DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - After winning the Budweiser Shootout Saturday night in his first race with Hendrick Motorsports, Dale Earnhardt Jr. yesterday made it 2 for 2 by winning the first 150-mile qualifying heat of the Gatorade Duels at Daytona International Speedway.
Denny Hamlin, meanwhile, earned a green-white-checkered triumph over Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Tony Stewart in the second qualifying heat.
Earnhardt, who led three times for 25 laps in his No. 88 Chevrolet, finished ahead of runner-up Reed Sorenson.
"You know, first off I got to thank the engine guys, because we had a little problem [Wednesday] and they worked overnight to really get us the package that was durable and also competitive," said Earnhardt, whose team switched engines, forcing him to drop to the rear of the 27-car field at the start of the race. "It was good enough to win the race."
Earnhardt led the final eight laps when he made an inside pass of Ryan Newman out of Turn 4.
"I don't know if I forced him into lifting or whether we just cleared him or not," Earnhardt said of Newman. "But we were able to get by him, try to keep the lead for the rest of the race. It was fun. I'm real proud of my team."
In the second qualifying heat, Hamlin took some helpful hints from Stewart about Jeff Gordon's tactics when the race was red-flagged for about six minutes to clear away a swath of oil left on the track by rookie driver Patrick Carpentier, whose No. 10 Dodge tagged the wall as he exited Turn 2 with three laps to go.
"Tony kind of clued me in on Jeff's habits over the year of what he does on restarts to try to get guys at the end," Hamlin said. "I think I was more on the brake [during the late restart] there after they threw the green than I was actually on the throttle."
With Gordon in tow, Hamlin hung back on the restart and got a huge run on Stewart.
"Obviously, we knew with the huge run we had going down the back straightaway, if I would have chose to hit Tony, there that would have been a huge opportunity for Jeff to pull down and pass really both of us with relative ease," Hamlin said. "We knew at the end it was going to be tough for us to finish 1-2 by simply riding that way. We needed to kind of almost exchange positions to kind of get that finish we needed at the end."
Hamlin, as a result, wound up leading the final two laps and delivered
Four on the floor
They were the Fortunate Four. After Kenny Wallace and Brian Vickers claimed the first two of four transfer spots in the first Duel, Dale Jarrett and John Andretti claimed the last two spots in the second duel, doing so in stirring fashion by racing their way into the field.
Wallace capitalized on a last-hour reprieve after he had been placed in what amounted to a paid furlough at the end of last season by his Furniture Row race team. Wallace finished eighth in the first Duel while Vickers survived a hairy spin two laps in and a late pit stop for right-side tires and fuel to finish 11th.
"This is a moral victory for me," Wallace said. "This is all about me right now. For [Furniture Row] to say, 'Hey, here's a car with a Hendrick motor in it. We want you to go ahead and prove it.' I proved it. I'm just shocked right now."
The only other person who was as shocked was Andretti, who had limited practice time in his No. 34 Chevrolet, but raced his way into the field when he got past Michael Waltrip on the last corner of the last lap.
Not-so-sweet 16
Bill Elliott finished 16th and wound up failing to qualify the No. 21 Ford, meaning it will be the third time in race history it will not start the Daytona 500 after making 47 of the previous 49. It was a double whammy since it put the Wood Brothers team behind in its quest to climb into the top 35. "That top-35 thing is just a night-and-day fight, day in and day out," said co-owner Eddie Wood. "This starts it. But we won't be alone. There's going to be company with us. You can't let it get the best of you because it will eat you alive." . . . Rookie drivers Jacques Villeneuve and Carpentier were both left on the outside looking in after they each crashed out of the second duel. They did not have the luxury of having car owner points to fall back on as did fellow rookies Sam Hornish Jr. and Dario Franchitti, both of whom made the race . . . Darrell Waltrip served as the honorary starter.
