Harvick Crashes the Party at Daytona

He Triggers Accident, Hostile Feelings in Qualifying Race

Michael Waltrip passes Dale Earnhardt Jr. to win race No. 1. In race No. 2, a seven-car melee on the backstretch destroyed the cars of Rusty Wallace and Mark Martin. (Duffin Mcgee -- Reuters)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., Feb. 17 -- NASCAR's twin 150-mile qualifying races to set the field for Sunday's Daytona 500 featured two familiar sights on the high-banks of Daytona International Speedway Thursday afternoon.

In race No. 1: The Chevrolets of Michael Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt Jr., who have won three of the last four Daytona 500s, zooming side by side past the checkered flag for a 1-2 finish.

In race No. 2: A seven-car melee on the backstretch that destroyed the cars of sentimental favorites Rusty Wallace and Mark Martin and only deepened hostility toward Kevin Harvick, who started the mess by rear-ending leader Jimmie Johnson.

No one was injured in the crash, which sent Johnson's Chevy spinning across oncoming traffic and collected the cars of Martin, Joe Nemechek, Harvick's teammate Dave Blaney and three others in the process. But it was calamitous in terms of sheet-metal carnage and ill will.

Johnson, his voice seething with anger, called for Harvick to be fired by car owner Richard Childress and for NASCAR to take punitive action. "This is ridiculous -- absolutely ridiculous," said Johnson, who will keep his front-row starting position in Sunday's 500 if his Monte Carlo can be repaired. Drivers forced to use a different car from the one they drive in qualifying lose their starting spots under NASCAR rules and must drop to the back of the field.

Martin was as crushed as his No. 6 Ford, which he was convinced could deliver his first victory in the Daytona 500 after 20 fruitless attempts. After assessing the damage -- a smashed nose, deck lid and rear quarter panel -- his crew decided they'll skip Friday's practice sessions and devote the day to rebuilding the car, which is far better than Martin's backup Ford.

"We don't have another car like that," Martin said, his voice crackling with emotion.

Contact between cars is common in NASCAR racing. In the Daytona 500, where passing is difficult because horsepower is restricted to keep speeds under 200 milers per hour, a certain amount of contact can even be beneficial. A well-placed shove, with one car nudging the car ahead of it squarely on the bumper -- will give both cars an aerodynamic boost. But under the rules of common sense and fair play, the art of "bump-drafting," as it's called, is only executed on the straightaways. Hitting another car in a turn, as Harvick did, is sure to send it spinning.

"He's driving like an idiot -- totally uncalled for," Nemechek said of Harvick. "Everybody is racing, and he's trying to turn people around in the middle of the corner. It's ridiculous."

Harvick was hauled into NASCAR's trailer for a talking-to with the sanctioning body's president, Mike Helton. Childress, Johnson, and Johnson's car owner, Rick Hendrick, were also summoned to clear the air between the two rivals, who also tangled on track last season. According to one NASCAR official, Harvick apologized during the closed-door session. Publicly, he portrayed himself as blameless.

"He slowed down and got sideways," Harvick said of Johnson, "and I got the back of him."

Anger was hardly the only emotion, however, as 56 drivers battled for 43 starting spots in NASCAR's biggest race, which kicks off stock-car racing's season each February.

Tony Stewart won the day's second qualifying race with help from his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Bobby Labonte, who shoved him to the front with 12 laps to go. Labonte finished 12th. The result was great news for Gibbs, who placed all three of his drivers safely in Sunday's 500 -- including Jason Leffler, who'll make his debut in the No. 11 FedEx Chevy.

Qualifying for the Daytona 500 is unlike any other NASCAR race, with only the first two starting spots locked in by time trials. The rest of the field is set by two qualifying races. NASCAR officials overhauled the fine points of what it takes to make the field in the offseason, guaranteeing the top 35 cars from last year a spot in the prestigious event. That left just eight slots up for grabs in Thursday's 150-mile heats.

Among the long shots to clinch a spot was Kenny Wallace, the youngest brother of 1989 champion Rusty Wallace, who battled like a demon, racing four-wide at one point, to finish 10th in his 150-miler.

"I am so excited I can't stand it!" shrieked Wallace, 41. "Don't let anybody lie to you: My guts have been tore out. I haven't been able to sleep. And I made the Daytona 500, and we earned it!"

Waltrip and Earnhardt Jr. were thrilled with their 1-2 finish after turning in horrible qualifying laps this past weekend. As many in the garage suspected, their Chevys raced far better in traffic than alone. According to Earnhardt Jr., it's the way the cars are built: Designed to suck air into the carburetor most efficiently when they're running in turbulence rather than in undisturbed air. He flatly denied that he and Waltrip had been hiding their horsepower just to throw their rivals off.

"I swear on the Bible we ain't been sand-bagging," Earnhardt Jr. said.

Journeyman driver Mike Skinner, who followed Earnhardt Jr. across the finish line to come home third, paid the younger driver the ultimate compliment, likening his drafting skills at Daytona to those of his late father, Dale Earnhardt, who won 34 races at Daytona and was considered the master of its aerodynamic draft.

"He's not the mailman's kid," Skinner said of Earnhardt Jr. "There's no question."