Jeff Burton wins the crash-marred second Daytona qualifier...and speeds are still sizzling

  Jeff Burton (31), by a nose over teammate Clint Bowyer at the line in Thursday's second Daytona 150-mile qualifier (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
  

   (Updated)

   By Mike Mulhern
   mikemulhern.net

   Speeds are an issue this week, on the new asphalt that has made Daytona International Speedway so smooth that it has created an aerodynamic creature quite strange – where two-car drafts, rather than the traditional big pack, are the rule.
    When drivers hit 206 mph in the draft during Saturday's Shootout, NASCAR officials conceded they were worried, and began making changes, to slow the cars down.
   So how fast were these guys Thursday?
   According to some GPS-Raceview reports one of the fastest speeds in the day's first 150 was a 205.35 mph by Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the fastest overall lap was Kasey Kahne's 200.955 mph; and one of the fastest speeds in the second 150 was reported to be Jeff Gordon's 204.245 mph, and the fastest overall lap was Martin Truex Jr.'s 201.369 mph.
   "It's a shame two cars can't fit in here," Burton said in victory lane. "You've got to have teammate."
   Indeed. This SpeedWeeks has been all about two-car teams – how to set up a two-car draft out on the track, how to communicate with your drafting partner, radio and spotter, how to tuck in tight as a pusher, though blind, how to manage leading a two-car draft where the pusher can't see what the leader can see.
   It has become quite an intriguing art form so far.
   Whether NASCAR lets it continue --- or whether NASCAR can even do anything to manage it – is the next item.
   Burton and teammate Kevin Harvick dominated the Saturday Shootout but lost out late.
   This time Burton again proved a good leader with Bowyer.
   However Burton didn't really dominate -- there were a record 22 official lead changes in the second 150.
   And Jeff Gordon had one of the strongest cars in the field, working well with pusher Trevor Bayne, the exceptional rookie driving this season for the Woods.
   On the last last Gordon tried to launch a run on the high side off turn four but scraped the wall. Bayne tried to move to the inside and off of Gordon, but Gordon turned off the wall into him, and the two crashed.
   It's unclear if either Gordon or Bayne will have to a backup; if they do, they'll have to start the 500 from the rear.
   At the moment NASCAR threw the yellow, NASCAR ruled Burton was the leader, and thus the winner, because NASCAR freezes the field at the yellow.
   "I didn't know who won," Burton admitted.
   Burton had a great 2010 season until the final weeks, so he's trying to rebound. "Last year we put ourselves into position win races, but didn't, and then I got very frustrated at the end of the year. And we have to remember this is not the Daytona 500," Burton said cautiously. "But to put ourselves in position to win the first two events, and to pull one off does feel good."
   And how will this two-car thing work out in the 500, with 43 cars on the track, twice as many as Thursday? "I'm trying to figure that out myself," Burton said with a laugh. "It's important to have a teammate, everyone sees that. But the difficult thing to get with a teammate; it doesn't alway workout, especially on restarts.
   "I don't know how you can call anybody a favorite for the 500. It looks to me like the Roush guys have their cooling package together and are ahead of the game. But it's tough out there, it's tight. Once I was starting to make a move and said 'No, don't think I can make it,' then the spotter said 'go ahead,' and I did, and that's was all in about the span of a second. It's tight."
   Car owner Richard Childress was almost just relieved to get a win here, after losing the Shootout, in which his teams dominated. Childress engines won all four restrictor plate races at Daytona and Talladega last year, and that horsepower is still stout.
   Childress was upset the other day when NASCAR made a series of rules changes. "Yes, I was, because I and a lot of others here spent a lot of money on cooling packages....but I told (NASCAR president) Mike Helton this morning I wouldn't want to have his job.
   "So hat's off to NASCAR -- They had to do something; we can't be running 205-206 mph. They're doing the best they can; not everyone will be happy."
    Waltrip, who won the 500 10 years ago, the day Dale Earnhardt died, has cut back to a limited schedule this year.
   "The first race was way harder on me than on the second," Waltrip said. "Everyone said the second race would be easier because you'd know what you had to do.
   "Maybe we could tighten up the radiator some more, if we don't like this. But this is interesting….more interesting than anything I've ever done.
   "I was comfortable going 206 mph the other night.
   "Speeds are not a factor. It's just the style of racing.
   "We're coming to the checkered with two or three two-car packs, and I'm not sure how they're going to fit in there."

   One of the surprises of the day was rookie Trevor Bayne, who tied his fortunes to Jeff Gordon. For most of the second 150 that paid off. But the last lap Gordon got loose and collected Bayne in heavy traffic.
   "Gordon and I worked awesome together," Bayne said. "Then it's the last lap of the big race, so we were three-wide at the end with a big run, and I
think we just ran out of real estate.
    "He came off the wall and got us.
   "We knew when we were passing those guys three-wide on the outside we were going to be in trouble, but that's racing.
    "That's awesome for him to have that kind of faith in me to let me work with him…that takes a lot when they've got 20 other guys out here they've been racing with their whole life, to say 'Hey, I'm going to take a chance with this kid, let him push me, and see what we can get to.'"
   "I had a blast working with Trevor," Gordon said. "He's a good kid. He's a heck of a race driver. They've got a fast car.
    "At the end a couple of guys looked like they lost momentum and got disconnected, and I had to go three-wide around them. It's a vulnerable spot. We've already seen that in practice….and it turned me.
    "I was lucky we didn't have worse damage."
   Gordon and Childress both said they didn't anticipate any more rules changes from NASCAR before the 500.
    "I don't think there are any changes that need to be made or can be made," Gordon said. "Am I fine with it? It's not what I prefer.
    "I prefer to go back and race like we did in 2005, but you know that's not going to happen.
     "But I think NASCAR has done pretty much all that they can do. Maybe they'll do more, I don't know."
    The action, Gordon said, "is really intense. It's actually fun inside the car once you get going under green and it gets spread out a little and you're just racing with four or six.
    "Those restarts are not a lot of fun. But no restart at Daytona or Talladega is a whole lot of fun.
    "Trying to figure out how to pass a guy, and looking at your temps, and trying to find a partner…there is a lot of strategy involved.
    "And you've got to drive the car, because it's not easy. We've got to figure out how we're going to get through 500 miles of it."
   Denny Hamlin, still not pleased with Saturday's Shootout penalty, got another dose of bad luck in his 150, getting spun out. But he rallied to finish eighth.
   "I have to have a sense of humor I've learned this weekend," Hamlin said. "What's so crazy is that we were spun out, and three laps later we go from dead last to second or something like that. 
    "We finally did finish. No black flags or anything like that.
     "It was just amazing to see how this thing works.  It's going to be interesting to see what happens. This kind of racing we're going to have; it's just going to be interesting to see if this is the type of racing we will have throughout the 500.  With more cars out there, the pack is going to run a faster speed. 
   "But that two-car draft is just so dominant right now it's kind of taken over SpeedWeeks."

       The starting line up for Sunday's 53rd Daytona 500