Truex, Martin take sigh of relief after surviving Duel

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- They entered Thursday's Gatorade Duel at Daytona International Speedway thinking they were all set to start side-by-side on the front row for Sunday's Daytona 500.

By the time the afternoon was over, Martin Truex Jr. and Mark Martin were glad to have survived it. Both narrowly avoided disaster in their separate Duel races -- the type that would have sent them scrambling into backup cars that would have forced them to the rear of the starting grid for Sunday's 500.

"I thought I was long gone," Martin said of the early contact his No. 5 Chevrolet took from Juan Montoya in the rear during the second Gatorade Duel. Immediately after the race, Montoya apologized for nearly taking Martin out -- but that might not have lessened the blow if Martin hadn't been able to recover.

Martin not only recovered but rallied to make a late run for the win before settling for second behind victor Kyle Busch (watch video).

"That was fun, maybe the most fun I've ever had here at Daytona," Martin said. "I've been around so long that maybe there are a couple of other times where I've had as much fun or more, but I just can't remember them."

Truex, on the other hand, had more fun at the beginning of his race than he did toward the end. He led 32 of the first 37 laps in the opening Duel, only to begin falling off the pace as the 60-lap event wound down because he lost the handling on the car.

As he drifted toward the rear of the field, he got tapped from behind by the No. 6 Ford of David Ragan exiting Turn 2 on the 2.5-mile superspeedway. That sent him sideways, and then quickly into a spin. He held on tight to the wheel, made sure he stayed well away from shooting up the middle of the track toward the outside wall -- and commenced praying that no one else would plow into him (watch video). (Continued)