Drivers expect great race

Friday, Feb. 16, 2001 | 11:27 a.m.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Dodge isn't the only entity making its return to Winston Cup racing in Sunday's Daytona 500.

The slingshot is back.

The drafting pass that helped make Richard Petty and the Daytona 500 American institutions is alive and well, thanks to NASCAR's new aerodynamic package for the 2.5-mile superspeedway.

If Thursday's twin 125-mile qualifying races were any indication, the 43rd running of the Daytona 500 should live up to its billing as the Super Bowl of stock car racing.

Sterling Marlin used the slingshot to overtake Dale Earnhardt on the final lap and win the first qualifier and Mike Skinner held off Dale Earnhardt Jr. by .004 seconds in the second 50-lap race.

The two races featured a combined 21 lead changes among 15 drivers -- a stark contrast to last year's qualifiers, which resulted in a grand total of one lead change.

Following last year's Daytona 500, NASCAR came up with a new aerodynamics package that resulted in one of the best races of the season, at Talladega Superspeedway. Daytona and Talladega are the only two tracks on the Winston Cup circuit where the cars are required to run with horsepower-sapping restrictor plates.

"NASCAR has done a great job with this aero package to equal the field and I don't think anybody has a super advantage at the end of the day," Richard Childress, Skinner's car owner, said.

"I think the race fans (today) saw the best race at Daytona that they've seen in quite a few years. This is going to be the best 500 we've ever seen."

Childress, who also owns the car driven by Dale Earnhardt Sr., added that he thought the new rules package for Daytona would lead to even better racing than fans saw here during the '70s and '80s.

"The only difference is you had three or four cars then in the front pack and today you've got probably 15 or 20," Childress said. "The slingshot will work now, just like it did then, but today the guys do a lot more blocking and you've got a lot more cars going for it at the end."

Marlin, a two-time Daytona 500 winner who drove a Dodge to its first win at Daytona since 1977, will start Sunday's 500 on the inside of the second row -- behind the Dodges of pole sitter Bill Elliott and Stacy Compton.

"I'm going to make a prediction," Marlin said. "Sunday's Daytona 500 is going to be the best one that has ever been run."

Marlin, who did not lead a lap until he passed Earnhardt on the bottom of the track coming out of Turn 4, said his position going into the final lap may be the preferred spot in Sunday's race.

"I think with the new package, I wouldn't want to be leading with two to go in the Daytona 500," he said. "They're going to lay back on you and the third-place guy is going to lay back. When the pack starts coming, it stirs a lot of air up.

"You can get a good jump from four- or five-car lengths out and (the leader is) a sitting duck."

Marlin will be one of four Dodge drivers starting in the top 10 on Sunday; Chevy will occupy four spots and Ford two. Dodge is making a return to Winston Cup racing after a 15-year absence.

Las Vegas' Kurt Busch will start his first Daytona 500 from the 26th starting position in a Ford after finishing 12th in Thursday's second qualifier.

Jeff Burton, Busch's teammate at Roush Racing, finished third in the second qualifying race and will starts 8th.

Burton echoed the sentiments of most Ford drivers that his car make is at an aerodynamic disadvantage because of the new rules package.

"There is evidence that supports that the Ford is behind a little bit on drag," Burton said. "(NASCAR) made an adjustment at Talladega (last year) and they just didn't make enough of an adjustment."

Two-time Daytona 500 winner Jeff Gordon, who will start 13th on Sunday, dismissed the notion that Fords are at a disadvantage. Teamwork, he said, will be the key in the race.

"Nobody is at a disadvantage," he said. "All the cars are equal but you've got to have somebody to work with you (in the draft).

"I saw Dodges working with other Dodges and Chevys working with other Chevys (but) I didn't see too many Fords working together."