Marlin, Skinner Enjoy Thrillers

When NASCAR officials mandated a new aerodynamic package for restrictor-plate racing at Daytona International Speedway this season, they brought speeds back to a 1970s level.

Bill Elliott’s qualifying speed of 183.565 mph is the slowest since A.J. Foyt’s 182.744 in 1971.

What NASCAR also did, however, was bring back old-fashioned freight-train and side-by-side drafting in which slingshotting into the lead for the victory was the norm. After the way Thursday’s Gatorade twin 125s were run, Sunday’s Daytona 500 may look like the 1971 race, which had 49 lead changes among 11 drivers before Richard Petty won.

Sterling Marlin, in a Dodge, and Mike Skinner, in a Chevrolet, won Thursday’s 50-lap races in finishes as spectacular as any seen here.

In the first heat, Marlin was fourth in a tightly packed group as Dale Earnhardt charged ahead in a one-lap shootout after a yellow caution flag. The Intimidator appeared on his way to a 13th twin 125 victory when Marlin’s Dodge came flying along the inside, heading toward the 31-degree banking on the third turn. First he passed Michael Waltrip, then Jeff Gordon and finally Earnhardt with a burst of power that dashed any thoughts that the Dodges might not be race ready.

Jerry Nadeau got a tow from Marlin and streaked across in second place.

“It was like we were a bunch of cannibals out there, chasing a deer,” Nadeau said of chasing Earnhardt, who finished third.

Rookie Andy Houston, Elliott’s replacement in the McDonald’s Ford, got up for fourth, the highest finishing Ford.

The second race was even closer.

Taking the white flag with one lap remaining, Dale Earnhardt Jr. held a narrow lead over Skinner, the senior Earnhardt’s teammate with Richard Childress Racing. Their cars were side by side and ran that way all the way around the 2.5-mile track, Skinner squeezing inches ahead at the line.

“I really didn’t know who won when we crossed the start-finish line,” said Skinner, who is still looking for his first Winston Cup victory. “The guys on the radio didn’t say anything for two or three seconds. It seemed like two or three years before they gave me the word.”

The margin was .004 of a second, closest in twin 125 history.

“I didn’t think I had won,” said Earnhardt Jr. “The 31 [Skinner] got a run off the side of my car coming to the flag. If you come off the corner and you’re half a car length behind the fella, you get to the flag first because you get a draft off the side of the car. That’s what he did.”

The Burton brothers, Jeff in a Ford and Ward in a Dodge, finished third and fourth. And Ricky Craven wasn’t happy about it.

“It’s a family business out there and I forgot the guy behind me was brothers with the guy in front of me,” said the new Tide Taurus driver. “We just got hustled there at the end.”

Meaning that, after leading for a few laps, Craven fell from third to eighth in the late reshuffling.

Although all 10 Dodges will be in the 500--the first time Dodge has competed since 1985--the front-row pair of Elliott and Stacy Compton did not fare well. Elliott, after leading for the first eight laps, slid all the way to the rear of the field before finishing 20th. Compton led only three laps before the pack raced past him and he wound up 23rd.

Both Elliott and Compton are guaranteed front-row starting positions from their qualifying speeds.

With the twin 125s serving as qualifying races for Sunday’s 500, nine of the 52 entries failed to make the 43-car field. The most prominent were former winner Derrike Cope and old-timer Dave Marcis, who was trying to make his 33rd start.

There were some big names at the bottom of the field, who had to use provisionals to avoid being left out. They included defending Winston Cup champion Bobby Labonte, who struggled to 19th place in the first race; Dale Jarrett, defending Daytona 500 champion, who was involved in an accident with Ron Hornaday Jr.; and Robby Gordon, who was running with the leaders in the first race before his engine expired three laps from the finish.

Notes

Craftsman Trucks and IROC Pontiacs take center stage today. Joe Ruttman, the oldest qualifier in NASCAR truck history at 56, will start on the pole in the Florida Dodge Dealers 250 after qualifying at 186.123 mph. Dodges fill the first two rows, with Willy T. Ribbs, a NASCAR rookie at 42, in one of them. After qualifying, NASCAR officials ruled that all trucks must add one inch on each side of the rear spoilers to add more drag and reduce speeds. Dale Earnhardt drew the green No. 1 car for the opening True Value IROC race. Busch series champion Jeff Green drew Earnhardt’s favorite color, black, but it was No. 12. “I hate green, I’ll trade you the green one for the black one,” Earnhardt told Green, then quickly added, “but I’m keeping No. 1.” The 40-lap IROC race matches 12 drivers from CART, IRL and NASCAR, all in identically prepared Pontiac Firebirds.

* DAYTONA 500 LINEUP: D15