A Double Victory or Another Bad Omen? : Daytona 500: Marlin, Earnhardt win qualifying races, but can one of them end jinx on Sunday.

Winning one of the twin 125-mile qualifying races has not meant much toward winning the Daytona 500 in recent years, but the way defending champion Sterling Marlin and Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt won here Thursday, this may be the year.

Not since 1988, when Bobby Allison did it, has anyone won a 125 and the 500. Earnhardt knows. He has won eight of the 125s but never the big one.

Thursday’s triumph was Earnhardt’s 25th at Daytona International Raceway in various types of racing.

Driving new Chevrolet Monte Carlos, Marlin and Earnhardt powered through the final laps almost without a challenge. In each race, Chevrolets finished 1-2, ahead of Ford Thunderbirds.

Marlin, who drove a Chevy Lumina to last year’s 500 victory, had a three-length margin over Darrell Waltrip, the 1989 winner, in the first race. Dale Jarrett, who will start on the pole Sunday in a T-bird with a qualifying speed of 193.494 m.p.h., finished third after spending most of the race seventh and eighth.

“(The Chevrolets) didn’t have to lift (off the accelerator in the corners) and that’s what let them get away,” Jarrett said. “I got behind Darrell and he could just motor on through the corner where I was having to lift. His car just stayed stuck. We’re going to have to figure out something before Sunday to deal with them.”

Marlin’s yellow Chevy showed its muscle after a pit stop left the car eighth with 12 laps to go. Before one lap, Marlin was fourth and on the next go-round he sped past Ken Schrader to regain the lead.

“We didn’t have any problem making it back up to the front,” Marlin said. “The car ran great in the draft. It never bobbled. We’ve got one fast hot rod here.”

Earnhardt’s task was only slightly harder. A four-car accident closed up the field for the final five laps, but there were no position changes in the lead draft as Earnhardt led Jeff Gordon and four Fords, driven by Mark Martin, Todd Bodine, Bill Elliott and Ted Musgrave to the line.

“I felt if I could keep Gordon behind me in Turns 1 and 2 and not bobble like I did last Sunday, I could hold him off in 3 and 4,” Earnhardt said. “That’s how it worked.”

Last Sunday, in the first segment of the Busch Clash, Gordon caught Earnhardt going high on the banking in the second turn and passed him for the halfway lead. Earnhardt, however, rallied to win the final segment and the event.

“The Busch Clash was a get-up-and-go race,” Earnhardt said. “This was more like the 500. We’ve got a car that can run all day. It has good balance and we have a new engine to put in it. Now, if we can just make 500 miles instead of 499, we’ll be doing fine.”

Earnhardt has twice lost the 500 on the final lap, to Derrike Cope in 1990 when a tire deflated and to Jarrett two years ago.

The race for the 14 qualifying positions in each heat for Sunday’s 500 proved more interesting than the races for the lead.

Ward Burton, after finishing 11th in the first race, expressed the attitude of many drivers when he said, “In my mind, we just won the Daytona 500, just by getting in it.”

Some were not so fortunate.

Jimmy Spencer, who won the Pepsi 400 at Daytona last summer, missed out when he apparently tried to slip ahead of Billy Standridge and didn’t have enough clearance. The accident left him 26th.

The last qualifier was John Andretti, who survived a wrenching slam into the fourth-turn wall three laps from the finish of the second race. Andretti, who was bumped by Ricky Craven to start the incident, finished 21st, but his qualifying speed of 190.010 m.p.h. gave him the 38th starting position Sunday.

When Dave Marcis finished 10th in the first race, it qualified him for a record 28th consecutive Daytona 500. He had shared the record with Richard Petty, who won seven of his 27. Marcis’ highest finish is sixth, in 1975 and 1978.

Four drivers, including the feuding Bodine brothers, Brett and Geoff, and sprint car champion Steve Kinser, did not qualify but were awarded provisional positions based on their car owners’ place in last year’s standings.

Daytona Notes

The first round of the International Race of Champions today will follow a familiar Daytona pattern--the rest of the field will be trying to beat Dale Earnhardt. Stock car racing’s Intimidator won last year’s IROC here and is coming off wins in the Busch Clash and one of Thursday’s 125-mile qualifying races.

“That IROC is interesting,” Earnhardt said. “You can end up drafting with different guys you don’t know about (their racing tactics), but it’s great fun because you know they’re all champions.”

Among the 12 competitors driving identically prepared Dodge Avengers in today’s 100-mile race will be three newcomers--Jeff Gordon and Ken Schrader from Winston Cup and Steve Millen, IMSA road racing champion.