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closeSo far, Hendrick's Chevys up 2-1 on Gibbs' Toyotas
Hamlin's win is automaker's first in Cup
DAVID POOLE
The Charlotte Observer
Friday, Feb. 15, 2008
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The preseason storylines in NASCAR Sprint Cup racing are playing right out as Speedweeks hurtles toward the 50th running of the Daytona 500.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. made it two-for-two, adding a win in the first of Thursday’s Gatorade Duel qualifying races to his Budweiser Shootout victory from Saturday.
Then, Denny Hamlin gave Toyota its first victory of any kind in Cup competition in the second 150-miler by passing his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Tony Stewart and holding off Jeff Gordon from Hendrick Motorsports in a green-white-checkered finish.
Dale Jarrett, a three-time Daytona 500 champion aiming to make his final start in NASCAR’s biggest race, also made his way into the field for Sunday’s race. Underdogs John Andretti and Kenny Wallace raced their way in, too, joining Brian Vickers in nailing down spots in that 43-car field.
Earnhardt Jr.’s move to Hendrick Motorsports, the Gibbs team’s move to Toyota and an anticipated rivalry between those two superteams dominated the run-up to a new NASCAR season. Given what’s happened so far in Speedweeks, all of that is only going to keep building.
“I will help you guys out,” Stewart said after finishing second to Hamlin in the latter Duel. “It’s going to be an epic battle, the battle of lifetime. There may not be another battle like this – ever.”
Stewart then said there will be a lot of good cars in Sunday’s race, but the fact remains that Hendrick and Gibbs have won everything down here so far. Earnhardt Jr. hasn’t lost a race in a Hendrick Chevrolet, Jimmie Johnson won the pole for the 500 in his No. 48 Chevrolet and Hamlin picked up his win Thursday.
“I am very proud,” Hamlin said of being the first to take a Toyota to victory lane in the Cup Series.
The second 150-mile had two red-flag stoppages, including the one that set up the green-white-checkered finish in which Hamlin got a run that carried him past Stewart.
Stewart knew what was coming and told Hamlin what to expect.
“Tony kind of clued me in on Jeff’s habits on restarts over the years,” he said.
“I wanted to stay with rear bumper on his front bumper. That way I had a huge run on Tony. We knew it would be tough for us to finish 1-2 at the end just riding like we were. We kind of needed to swap positions.”
Stewart knew Hamlin had little choice.
“I got on the radio in the red flag and told Denny that one of the two of us had to win this race,” said Stewart, who held on for second. “I said, ‘If you get a run you have to go, don’t worry about helping me.”
Like Hamlin in Duel No. 2, Earnhardt Jr. had to start at the rear of the field after his team changed engines Wednesday. It didn’t matter.
Earnhardt Jr. made his winning move with about 10 laps to go, dropping a few car lengths behind Ryan Newman and Reed Sorenson in two Dodges in front of him.
“I got backed up there pretty good, came off Turn 2 and let her rip,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “I just let the car do whatever, I wanted to see what it would do. ...I didn’t think I was going to clear him (Newman) but I did.”
There was a late caution in that race, too, setting up a two-lap dash to the finish. Earnhardt Jr. held off Sorenson, who wound up second with Newman third.
Wallace finished eighth and Vickers, rallying from an early spin, was 11th to pick up the two transfer spots in that race. Joe Nemechek finished right behind Vickers, but got in based on his qualifying speed from Sunday.
Kurt Busch fell out of the first race early, putting him in position to take the former champion’s provisional and the No. 43 starting spot. That meant Jarrett had to race his way in through the second Duel, and he did that with a ninth-place finish with Andretti, who like Vickers in the first race took on tires during the final caution, surging to get the final spot.
Andretti passed David Reutimann on the last lap to get the spot in the 500 that, had Reutimann finished ahead of Andretti, would have fallen to Boris Said based on qualifying speed. Reutimann got in with his speed instead, as did front-row 500 starter Michael Waltrip.
