Motorsports

Best behavior biggest winner

Elliott Sadler and Jeff Gordon win qualifying races on a day when drivers are mindful of their manners.

By BRANT JAMES
Published February 17, 2006

	[AP]
	Brett Sadler celebrates his victory in the first qualifying race with his 9-year-old daughter, Cora. He'll start third in Sunday's Daytona 500.

DAYTONA BEACH - Whether they were better-behaved out of concern for the cars they would use Sunday, or the threat president Mike Helton issued earlier in the day, Nextel Cup drivers treaded lightly in Thursday's two 150-mile qualifying races that set the field for Sunday's Daytona 500.

Elliott Sadler and three-time Daytona 500 winner Jeff Gordon didn't have to worry too much about anyone's aggressive driving anyway, dominating their qualifying races.

Sadler won the first qualifier by holding off Carl Edwards in a green-white-checkered finish. Sadler took the lead on a pit stop on Lap 28, held it through a 10-minute rain stoppage and led the last 36 laps. Dale Earnhardt Jr., who proclaimed last week he had the car to beat in the Daytona 500, was third, followed by Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth.

Gordon, who won the Daytona 500 last year, but followed with the most disappointing season of his career, was untouchable in the second race, leading the last 36 laps. That race, too, ended in a green-white-checkered finish.

Gordon stopped well short of declaring himself the favorite on Sunday.

"I definitely think we're one of the guys, I think with our record here at Daytona," he said.

"But whether we're the guy to beat or not, we'll find out in the closing laps of the 500."

Gordon's Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Kyle Busch, led 22 laps and finished second, followed by Jamie McMurray, Bobby Labonte and Mark Martin.

Pole-sitter Jeff Burton and Gordon start on the front row regardless of their finishes Thursday. Sadler will start third.

Kevin LePage and Bill Elliott raced their way into the Daytona 500 in the first qualifier as the top two finishers not guaranteed spots by owner points. Mike Wallace and Robby Gordon did the same in the second race.

Travis Kvapil, Hermie Sadler, and Kirk Shelmerdine fell back on qualifying time to make the field and Terry Labonte used a past champion's provisional.

Scott Riggs, driving a new third car at Evernham Motorsports, finished 13th in the second qualifier as the most surprising driver to miss the field. He needed to race his way in because his new team did not have sufficient owner points to assure him a spot and a parts failure ruined his qualifying run. Riggs held the final transfer spot during the last pit stop under caution, but he lost several positions when the jack inadvertently dropped before the tire change was complete.

"That's the kind of risk you take when you come down without points," he said. "(I) just hate it."

That racing was in general much calmer than in the Bud Shootout on Sunday was no coincidence, Earnhardt Jr. said.

"It goes back to what kind of race the Shootout is and what you can expect to run in a sprint for $200,000," he said.

"It's like the all-star race and the (Coca-Cola) 600, there's a big difference in the mentality. I don't know what the surprise is."

Sadler said he would watch the second qualifying race to see "what NASCAR is letting them get away with so on Sunday I'll know where the line is."

Gordon said the threat of action from NASCAR produced "much cleaner racing."

The first qualifying race began an hour late because of rain and was red-flagged after 34 of 60 laps when showers returned. By then Johnson, who started in the rear for the qualifier after failing post-qualifying inspection, had worked his way back to third.

Jarrett, who had the third-best qualifying time on Sunday, and Sterling Marlin suffered damage to their cars with two scheduled laps remaining when the leaders braked abruptly to weave through debris under caution. When rookie Denny Hamlin locked his brakes, Marlin veered left and rammed Jarrett.

Otherwise, drivers were cognizant from the morning drivers' meeting that NASCAR was serious about policing rough driving. Special attention was being paid, according to Helton, to so-called "no zones" in corners where bump-drafting would not be permitted.

"I don't know about those zones," Edwards said. "I wasn't exactly sure where they were, and I slid up in front of Junior off of 2 that one time. I was like, "He's coming, but I think we're in one of those zones. Wham! Nope, we must be out of it. Whoa!' "

"I think we were just past it," Earnhardt Jr. grinned.

[Last modified February 18, 2006, 16:17:34]