Johnson wins first Duel in Daytona

Jimmie Johnson spent most of his Gatorade 150 Duel in Daytona back in the pack, but with the checkers in sight, he stayed out on old tires and beat Kevin Harvick to the line by fractions of an inch.

Our View Johnson needs to hang on for 500 miles on Sunday, however, and he is not one of the best restrictor-plate superspeedway racers. Start him at your own risk.

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Four drivers to backup Shootout cars, six wreck

Four drivers involved in a six-car accident in the final minutes of the first practice session for the Budweiser Shootout will be forced to roll out a backup. They are Mark Martin, Denny Hamlin, Greg Biffle and Jamie McMurray. Joey Logano and Clint Bowyer (in Kevin Harvick's car) suffered minor damage but are not expected to go to their backups.

Our View The accident happened when Hamlin clipped the back of Martin's car and turned him sideways in front of the field. Both drivers accepted partial blame and there are no hard feelings as fallout.

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Burton believes Harvick is leaving

With more than a year remaining on his schedule, Kevin Harvick is already a lame duck. Teammate Jeff Burton expects that Harvick already has plans to leave at the end of the 2010 season, according to SceneDaily.com.

Our View It's hard to imagine this team can stay focused with this distraction, but Harvick has been running well lately. The imminent split between Kurt Busch and crew chief Pat Tryson also suggests Harvick and team can stay near the top of their game.

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Harvick "wins" Auto Club Sat a.m. practice

With an abbreviated practice of only 20 minutes, the average speeds in the morning session are somewhat meaningless. However, Kevin Harvick was quickest with a speed of 177.559 mph during nine laps.

Our View If this were one of the usual frontrunners, it wouldn't be noteworthy, but with the struggles in the No. 29 camp, it's nice to have any sign of good news.

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Official tweets from the track

McDowell, K Hamlin and Gilliland in jeopardy

Michael McDowell (in the No. 36 this week), Kevin Hamlin (37) and David Gilliland (04) were the three slowest drivers among the go or go homers and as such are in the greatest jeopardy of going home.

Our View Each of these drivers are most likely start and park drivers, so fantasy owners will be unaffected if they fail to make the Price Chopper 400 by Kraft Foods.

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