Waltrip, Earnhardt Draft a Good Plan

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — If the twin 150-mile races proved anything here Thursday, besides qualifying four more drivers for Sunday’s Daytona 500, they showed that there is not necessarily a correlation between straight-line speed and drafting, and that whatever the distance, there probably will be a “big one” on the high banks of Daytona International Speedway.

Dale Jarrett won the pole last Sunday because his Ford was the slickest slipping through the air when it was alone on the track. In the first race Thursday, when his car was out on the 2.5-mile tri-oval with 28 others, it was no match for cars set up for drafting.

Two Dale Earnhardt Inc. Chevrolets, driven by teammates Michael Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt Jr., had qualified poorly -- Waltrip 33rd, Earnhardt 39th -- but when the first heat came down to the finish, it was the DEI pair charging side-by-side for the checkered flag.

Waltrip, using the draft for all its worth, had enough momentum to finish first in the duel involving the two most recent Daytona 500 winners. Earnhardt won last year, Waltrip, for the second time, in 2003.

Mike Skinner held on for third place. Jarrett finished 21st.

Both races had multicar accidents, but one in the second race, triggered by pole-sitter Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick, sidelined six cars.

Johnson, who was leading coming off the second turn, appeared to lose his momentum when Harvick clipped the rear end of Johnson’s car and sent it sideways.

As with most racing accidents, the reconstructions were vastly different.

Said Johnson, “We were just going along and [Harvick] pulls his head off his shoulders and starts bump-drafting in the center of the turn. It’s a shame. He just tore up six or seven good race cars. I hope that NASCAR does something about him because this is ridiculous -- absolutely ridiculous.”

Countered Harvick, “I just got to him and he checked up and I got to him and I couldn’t get off of him. I just spun him out and I feel sorry for the teams and everybody involved. It’s not something where you want to bump-draft in the middle of the corner. He slowed down and got sideways and I got the back of him.”

Mark Martin, Rusty Wallace, Joe Nemechek and Dave Blaney were also knocked out of the race by the accident. Wallace will start Sunday’s race in a backup car, but Martin said he had no suitable backup and that his crew would repair the badly damaged Ford.

“I couldn’t see anything but the back end of the 29 [Harvick],” said a disgruntled Martin about the final Daytona 500 of his career. “We don’t have another car like that. I believe I could win [Sunday] with that car, but I don’t know if they can fix it.”

Pat Tryon, Martin’s crew chief, said, “Our plan is to fix the No. 6 [car]. We’ll work all day on it tomorrow and try to get it ready for Saturday’s practice.”

Nemechek was not happy with Harvick, either.

“He just drives stupid,” said the driver of the Army-sponsored Chevrolet. “He’ll get it back. It was totally uncalled for, what happened out there.”

Wallace’s view: “All of a sudden the whole back straightaway was filled with smoke. I went to the high side and when the smoke cleared, Harvick was sitting right in front of me. There was nothing I could do. The 07 [Blaney] got in the back of me and got me up in the air. It was probably as hard as I’ve hit in my life.”

Tony Stewart, fourth at the time in a Chevrolet, found a hole in the melee and after clearing the accident went on to win over Jeff Burton, in another Chevrolet. Kevin Lepage’s third place in a Dodge earned him a starting berth in the 500.

Also qualifying through the twin 150-mile races were Skinner, Kenny Wallace and Martin Truex Jr. Kenny Wallace thus joins big brothers Rusty and Mike in the 500 field, Mike in the field on his qualifying speed, starting last.

With 10 laps left in the second heat, Robby Gordon was in third position, good enough to get in Sunday’s main event, but by the time the field reached the final lap he had slid back to seventh and will miss the 500.

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Sebastien Bourdais, Champ Car World Series champion from France, will start on the pole in today’s International Race of Champions after selecting the No. 1 berth in a blind draw. Kurt Busch will start alongside him in the 100-mile sprint for 12 identically prepared Pontiac Firebirds driven by drivers from the Indy Racing League, World of Outlaws and Grand American sports cars as well as NASCAR and Champ Car.

