Earnhardt Jr. flexes muscle in Can-Am Duel 1

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Dale Earnhardt Jr. reminded the Daytona 500 field — and every NASCAR follower, at that — who the favorite is for Sunday.

The two-time Daytona 500 winner won Can-Am Duel 1 on Thursday night after coming out of pit road third, and working around both Kevin Harvick and leader Denny Hamlin. The talk of the current restrictor plate package is about how hard it is to pass the leader.

The strength of Earnhardt's car — nicknamed 'Amelia' — was plainly and emphatically shown, and the only downside of that lies in everyone knowing what he has. The upside is it might not matter on Sunday.

'I was so nervous today about tearing the car up because I know how good it is versus what we have. What we have is a capable car in the trailer, but this thing is special,' Earnhardt Jr. said. 'I was glad to hold them off. But now I'm not too worried about giving away too many secrets. But the car is so good, it's really hard. When you got such a great car, it's hard to defend on a pass with a car like that.'

Earnhardt got a challenge late from Joey Logano, who ended up second, but NASCAR's resident plate racing pied-piper was never seriously challenged for the lead once he took it away from Hamlin.

The car he's in for Speedweeks is the same one he won with at Talladega and the July Daytona race, as well as his Duel last year during Speedweeks. Earnhardt finished third and second in the other two plate races last season. Its performance almost forces Earnhardt to prevent himself from getting overconfident.

'The car is awesome. I don't really get too confident, I don't want to get overly confident in what I'm doing. But the car really does everything I ask it to do,' Earnhardt said. 'When you have a car that you know can do the things that this car can do, you're willing to take those gambles and risks to pull out and pass and not worry about getting shuffled to the back because you feel like the car is really capable of doing what you're going to ask it to do every time you make a move.

'It's just a fun car to drive. Really special car.'

Earnhardt beat Logano, rookie Ryan Blaney, Harvick and Hamlin for the win. Daytona 500 pole sitter Chase Elliott was sixth. Cedar Rapids native Landon Cassill's Front Row Motorsports teammate Chris Buescher was ninth.

Blaney raced his way into the Daytona 500, as did Michael McDowell in the Levine Family Racing/Circle Sport No. 59.

Earnhardt will start third on Sunday, and despite how strong his car was Thursday night, he insisted there are several guys who can challenge his status as the favorite. Guys like Logano, Harvick, Hamlin and Brad Keselowski were names Earnhardt floated as guys with more than just a shot to win.

Aside from just their equipment, Earnhardt said the style of plate racing now — and switch away from tandem drafting — has made the playing field what it is.

'When you had to tandem draft, you basically had to team up. Imagine going to a wrestling event and it was just all tag team matches. That wouldn't be any fun,' Earnhardt said. 'When that all went away, this package, we got lucky that this package is similar to the '01 to '05 range, maybe even late '90s, similar to that, where you have to look out for you.

'That's what makes this fun again. That's why you see the same guys up there, because they understand the mentality. Different styles work.'

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