Daytona 500? Looking More Like the Philadelphia 500

This brotherly love thing at Daytona International Speedway is getting out of hand.

On Saturday, Bobby and Terry Labonte qualified first and second for next Sunday’s Daytona 500.

Then Rusty and Kenny Wallace finished first and second in the 25-lap Bud Shootout on Sunday.

The way things are going, maybe the favorites for the 500 should be Ward and Jeff Burton, or Geoff, Brent and Todd Bodine.

The elder Wallace won the Shootout--a race for last year’s Winston Cup pole winners--in a one-lap shootout caused by a yellow flag on lap 24, but it wasn’t without controversy.

Jeff Gordon, who led 14 laps and was leading with one lap remaining, is usually a mild-mannered young man who rarely criticizes fellow drivers, even after an accident. Sunday, however, the Winston Cup champion was livid.

“Rusty jumped the restart big time,” Gordon said. “They said [in the driver’s meeting] that the leader sets the pace. It certainly wasn’t that way today. He was two lengths ahead of me before we got to the 76 ball, which was where they said to start racing.

“That was ridiculous. He was so far ahead I was looking for a caution. By the time I took off, he was long gone. Then we broke a transmission, but that wasn’t the point. Rusty jumped.”

The scenario: On a restart, cars line up side by side, two by two. Gordon was on the side, Wallace on the high side. Right behind were Ken Schrader and Jimmy Spencer.

Wallace, quite naturally, felt he was within his rights.

“They told us to start when we got to the green grass,” he said. “I got my rear end burned at Martinsville in the same kind of a deal, so I wasn’t going to wait. When I got to the grass, I took off. I can walk you down there and show you where I nailed the gas

“Spencer and I went into the first turn side by side. I looked up and saw Kenny in my mirrors. I thought, ‘Hey, he’s my brother, he’ll help me.’ Sure enough, he got behind me and my car just took off.

“You’ve got be lucky in races like this and when you look in your rearview mirror and see your brother, that’s the kind of luck you want. I loved it, just the way I love him, when I saw him there.”

Until two yellow flags, on the last two laps, Gordon appeared to be dominant in his multihued Chevrolet. He took the lead during a mandatory pit stop and was never close to losing it until the second restart.

On lap 23 he started side by side with Ernie Irvan and had no trouble pulling ahead. Yellow flag caution laps do not count in the Bud Shootout, which accounted for the two late-race restarts.

In the consolation race for second-day qualifiers earlier in the day, Spencer won because of a tremendous pit stop during a stop that saw all the leaders come in at once. Spencer was fourth coming in, but first going out.

He led all the remaining laps, although he was chased by Lake Speed and Dale Earnhardt in a three-car draft the final seven laps. It was a winner-take-all finish as only the first car moved into the Shootout.

“You can’t do anything with these restrictor plates,” said a frustrated Earnhardt. “With restrictor plates and the spoilers the way they’ve got ‘em, you can’t race with them. You’re just stuck there, stuck to the ground running around like baby grand cars in line.

“There won’t be any great passes for the lead coming off the fourth turn anymore.”

Rookie Kenny Irwin, a former U.S. Auto Club sprint car and Silver Crown driver who will be making his first Daytona 500 start Sunday, picked up valuable experience by winning the 200-mile ARCA Bondo series opener. A car length behind was Mike Wallace, who had hoped to join his brother Rusty in the winner’s circle.

Irwin was driving for Robert Yates, who chose the rookie to replace Irvan on his team.

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Daytona 500 Facts

* WHAT: Daytona 500, first Winston Cup race of NASCAR’s 50th season.

* WHEN: Sunday, Feb. 15.

* PRELIMINARIES: Twin 125-mile qualifying races, Thursday.

* WHERE: Daytona International Speedway, a 2.5-mile, high-banked tri-oval track in Daytona Beach, Fla.

* PURSE: $7 million, with $1 million guaranteed to winner.

* DEFENDING CHAMPION: Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet Monte Carlo.

* QUALIFYING: Remainder of field to be determined by finishing positions in two 125-mile qualifying races Thursday.

* TV: Twin 125 qualifying races, Feb. 14, Channel 2, 7 a.m.; Busch Series 300, Feb. 14, Channel 2, 9 a.m.; Daytona 500, Feb. 15, Channel 2, 9 a.m.