It’s Veterans’ Day at Daytona : NASCAR: Earnhardt and Irvan win Twin 125 qualifying races for Sunday’s Daytona 500.

Veteran drivers regained the upper hand Thursday at Daytona International Speedway.

Dale Earnhardt and Ernie Irvan, stock car racing’s two hardest chargers, won the Gatorade Twin 125 qualifying heats for Sunday’s Daytona 500, and Rusty Wallace, last year’s biggest winner, was second behind Irvan.

After Loy Allen Jr., a rookie, won the pole for the 500 and Jeff Gordon, at 22 the youngest driver on the premises, won the Busch Clash last weekend, it appeared that change was the order of the day in Winston Cup racing.

In the Twin 125s, the real racing began.

Three Fords, driven by Irvan, Wallace and Mark Martin, raced to the wire in a first heat made closer at the finish by a caution flag that brought the field together for a two-lap sprint. As they had during most of the race, their Fords quickly pulled away and finished in that order without incident.

Wallace, making his debut in a Ford after a career driving Pontiacs, led briefly, as did Martin, but Irvan led for 37 of the 50 laps.

Three Chevrolets, driven by Earnhardt, Sterling Marlin and Gordon, were equally impressive in the second heat. Earnhardt led 34 of the 50 laps and late in the race was challenged only by Marlin.

Irvan’s average speed of 156.304 m.p.h. was faster than Earnhardt’s 146.771, primarily because of a five-car pileup in the first turn immediately after the leaders had passed the starting line in the second race.

Dale Jarrett, defending Daytona 500 champion, dropped a cylinder in his Joe Gibbs-owned Chevrolet as he tried to shift from second to third gear, and when his car slowed, it set off a chain-reaction that knocked four others, including former 500 winner Buddy Baker, out of the race.

Jarrett was given a provisional starting position at the rear of the 42-car field for Sunday’s race.

In the prerace driver’s meeting, Wallace made an impassioned plea for safety, caution and prudence in the 125s and the 500.

Winner of 10 races and runner-up to Earnhardt for the Winston Cup title last year, Wallace said he was concerned that “too many things have been happening and too many friends have been lost recently” to ignore the dangers in racing 3,500-pound stock cars at speeds approaching 200 m.p.h.

“I’m scared, I know you’re scared, your wives are scared at what’s been happening,” Wallace said. “I want to remind (everyone here) that getting into the Daytona 500 is not the most important thing in the world, that it’s not worth taking that foolish chance.”

Earnhardt, who lost one of his closest friends when Neil Bonnett was killed while practicing at Daytona last Friday, said he backed Wallace “100%.” Four days after Bonnett’s death, a rookie driver, Rodney Orr, was also killed while practicing for the 500.

An emotional Earnhardt added: “Neil was definitely with us today, and he’s definitely in our hearts all the time. Sunday will be a very emotional race.”

Speculation as to how Allen, driving in his sixth Winston Cup race, might survive the pressure of starting on the pole Thursday, did not last long.

After moving out smoothly at the green flag, he soon found himself driving alone alongside the locomotive-like chain of cars--out of the draft. By the end of the first lap, the rookie had been shuffled back to 10th, and by the eighth lap, he was 21st.

“We had handling problems, and when the leaders started to catch us, we just brought the car in (on Lap 26) because we didn’t want to get in trouble or anything,” Allen said.

Allen had his front-row position assured for Sunday’s race, as did Earnhardt, from their qualifying times last Saturday.

Several drivers suggested that Allen’s problem might have been with his choice of Hoosier tires. This was Hoosier’s first race since 1989 in a revival of the tire war with Goodyear.

“I don’t know why those guys (on Hoosiers) didn’t change,” Irvan said.”It was obvious that once we got running, the Hoosiers didn’t stand up to the Goodyears. They have a narrower patch (of rubber) on the track, and at a place like Daytona, which is a handling track, it makes a big difference.”

NASCAR, in an unusual move, announced before Thursday’s races that teams could switch tire brands during the race if they desired.