Earnhardt Is a Perfect 10

When is the race for 15th position more exciting than winning?

When the race is one of the Gatorade twin 125-mile qualifying races that set the field for Sunday’s $8-million Daytona 500.

Bobby Labonte passed Jeff Gordon in the first race Thursday and Dale Earnhardt passed Tony Stewart in the second, and as far as racing for leads was concerned, that was about it.

But back in the pack, cars were racing side by side and at times three abreast around the 31-degree banking on the turns at Daytona International Speedway. The lucky guys who finished 15th and locked up the last two guaranteed starting spots for the 500 were Ricky Rudd and Geoffrey Bodine.

Earnhardt’s victory in Richard Childress’ Chevrolet was his 10th in a row in one of the twin 125s and gave him his 32nd trip to Victory Lane here.

“That’s pretty awesome, winning every Gatorade race in the decade and getting a Rolex for every one of them,” said Earnhardt, who is the defending champion in Sunday’s 500. “Every year, I come here thinking the streak might end and then I win again. I wish I could tell you why.

“I just love racing at Daytona, I can’t wait for Sunday. The car ran flawlessly, just perfect on every lap. We won’t change a thing except putting a new motor in it.”

The most unfortunate driver was rookie Stanton Barrett, a former Hollywood stuntman, who finished 16th in the first race and failed to make the 500 because of a slow qualifying speed and because Darrell Waltrip and Bill Elliott were in his heat and received provisional positions as former Winston Cup champions.

Dave Marcis, who was 23rd in the second race, got a starting position for his 32nd consecutive Daytona 500, based on his qualifying time. This ties Richard Petty’s record of 32 starts, although Petty’s were not consecutive.

The first race began spectacularly, with a nine-car accident on the first turn of the first lap. Wally Dallenbach collided with Kenny Wallace, spinning Wallace’s car in front of most of the 43 starters. Wallace, John Andretti, Jeff Green and Dan Pardus were knocked out of the race.

Not surprisingly, those involved saw things differently.

Wallace: “I was on the bottom down there in Turn 1. Somebody had to come down on the flat and come back up and get me. I was on the white line. I don’t know how anybody could have got underneath me.”

Green: “[Dallenbach], I think he thought he was gonna win on the first lap. He went on the apron and turned Kenny Wallace sideways and that’s what started everything. When an experienced guy like Dallenbach pulls a move like that, that’s pretty upsetting. He ought to have his head screwed on a little bit harder than that.”

Dallenbach: “I don’t know what I was supposed to do. [Wallace] kept coming down and coming down. So I dropped down a lane and he still kept coming. I couldn’t back off and let him go, or I’d get drilled in the rear.”

Gordon led the first race for 38 laps before Labonte, who started 10th, caught him in traffic going into the third turn. Once ahead, Labonte was never challenged.

Labonte’s win was the first for a Pontiac since Bobby Allison’s in 1981.

The second race was much the same as Stewart, the pole-sitter, led for seven laps before being shuffled back in the draft by the more experienced drivers. It was Stewart’s first Winston Cup race.

Labonte won $45,931 in averaging 163.517 mph, and Earnhardt collected $46,409, averaging 155.280 mph.

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Daytona 500 Facts

* Race: Sunday, 9 a.m. PST, at Daytona Beach, Fla. (500 miles, 200 laps).

* TV: Channel 2.

* Track: Daytona International Speedway (tri-oval, 2 1/2 miles, 31-degree banking in corners, 18 degrees in tri-oval).