Ragan rounding out the field.
The six drivers who failed to make the Daytona 500 are Michael McDowell, Joe Nemechek, Ryan Truex, Morgan Shepherd, Eric McClure and Dave Blaney after he withdrew prior to the duel races.
Daytona 500 Starting Grid (*- Drivers going to the back of the field):
1. Austin Dillon
2. Martin Truex, Jr.*
3. Matt Kenseth
4. Denny Hamlin
5. Kasey Kahne
6. Jeff Gordon
7. Marcos Ambrose
8. Kurt Busch
9. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
10. Paul Menard
11. Josh Wise
12. Brian Scott
13. Aric Almirola
14. Trevor Bayne
15. AJ Allmendinger
16. Kyle Larson
17. David Gilliland
18. Landon Cassill
19. Ryan Newman
20. Clint Bowyer*
21. Tony Stewart*
22. Jamie McMurray*
23. Cole Whitt
24. Terry Labonte
25. Greg Biffle
26. Bobby Labonte*
27. Danica Patrick*
28. Casey Mears
29. Alex Bowman
30. Carl Edwards
31. Brian Vickers
32. Jimmie Johnson*
33. Brad Keselowski
34. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.
35. Joey Logano
36. Michael Annett
37. Kyle Busch
38. Kevin Harvick
39. Reed Sorenson
40. Justin Allgaier
41. Parker Kilgerman
42. Michael Waltrip*
43. David Ragan