Veteran Trying to Continue a Streak

Dale Earnhardt’s remarkable record of winning 10 consecutive Gatorade Twin 125-mile qualifying heats for the Daytona 500 will come under a serious Ford attack today.

In the first of two heats, Earnhardt’s Chevrolet Monte Carlo will start ninth with six Fords among the eight cars ahead of him, headed by pole-sitter Dale Jarrett.

Jarrett, defending Winston Cup champion, has dominated Speed Weeks so far, winning the Daytona 500 pole with a 191.091 mph average for one lap around Daytona International Speedway’s 2.5-mile tri-oval, then winning two 25-lap Bud Shootout races.

“Jarrett has locks on the show right now,” said Earnhardt, a seven-time Winston Cup champion who has won the 500 only once, in 1998, despite his 10 Twin 125 wins. ‘We’ll see if we can stink that up on Sunday. We’re getting better, but I’m in Jarrett’s show Thursday.

“If we can stay out of trouble, we can have a pretty good day. Every year is another year at Daytona. I’ve been coming here 21 or 22 years, I think, and I’m still enjoying it. But you like to run up front and win something when you come to Daytona. I come to win.”

In addition to Jarrett, Ford drivers ahead of Earnhardt at the start will be Bill Elliott, Mark Martin, Rusty Wallace, and rookies Scott Pruett and Stacy Compton.

“We’re very confident that we have the people and the resources in place to continue [winning] this week and, hopefully, all year,” Jarrett said.

The second heat, paced by Ricky Rudd, Jarrett’s Yates Racing teammate, appears to be a little softer. In addition to Rudd’s Ford, the first five starters include a Chevrolet and three Pontiacs.

Nerves began to fray Wednesday as drivers took their last laps before today’s qualifiers.

Robby Gordon and Tony Stewart got into a shoving match in the garage area after their cars tapped fenders just before the final practice ended. Gordon passed Stewart and, depending on whose version you believe, Gordon either moved over too soon or Stewart would not give him enough room.

Said Gordon: “I know when I went into turn two I passed Tony. I mean I got by him. My spotter told me I cleared and he just tapped me in the left-rear quarter.”

Said Stewart: “Everybody knows how the draft works. You need to get a half a car on a guy, then suck up to him and it pulls you up. He went by and I went to do the same thing, and about the time I got up past his bumper he moved down to the bottom. I got to the apron where I couldn’t go down any more. He clipped the nose and off he went. If he thought he was clear, then that’s what we have spotters for.”

Years ago it was a common sight to see drivers grappling after on-track incidents, but in 2000 it startled onlookers.

Gordon headed for Stewart’s garage and said, “Hey, can you give me a little room? It’s only practice.”

Stewart snapped, “Get out of here until you learn how to race Winston Cup.”

“That’s when it all went bad,” Gordon said. “He pushed me and I thought he was going to hit me, so I grabbed him. I didn’t hit him. I just grabbed him by the suit so he couldn’t hit me.”

Stewart refused to comment on the incident, but did say: “I’ve got better things to do with my time than talk about that. I got my car fixed and I went back out, worried about what the car would do. The car drove a lot better than it did before that, so he may have fixed something for me.”

Jarrett and Rudd have their front-row positions guaranteed for Sunday’s 500, but positions three through 30 will be determined by results of the 125s. Positions 31 through 36 will be determined by final qualifying times and the remainder of the 43-car field filled by provisional positions based on 1999 owner points standings.

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The Facts

* What: Speed Weeks 2000.

* Where: Daytona International Speedway.

* TV: Today, Craftsman Truck 250, 8 a.m., ESPN. Saturday, Busch Grand National, 9 a.m., Ch. 2. Sunday, Daytona 500, 9 a.m., Ch. 2.