MOTOR RACING DAYTONA 500 : Earnhardt, Petty Turn In Regal Performances

Richard Petty, stock car racing’s original king, gave evidence Thursday that he may be back, but Dale Earnhardt, the newest monarch, gave even stronger evidence that he expects to remain the No. 1 man in Winston Cup racing.

Petty, 53, who has not won a race since 1984 nor a championship since 1979, passed Hut Stricklin in a daring move at the finish line for second place in the first of two 125-mile qualifying races for Sunday’s 33rd annual Daytona 500.

Earnhardt, 38, who has not won a race since last Sunday nor a championship since last year, put his black Chevrolet into the lead coming off the second turn of the first lap and never trailed in the second race.

Davey Allison, the fastest qualifier at 195.955 m.p.h., was a wire-to-wire winner in the first race, but even Allison admitted that he was intimidated by Earnhardt’s performance.

“We had pushing problems that forced me to back off (the gas) a few times, and Dale obviously had no such problems,” Allison said. “His car ran perfect and was quicker than ours.”

Allison and Earnhardt each earned $35,200.

Earnhardt, who last year become the only driver besides Petty to win more than three Winston Cup championships, was almost as enthusiastic about Petty’s performance as he was about his own.

“Wasn’t that great, watching the king come on like he did?” Earnhardt said. “He looked like the old king.”

Petty, a seven-time champion, moved into fourth place on the first racing lap after the 29 starters had taken four laps under the caution flag to help dry out the track after a 3 1/2-hour rain delay. He was third on the 14th lap, then battled Rick Mast side-by-side for a full lap before pushing his Pontiac into second place.

Allison broke away from the pack during the Petty-Mast battle, while behind them, Stricklin was charging. Stricklin passed Petty nine laps from the finish, and they ran nose-to-tail until a wreck involving Sammy Swindell and Dorsey Schroeder brought out a caution flag with one lap remaining.

Once Allison, Stricklin and Petty had threaded their way through the wreckage, NASCAR rules permitted them to race to the finish line. Just ahead of them, however, was a lapped car driven by rookie Ted Musgrave. Stricklin went high and Petty went low, down on the apron, where two of his wheels were in the grass.

“I knew that grass was wet and slippery, and I didn’t want to do anything foolish,” Petty said. “But just as I made my move, the slow guy moved up a bit and the 12 car (Stricklin) had to move a little bit to get by him. That was all I needed to beat him.”

Petty had second place clinched because the race finished under the caution flag, behind the pace car.

Earnhardt started the second race from the second row, but he shot past both Ernie Irvan and Sterling Marlin along the inside as they came out of the second turn.

“Our main concern was if we could go all the way without stopping (for gas),” Earnhardt said. “I worked the draft, letting Ernie help me save gas, and that long caution helped, too.”

That caution period began on lap 21 when Brett Bodine’s Buick glanced off the outside wall and shot across the track at racing speed, smashing almost head-on into the inside wall. The impact bounced the car across the grassy infield, almost onto the track again.

Bodine had to be cut out of the car but walked to the ambulance. He was taken to Halifax Hospital for observation, then was released later in the evening.

Derrike Cope, the defending 500 winner, came precariously close to not qualifying for Sunday’s race when he finished 16th in the first race. Only the first 15 finishers in each 125 automatically qualify. The final 10 positions are taken by drivers with the fastest qualifying times who did not finish in the first 15 in either race.

Cope made it but will start 33rd.

Robby Gordon, the off-road racing youngster from Orange, who was making his Winston Cup debut, made Sunday’s race the same way. Gordon brushed with Chuck Bown midway through the second race and finished 16th, but his qualifying speed will allow him to start 35th.