DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — After nearly two years without a victory, Dale Earnhardt Jr. is making up for lost time at Daytona International Speedway this month.
Earnhardt drove to victory Thursday in the first of two Gatorade 150 qualifying races and will start third in Sunday’s 50th Daytona 500. Jimmie Johnson (Hendrick Motorsports) is on the pole.
In the second race, Denny Hamlin gave Toyota its first taste of victory in a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series-level race. Hamlin, 27, will start fourth alongside Earnhardt in the 500. Tony Stewart, Hamlin’s teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing, made it a 1-2 Toyota finish. Jeff Gordon, Earnhardt’s teammate at Hendrick, finished third in his Chevrolet.
On Toyota’s breakthrough in its second Cup season, Hamlin said: “I’m very proud. I definitely was a guy who liked to switch over to a Toyota. We knew they had a lot of resources. . . . I definitely was a guy that was behind it 100 percent.”
The day also provided a breakthrough for Denver-based Furniture Row Racing, which, for the first time in its three-year Cup history, had not only one, but two drivers — Kenny Wallace and Joe Nemechek — qualify for NASCAR’s premiere race.
Nemechek was assured of a starting spot after he finished third among 53 drivers during time trials Sunday.
Last week, Earnhardt whipped the field to win the Budweiser Shootout and is now looking to sweep Daytona and add a second 500 to his name.
“That was a fun race,” said Earnhardt, the 2004 Daytona winner. “I hope they (fans and sponsors) enjoyed it.”
Earnhardt, 32, who switched from DEI to Hendrick this season, has so far thumped the opposition during Speedweeks in the No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet, even after changing engines for the qualifying race because of camshaft lifter problems and starting from the rear.
It was Earnhardt’s third qualifying race victory, going with those he won in 2003 and 2004. He’s fast becoming the best restrictor-plate driver in the history of stock car racing.
While no racer has ever completed the Shootout, Gatorade Duel and Daytona 500 sweep, Earnhardt could be the first.
“I feel like we’ve got a shot,” Earnhardt said. “We’ve won some races down here, so we got to be in the group if there’s a group of them.”
What would it mean for the son of the late Dale Earnhardt, perhaps NASCAR’s most revered champion, to pull off the Daytona trifecta? “It would mean we have a good race car,” Earnhardt said. “It would mean that we have some awesome stuff down here. I’m just going to try to do whatever I can to win that race. It’s going to be hard to win it, but it’s going to be hard for everybody.”
Crew chief Tony Eury Jr. followed Earnhardt over to Hendrick, which Junior greatly appreciated. Eury is Earnhardt’s cousin.
“We have a really good, close, strong relationship that goes beyond the racetrack,” Earnhardt said. “As we get older and understand how important that is, we take better care of it and we want it to last.
“You know, we have family and aunts and moms, and stuff like that are important to us. I like Tony Jr. a lot. I like to be part of his life and do things that he does and help him do things, acquire things.”
Behind Earnhardt were Reed Sorenson (Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates) in a Dodge and Ryan Newman (Penske Racing), also in a Dodge.
