By Staff
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Two of NASCAR's biggest stars, Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon, won the Gatorade Duels Thursday afternoon at Daytona International Speedway.
Due to a rules violation, Gordon will be forced to start near the rule of the field.
The high horsepower excitement on this day, however, was back in the pack as more than 20 drivers raced for just a few cherished starting spots.
Gordon took the lead with just a couple laps left after the Busch brothers, Kyle and Kurt, led most of the way.
Juan Pablo Montoya led early but had a problem after a 28th lap scrape with the wall.
From there to the end, most of the attention focused on which drivers would grab the two available starting spots for drivers not guaranteed a spot based on last year's top 35 owner point standings.
Journeyman drivers Joe Nemechek and Mike Wallace zigged and zagged their way into the Daytona 500 starting field with ninth and 11th place finishes.
Trailing Gordon was Kurt Busch, David Stremme, Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth.
Neither of the new Red Bull Racing cars made the race, with both Toyotas involved in crashes. Drivers AJ Allmendinger and Brian Vickers will be watching this year's race from the sidelines, as will former Daytona 500 winners Derrike Cope, Bill Elliott and Ward Burton.
The first race produced plenty of drama with 72-year-old James Hylton trying his best to grab a starting spot in Sunday's Daytona 500. He had his car in eighth position with six laps to go before a freight train of cars roared past, leaving Hylton in its wake.
Three caution flags in the last 10 laps had the huge crowd on its feet for the green, white, checkered flag finish.
The last one, brought about when Ward Burton scraped the wall after being tapped from behind, set the stage for a spectacular finish back in the pack.
Tony Stewart and Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished one-two but the story of the day was Michael Waltrip's ninth-place finish.
Waltrip, who considered not even starting the race after a news-capturing three days of turmoil over rules violations, finished ninth to gain one of two available positions for cars not locked into the Daytona 500 through NASCAR's top 35 in points procedure.
Waltrip raced briefly with the leaders Stewart and Earnhardt early in the race after working his way to the front from a back of the pack starting position.
The former Daytona 500 winner drew the ire of the crowd when he tried to squeeze between Earnhardt and Stewart and tapped his former teammate Earnhardt into a spin. Earnhardt, however, recovered to finish second.
Waltrip's problems began after qualifying time trials last Sunday. His car was impounded after a foreign substance was discovered in the manifold. NASCAR ejected his crew chief and team vice-president of competition Wednesday and also disallowed his qualifying speed. The car he used Thursday was actually a backup car since NASCAR confiscated his primary machine and sent it to their research and development center in Concord, N.C.
The day was heartbreaking for driver Mike Bliss in the No. 49, BAM Racing Dodge, who lost a dash to the line on the last lap with Boris Said. Said, 12th in the race, edged Bliss at the line by inches.
Jeff Burton finished third behind Stewart and Earnhardt, with pole winner David Gilliland fourth and Denny Hamlin fifth.
Ironically, even though Waltrip's week was riddled with controversy, all three of his Toyotas will now start the Daytona 500. Dale Jarrett, 18th in the qualifying race, will get the former champion's 43rd provisional starting spot. And young David Reutimann will have one of four spots based on qualifying speeds.
Story provided by NASCAR