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Kerry Earnhardt earned his first career pole for the season-opening NASCAR Craftsman Truck series race at Daytona.

Earnhardt turned a fast lap of 182.478 mph in a Chevrolet and will be in the top spot for tonight’s Florida Dodge Dealers 250.

Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Daytona 500 Lineup

The top two positions in the Daytona lineup were determined at last weekend’s time trials. Positions 3-39 were determined by Thursday’s twin 150-mile races. Michael Waltrip won the first 150-mile race, Tony Stewart won the second race, etc. Positions 40-43 were given to the four fastest cars from last weekend’s time trials that did not qualify through Thursday’s races.

*--* POST CAR DRIVER MAKE QUALIFIED 1. 88 Dale Jarrett Ford 188.312 mph 2. 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 188.170 mph 3. 15 Michael Waltrip Chevrolet 1st 150-1 4. 20 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 1st 150-2 5. 8 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 2nd 150-1 6. 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 2nd 150-2 7. 23 Mike Skinner Dodge 3rd 150-1 8. 37 Kevin Lepage Dodge 3rd 150-2 9. 12 Ryan Newman Dodge 4th 150-1 10. 1 Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet 4th 150-2 11. 21 Ricky Rudd Ford 5th 150-1 12. 10 Scott Riggs Chevrolet 5th 150-2 13. 97 Kurt Busch Ford 6th 150-1 14. 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 6th 150-2 15. 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 7th 150-1 16. 22 Scott Wimmer Dodge 8th 150-1 17. 42 Jamie McMurray Dodge 8th 150-2 18. 40 Sterling Marlin Dodge 9th 150-1 19. 5 Kyle Busch Chevrolet 9th 150-2 20. 18 Bobby Labonte Chevrolet 12th 150-2 21. 00 Kenny Wallace Chevrolet 10th 150-1 22. 32 Bobby Hamilton Jr. Chevrolet 13th 150-2 23. 16 Greg Biffle Ford 13th 150-1 24. 19 Jeremy Mayfield Dodge 15th 150-2 25. 77 Travis Kvapil Dodge 14th 150-1 26. 43 Jeff Green Dodge 16th 150-2 27. 99 Carl Edwards Ford 15th 150-1 28. 25 Brian Vickers Chevrolet 19th 150-2 29. 41 Casey Mears Dodge 17th 150-1 30. 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 21st 150-2 31. 49 Ken Schrader Dodge 19th 150-1 32. 6 Mark Martin Ford 22nd 150-2 33. 45 Kyle Petty Dodge 20th 150-1 34. 01 Joe Nemechek Chevrolet 23rd 150-2 35. 0 Mike Bliss Chevrolet 22nd 150-1 36. 2 Rusty Wallace Dodge 24th 150-2 37. 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge 24th 150-1 38. 07 Dave Blaney Chevrolet 25th 150-2 39. 38 Elliott Sadler Ford 26th 150-1 40. 11 Jason Leffler Chevrolet 187.715 mph 41. 36 Boris Said Chevrolet 187.122 mph 42. 14 John Andretti Ford 186.324 mph 43. 4 Mike Wallace Chevrolet 185.908 mph FAILED TO QUALIFY 44. 33 Kerry Earnhardt Chevrolet 183.012 mph 45. 7 Robby Gordon Chevrolet 184.911 mph 46. 09 Johnny Sauter Dodge 184.528 mph 47. 27 Kirk Shelmerdine Ford 184.665 mph 48. 66 Hermie Sadler Ford 184.211 mph 49. 89 Morgan Shepherd Dodge 182.789 mph 50. 73 Eric McClure Chevrolet 183.963 mph 51. 13 Greg Sacks Dodge 183.024 mph 52. 92 Stanton Barrett Chevrolet 183.098 mph 53. 55 Derrike Cope Chevrolet 182.275 mph 54. 34 Randy LaJoie Chevrolet 181.159 mph 55. 52 Larry Gunselman Ford 178.409 mph 56. 80 Andy Belmont Ford 174.683 mph.

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