After Victory No. 1, Gordon in Row 2 : Daytona: Rookie takes qualifying race, then Earnhardt wins one for fourth consecutive time.

No one was surprised when Dale Earnhardt won one of the two Gatorade twin 125 qualifying races for the fourth consecutive year Thursday at Daytona International Speedway.

No one was more surprised by the winner of the other race than the winner himself.

Jeff Gordon, a rookie of 21 from Pittsboro, Ind., driving in only his second NASCAR Winston Cup race, drove away from veterans Bill Elliott, Kyle Petty and Davey Allison to qualify for Sunday’s 35th annual Daytona 500.

Gordon and Earnhardt will start the 500 from the second row in Chevrolets, behind pole-sitter Petty’s Pontiac and Dale Jarrett’s Chevrolet. The twin 125s set positions behind the front row, which was determined by qualifying speeds.

“It was as unbelievable to me as it is to anybody at the speedway today,” Gordon said of his victory. “This is far beyond any expectations I had. I knew we had a strong car, and I felt I might lead, but as for winning, it’s absolutely amazing to me.”

Gordon, who drove a Ford last year for Bill Davis in the Busch Grand National series, switched to a Chevrolet this year as part of auto dealer Rick Hendrick’s three-car team with Ricky Rudd and Ken Schrader.

After starting sixth, Gordon worked his way to the lead when he passed Elliott, a two-time Daytona 500 winner, on Lap 21. He led the rest of the 50-lap race.

Gordon is the youngest driver and only the second rookie to win a 125-mile qualifying race. Johnny Rutherford, then 24, won in 1963 as a rookie.

When Gordon was 13 and living in Vallejo, Calif., he wanted to race a sprint car after winning go-kart and quarter-midget championships, but California regulations prohibited him from racing until he was 18. The Gordon family’s answer was to move to Indiana, where Jeff could race.

He drove his first professional sprint car race when he was 13 1/2 and success came fast. In 1990, he won the United States Auto Club midget championship, becoming USAC’s youngest champion. The next season he won the USAC Silver Crown champion for dirt-track cars and also was rookie of the year in the Busch Grand National stock car series.

Still, he was not ready for what happened Thursday.

“It’s unbelievable to me that I’m even in the 500, much less the winner of the 125,” he said. “I’m sitting here right now, pinching myself. I know tonight I’ll go home and lie in bed thinking about every minute of the race.”

Elliott, who futilely chased Gordon for the final 12 laps, was impressed by the youngster.

“There wasn’t any way to get a run on him,” Elliott said. “He did an excellent job. I congratulate him. It looks like we’ve got our work cut out for us.”

Earnhardt, who watched the first race before winning the second, was equally impressed.

“Gordon is very capable, even if he is a rookie,” he said. “I drafted with him a lot during practice and he knows how to go fast without moving around on the race track like most rookies do. Elliott tried everything he could (to catch Gordon), but he just couldn’t get up.”

Earnhardt had to hold off challenges by runner-up Geoff Bodine, Ernie Irvan and Jarrett but the five-time Winston Cup champion--still looking for his first Daytona 500 victory--led 34 of the 50 laps, including the final 24.

“That was a tough race, no matter what it looked like,” Earnhardt said. “They kept shooting at us, and we kept holding them off. I think this car is as well prepared, or better, than any car we’ve come to Daytona with, so maybe Sunday will be our day.”

Each winner received $35,200. Earnhardt averaged 157.288 m.p.h. to Gordon’s 153.270, but the difference was caused by caution periods, during which cars slow to 70 m.p.h.

Early in the first race, when Elliott and Gordon were in front of a 12-car draft, the leader’s lap speed reached 195 m.p.h., substantially faster than Petty’s pole speed of 189.426.

The day was unproductive for two champions from other forms of racing in their first Winston Cup race--Indianapolis 500 winner Al Unser Jr. and World of Outlaws sprint car champion Steve Kinser.

Unser crashed on the 10th lap of the Earnhardt race when he blew a tire in the second turn. Earlier, he tapped another car, causing a bent quarter panel to rub against the tire until it wore through.

He will start 40th, next to last.

Kinser was not so fortunate. He crashed on the second lap of the Gordon heat, also in the second turn, when he asked his Chevrolet to do a sprint car slide.

“I just dived off into the corner and lost the back end of the car,” Kinser said. “I was trying to do something I shouldn’t have. It was stupidity on my part.”

Kinser won’t make the 500. Neither will A.J. Foyt, who was trying to make his 30th Daytona 500 start, second only to Richard Petty’s 32. Foyt quit after 33 laps when his Ford began to vibrate.