DEI duo controls one duel race

Friday, Feb. 18, 2005 | 10:41 a.m.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- If Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Michael Waltrip were trying to snooker the competition with their lackluster qualifying efforts last weekend, they gave themselves away Thursday afternoon.

The Dale Earnhardt Inc. drivers reaffirmed themselves as the drivers to beat in Sunday's Daytona 500 by finishing 1-2 in their 150-mile qualifying race, much to the dismay of the other teams that were beginning to believe they had caught up with DEI's dominating restrictor-plate program.

"It sure didn't look like it going into (Turn) 3 over there," said Mike Skinner, who was leading the first qualifying race when Waltrip and Earnhardt teamed up in the draft and blew by him. "I don't think they lost anything, I think they were smart. They probably brought cars down here that might not have been so slick in qualifying but they drafted really good.

"I just hate they (were) both in the same race -- that wasn't good."

Earnhardt, the defending Daytona 500 champion, denied allegations of sandbagging.

"I don't know what the benefit of doing that would be," Earnhardt said. "If there is one, I'd do it. We're just running as hard as we can run (but) the cars have been slow. We changed some things but I don't know if we've helped our cars. Even though we changed some things over the last couple days, I think if we went and qualified all over again, it would be just as poor.

"I swear on the Bible we haven't been sandbagging."

By virtue of their 1-2 finish in the qualifier, Waltrip and Earnhardt will start on the outside of the second and third rows, respectively, for Sunday's 200-lap race. Tony Stewart, who won the second qualifying race, will start fourth.

Dale Jarrett and Jimmie Johnson will start on the front row after posting the fastest qualifying speeds this past Sunday.

While Earnhardt has been vocal about his car's lack of power in the week leading up to the 500, Waltrip said they both had a feeling their cars would work well once they began running around other cars.

"Why we've struggled so much qualifying is really a mystery," Waltrip said. "You really need more power to run by yourself in qualifying conditions (and the smaller restrictor plate) maybe took some of our power advantage away when we were by ourselves.

"But in the draft, when the wind is blowing and the circumstances were different, our cars were as strong as anybody's. Dale Junior and I both thought in testing in January that our cars were as strong as anybody's."

Because of the smaller restrictor plates and shorter rear spoilers mandated by NASCAR this season, Waltrip, a two-time Daytona 500 winner, predicted Sunday's race would be similar to Thursday's qualifiers: Great for the drivers but so-so for the fans.

"You saw both races really get strung out quicker than normally here," Waltrip said of the 150-mile races. "Cautions got us all back together for the craziness, but we strung our race out pretty quick.

"That's what happened in the 500 a year ago: Tony Stewart and Dale Jr. were able to drive away from everybody and settle it themselves. Not the greatest for TV, but certainly a load off a driver's mind to battle two or three guys instead of a whole pack of them."

Las Vegas brothers Kurt and Kyle Busch had solid qualifying races, finishing sixth and ninth, respectively, in the first event. Kurt Busch, the reigning Nextel Cup champion, will start 13th Sunday while Kyle Busch will start 19th.

Both of Thursday's qualifying races were marred by the multi-car wrecks that have become commonplace at Daytona and Talladega -- the only two tracks where the horsepower-sapping restrictor plates are used to curtail speeds. The nastiest incident occurred in the second race after Kevin Harvick bumped Johnson from behind coming out of Turn 2, triggering a seven-car pileup that that collected Rusty Wallace, Mark Martin, Joe Nemechek, Scott Riggs and Dave Blaney.

Although Harvick drew the ire of the drivers involved in the crash, Stewart was more upset with NASCAR's rules that have made bump drafting -- a trailing car using its front bumper to nudge the leading car and propel both cars forward -- an acceptable tactic.

"It's stupid that we're even in this position where we have to do bump drafting," Stewart said. "That's what the key is to winning a race. It's pretty stupid that that's the position we're put in, but it's exciting for (the spectators), obviously.

"With all the technology we've got now ... I don't know why we couldn't take the plates off. We could figure out another way, whether it is harder tires or something where we have to lift (off the gas) in the corners and this racetrack is wide enough where you can still race and you don't have to be two wide and 18 rows deep to do it. I'd at least like to see that option tried."

In the meantime, DEI has figured out this whole restrictor-plate business and Earnhardt, for one, said he is confident he will return to the track on Sunday with a car that will work better than the one he had Thursday.

"We made some changes (to the car) and we need to do a few more things," Earnhardt said. "We're going to put a motor in that's got a few changes -- stuff that we know will help the car.

"I think it's a real good car, but I want it to do a few other things a little bit better and I'll be satisfied. I want it to draft up better and I want to work on the handling issue. I think we know what to do."