DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., Feb. 14 (UPI) -- Defending Daytona 500 winner Michael Waltrip added blocking to his arsenal to hold off Tony Stewart and win Thursday's second Gatorade Twin 125 qualifying race at Daytona International Raceway.
Jerry Nadeau finished third and was followed by Kevin Harvick and Bobby Labonte.
"Whoever said it was easy, I didn't get the memo," Waltrip said. "That's the hardest I've ever driven. I was able to block Tony off at the end of the race. A lot of people were trying to get by me and they could have, but my car was set up so well, that it was easy to drive."
Stewart was the winner of Sunday's Budweiser Shootout and his performance gives him confidence he can win Sunday's Daytona 500.
"(Wednesday) morning, I wasn't real happy with this car but we got the car back and we have something for them on Sunday," Stewart said. "Michael Waltrip did a great job today. His car got real wide at the end.
"The only reason we couldn't throw the kitchen sink at him is because we couldn't get it in the trunk. I even got shuffled out by my teammate once."
In stark contrast to the first race that saw Jeff Gordon take the lead in the first turn and lead all 50 laps, the start of the second race was frantic at the front of the field.
Harvick started on the pole and led Robby Gordon and Waltrip across the finish line at the end of the first lap, but that was before Waltrip took the lead on the second lap.
Two laps later, Stewart and teammate Labonte were able to form a two-car draft and pass Waltrip in the third turn, putting Stewart in the lead.
Stewart led Waltrip and Labonte at the end of six laps as the full field ran in two-by-two formation across the 2.5-mile track.
Waltrip regained the lead when he passed Stewart in the third and fourth turns on lap 7. Harvick also was able to pass Stewart for second place before Stewart regained that position with some drafting help from Labonte.
Although the first race was run without a caution, Kenny Wallace ran into the back of Buckshot Jones' Dodge in Race Two, starting a chain-reaction crash coming out of the second turn on the 10th lap. Mike Skinner's Chevrolet slid down the backstretch with Jimmy Spencer's Dodge doing the same.
Other cars involved in the crash were driven by Rusty Wallace, Bobby Gerhart, Shawna Robinson and Dave Blaney.
Waltrip was the leader under caution followed by Stewart, Harvick, Labonte and Nadeau.
The green flag waved on lap 20 with Waltrip in front. Waltrip and Stewart were the top two cars at the halfway point on lap 25. Jeff Burton dropped off the pace on lap 26 when he cut a right front tire. Four laps later, Spencer had a similar problem when a cut tire sent him crashing into the second-turn wall to bring out another caution flag.
Stewart's time up front ended when he was in the middle of a three-wide battle for the lead down the backstretch. Being in the middle of two drafting lines, Stewart dropped all the way to eighth with Waltrip back in the lead followed by Labonte and Jeremy Mayfield.
With one lap to go, Stewart tried to pass Waltrip, who blocked the driver from Rushville, Ind.
The top 15 drivers transferred into Sunday's 44th Daytona 500 and will form the outside line of their respective rows. Jeff Green finished 15th.
Dave Marcis was also able to transfer into the starting lineup as the 60-year-old driver from Wausau, Wis. will start his final NASCAR Winston Cup race on Sunday.
