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Mixed response to bump-drafting

February 17, 2006 12:50 am

By JIM McCONNELL

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. has said that the recent furor over "bump-drafting" was much ado about nothing. He saw nothing during yesterday's Gatorade Duel qualifying races to make him change that opinion.

"I think it's best left in the driver's hands and the crew's hands on how they handle this issue," Earnhardt said after finishing third in the first race yesterday at Daytona International Speedway. "I don't think NASCAR can step in and make any improvements. They'll probably make the situation a whole lot worse for all of us anyway."

The practice of "bump-drafting," in which a driver rams his front bumper into the rear bumper of the car ahead of him to gain momentum, had become commonplace at the superspeedways where horsepower-robbing restrictor plates make passing difficult.

That changed after last Saturday's wild Budweiser Shootout, when Tony Stewart used his status as defending Nextel Cup champion to sound an alarm on the 190-mph slam dancing.

"We're going to kill somebody," Stewart said at the time. "Somebody else is going to die at Daytona or Talladega with what we're doing right here."

NASCAR responded quickly to Stewart's warning, announcing Tuesday that it would assign officials to monitor bumping in established "no zones" in the tri-oval on the main straightaway and at both ends of the 2.5-mile oval. NASCAR president Mike Helton also addressed the topic of aggressive driving during yesterday's pre-race drivers' meeting.

The drivers covered a combined 300 miles mostly without incident yesterday--there were six cautions for a total of 21 laps--but opinion was divided over how much the increased attention had to do with that.

"By having those no-bump zones or whatever we want to call them, I think we saw a heck of a lot less crashes, big crashes, than what we could have seen," Jeff Gordon said. "I think the racing was still good out there, but it was so much calmer."

Added Carl Edwards: "All I know about those zones, I wasn't sure where they were."

Fighting for position

NASCAR had already eliminated most of the suspense from yesterday's 150-mile qualifying races by locking up all but a handful of starting spots for the Daytona 500.

For the few who had to try and race their way in, however, the competition was as intense as anything you'll see on Sunday afternoon.

By the time the dust had settled yesterday evening, there was an extremely fine line between the winners and losers.

A 16th-place finish in the first qualifying race was enough to earn Kevin Lepage a spot in NASCAR's showcase event. Veterans Mike Skinner and Derrike Cope both wound up on the outside looking in after finishing 18th and 19th, respectively.

It was the same story in race No. 2, where Mike Wallace secured a position on Sunday's starting grid by finishing 12th--one spot ahead of Scott Riggs and two better than brother, Kenny, neither of whom will race in the Daytona 500.

"That's the risk when you come down here with no points," Riggs said, noting that NASCAR had reserved starting spots for the top 35 in 2005 owner points.

Riggs, who finished 34th in the Nextel Cup points standings last season, signed with Evernham Motorsports during the offseason. That meant his team had no owner points to carry over into the 2006 season.

Riggs' situation grew even more desperate when a gear failure prevented him from completing a lap during last weekend's time trials.

"Anything can happen when you come down here with a new team," Hendrick Motorsports owner Rick Hendrick said. "You know Ray [Evernham] has put as good equipment under [Riggs] as he had in his shop, but things can happen. It can happen to anybody."

Despite outdueling Cope in a slam-bang sprint to the finish line, Skinner saw his streak of consecutive Daytona 500 starts end at nine.

"I sure would like this to be the 10th," Skinner said. "The right front tire blistered all the way around, just wore completely out, and we didn't have enough left for them."

Sterling Marlin made an inauspicious debut in the No. 14 Waste Management Chevrolet, finishing the first qualifying race 26th out of 29 cars, four laps behind winner Elliott Sadler.

Marlin was running in the middle of the pack when Chad Chaffin hit the wall on lap 59. During the ensuing caution, several cars slowed to avoid a large piece of sheet metal that had come off Chaffin's car; Marlin tried to stop, but wound up skidding into the back of Dale Jarrett's Ford.

"I just looked over to switch the oil cooler fan off and when I looked up, everyone was stopped," Marlin said. "I hit the brakes and started sliding, but I just couldn't get stopped. I guess I will take the blame for it."

Marlin's car took the worst of the exchange with Jarrett. Last night, his team announced that they'll have to go with a backup car for Sunday's race.

To reach JIM McCONNELL: 540/374-5444
Email: jmcconnell@freelancestar.com