NASCAR Cup Series

League of their own: Are Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing the Daytona 500 favorites?

Published Feb. 16, 2015 11:00 a.m. ET

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One weekend is in the books at Daytona International Speedway, and already two organizations are standing out ahead of the competition.

Through the Sprint Unlimited and Daytona 500 qualifying, the Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolets and Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas have shown speed, ability to work through the draft, and one car from each organization has already gone to Victory Lane.

Matt Kenseth's No. 20 JGR Toyota was able to survive the wrecks and dice his way through the field to win Saturday night's Sprint Unlimited, while Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson provided a sweep of the Daytona 500 front row for Hendrick Motorsports in qualifying.

In Sunday's knockout qualifying session for the Daytona 500, eight of the top 10 cars were either Hendrick or Gibbs cars, with brothers Ty and Austin Dillon of Richard Childress Racing also in the mix.

While this year's qualifying format was much different in years past, the show of power, teamwork, and strategy was enough to put both Hendrick and Gibbs ahead of their competition.

Despite the strength they've shown already in Speedweeks, Jimmie Johnson is not ready to say the Daytona 500 will come down to a HMS-JGR showdown.

"(It's) hard to predict," he said, pointing to the chaos of the Sprint Unlimited. "I feel amongst those eight cars, you have eight really good drivers with the draft. I think our eight cars over the last few years have been maybe just a little step ahead of the competition. Traditional thinking, yes. We just don't have a clue. I think (Saturday) night's (race is) the best evidence to support that. Although one of those eight did win that race, so..."

Even Sprint Unlimited winner Matt Kenseth knows it is too early in the week and there is too much at risk in a restrictor-plate race to predict anything.

"I feel like all our Camrys have been real competitive since we got here --we've got a lot of speed and that's encouraging, but its speedway racing and anything can happen," said Kenseth. "We got through the first two processes and now we need to get through the 150s with a good finish and get ready for Sunday."

The two organizations certainly dominated the Sprint Unlimited and Sunday's knockout qualifying session, but there are other teams that have shown speed heading into the Budweiser Duels.

Richard Childress Racing and the ECR-powered cars have been strong as well, with Ty and Austin Dillon qualifying eighth and ninth, respectively, in Sunday's session. During Saturday night's Sprint Unlimited, Martin Truex Jr.'s ECR-powered No. 78 Chevrolet was one of the strongest cars, finishing second to Kenseth.

A handful of Fords have also shown speed early in Speedweeks. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.'s No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford posted the fastest lap of the week during Saturday's practice session, with a lap at 202.643 mph.

During the second, first-round group qualifying session, Richard Petty Motorsports' Aric Almirola put up the fastest lap of the entire session at 202.370 mph. Despite the fast lap, Almirola was unable to advance into the third and final round of qualifying.

So while the Hendrick and Gibbs cars have secured the hardware early in the 2015 Daytona Speedweeks, it may be too early to say next Sunday's Daytona 500 will come down to those two teams. While they certainly look to be the best organizations in the field at the moment, a lot can change in a week in Daytona. 

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