A Checkered Berth for Waltrip

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., Feb. 15 -- It was hard to imagine things getting worse for Michael Waltrip after he was busted for cheating and slapped with a record penalty by NASCAR for spiking his racing fuel with an illegal additive during time trials for Sunday's Daytona 500.

Waltrip claimed to be so remorseful that he had to be coaxed into returning to Daytona International Speedway to compete in Thursday's 150-mile qualifying races, which represented his last chance to earn a spot in NASCAR's biggest race. Forced to start last in a backup car (part of his penalty for his race team's shenanigans), Waltrip proceeded to spin out the sport's most popular driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- a move that no doubt incurred the wrath of what few stock-car racing fans hadn't already turned against him.

But Waltrip roared on unscathed and rode the supersupeedway's aerodynamic draft to an eighth-place finish that was good enough to clinch a coveted spot in the season-opening Daytona 500 -- a feat that represented a first step toward redeeming himself in the eyes of his sponsor and car manufacturer, Toyota, whose coming-out party he had sullied.

"There wasn't really any emotion -- just thankfulness that I was here," Waltrip said when asked how it felt to secure a starting spot. As it turned out, all three of the Toyota teams that Waltrip owns qualified for the race. David Reutimann will start the race by virtue of his performance in time trials. And Dale Jarrett, NASCAR's 1999 champion, was granted a provisional entry reserved for any champion who can't qualify otherwise.

NASCAR officials aren't entirely convinced of Waltrip's contrition, insiders say, and some of his on-track rivals don't feel he deserves to compete in the sport's biggest race after cheating in such a flagrant manner. While bending NASCAR's rulebook is a traditions-old art form in stock-car racing, doctoring racing fuel is viewed as patently out of bounds.

"There are gray areas and then there are not gray areas," said Joe Nemechek, who also earned a starting spot in Sunday's race, finishing ninth in the second 150-mile qualifier. "As big as [the Daytona 500] is, and as many competitors as we have trying to make this race [in Thursday's races, 23 drivers vied for four openings], if somebody gets caught that blatantly, they probably should not be in the Daytona 500."

Waltrip, seeking to atone, said he would have understood if NASCAR had barred him from the 500 altogether.

"Whatever they said, I would accept because it was just a terrible mistake," said Waltrip, a two-time Daytona 500 winner. "I don't need to cheat to win this race. I've done it before. I'm just embarrassed for my organization."

For the fifth consecutive day, talk of cheating overshadowed the on-track performance at Daytona, where NASCAR officials have adopted a no-tolerance policy toward rules violations. From the thoroughness of pre-race inspections to the harshness of the penalties that follow, NASCAR's aggressive pursuit and punishment of cheaters has drivers and mechanics on edge. That's because all have been testing the limits of the rules looking for that extra advantage, whether in horsepower or aerodynamics, to help them land a spot in the 43-car field. Eighteen teams missed the cut.

But as is customary at Daytona, the best drivers shone when the green flag fell.

Tony Stewart won the afternoon's first qualifying race to give Joe Gibbs Racing its 100th victory (including drag races and stock-car races) since the Washington Redskins coach formed his Huntersville, N.C.-based race team in 1991. It was Stewart's 11th career win on the high banks of Daytona and his second in the past week, having claimed Saturday's all-star event, the Budweiser Shootout, in equally convincing fashion.

But Stewart said he would trade it all for Daytona's biggest prize: The Daytona 500 trophy, which still eludes him.

Earnhardt Jr. staged a show worth seeing in his scramble to recover from the contact with Waltrip. The nudge sent Earnhardt's No. 8 Chevy spinning, but he kept it from hitting the wall and crept back into the pits so his team could fix the suspension damage. Earnhardt Jr. fell one lap down in the process but made up his lap when a well-timed caution flag flew. Then he diced through traffic to finish second.

Four-time NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon won the day's other qualifying race with a gutsy last-lap move. With a well-placed shove from David Stremme, Gordon zoomed past Matt Kenseth on the high side then ducked low to snatch the lead from Kurt Busch and hang on for his 13th career victory at Daytona.

Within the hour, however, Gordon was informed he wouldn't reap the customary benefit of the victory. Instead of starting on the second row for the Daytona 500, he'll line up 42nd after NASCAR officials during post-race inspection found that his Chevrolet's quarter-panels were one inch too low. The culprit was an incorrectly installed shock absorber, but NASCAR officials deemed it an unintentional mistake -- one that would have given the car a negligible competitive advantage, if any, and more likely made the car harder to drive. Gordon will be allowed to keep the victory but will start at the back of the pack.

In addition to Waltrip, Reutimann and Nemechek, the drivers who made the field based on time trials or Thursday races were Mike Wallace, Boris Said, Sterling Marlin and Johnny Sauter. James Hylton, at 72 attempting to become the oldest driver to race in the Daytona 500, failed to qualify, finishing 23rd in his race, but vowed to be back for Daytona's 400-mile race in July.