The NASCAR Dayton 500 is coming Sunday and that means the Budweiser Duel is Thursday for the race and the TV start time for the qualifying Duels is on Fox Sports 1 and will be streaming online for fans starting at 7 pm ET, with the second race coming at 8:30 pm ET.
The Daytona 500 pole position qualifying from last Sunday put Austin Dillon in the top spot and that came after Danica Patrick did it last season. Patrick and Dillon are back to back rookies on the Sprint Cup to get it and after Patrick became the first woman to do it, she led some laps and finished eighth and now Dillon in the number three car will get his chance, while the rest of the field works to qualify on Thursday for the Duels.
The schedule for Speedweeks to kick off the NASCAR season opened with ARCA Racing Series and the qualifying and heading into the weekend, Friday will have the Camping World Truck Series before the Nationwide Series opening event and on Thursday are the very anticipated Duels. The first matchup starts at 7 pm ET and the races include two events at 60 laps for 150 miles each and that will determine the field position for the Dayton 500. The actual event starts up on Sunday at 1 pm and will be for 200 laps and 500 miles and will be live on FOX.
Dillon finished first in qualifying on Sunday and now he has a strong chance and after him was Martin Truex and the rest of the top performers were Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards, Ryan Newman, Brad Keselowski and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Patrick and her teammate Tony Stewart will have to be at the back of the field in the Duel races coming up and the Daytona 500 and it was due to a rule on the books that relates to a change in their cars.
The two stars blew engines in practice and now due to the rule after they had to make an unapproved change, they will be at the back in both races and this comes after thinking that the Duels could work it out. The Duel positions now will not matter and Patrick said she was upset about being hit with it and now she said she is motivated to put on a good performance a year after she won the pole as a rookie.
The rule says that teams cannot change engines before Thursday before the Daytona 500 without getting his with a penalty and Stewart said he also was disappointed but understood. The times for the two were not good, as Patrick finished 25th in Stewart was at 35th and now they will try and make the most of the first race of the season. Patrick performed well last year and now it's time for another rookie to be in the spotlight and many thin Dillon has a better chance to get things done from the front position than Patrick did. The Duels start up at 7 pm.
Check here for the schedule and live coverage of the Duels from FOX.