Justin Marks (No. 29), David Gilliland (No. 38), Danica Patrick (No. 10), Bobby Labonte (No. 32) and Ryan Newman (Bottom R) crash during the second of two qualifying races for the Daytona 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida, Thursday. — AP
DAYTONA BEACH, Florida — Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson swept the Budweiser Duel races Thursday to give Hendrick Motorsports a 1-2-3 start for Sunday's Daytona 500, while Danica Patrick and Denny Hamlin were involved in altercations on the track and off. With Jeff Gordon having already won the pole for the opening race of the NASCAR Sprint Cup series, the rest of the field was decided through two qualifying races of 240 kilometers. Patrick was in the second race and needed to finish 15th or better to guarantee a spot Sunday. She looked like making it until a crash with Hamlin damaged her car and put her in danger of missing the field. Her Stewart-Haas Racing team worked frantically on rapid repairs and she restarted 18th with two laps to go. She was pushed all the way around Daytona International Speedway by teammate Kurt Busch to finish 10th and make the 500. The tension spilled over after the race when she confronted Hamlin. The two had been involved in an incident in Wednesday's practice, and she believed he was to blame for spinning her Thursday. It led to a heated argument, with Hamlin at times appearing to try to calm Patrick, and he finally seemed exasperated when he covered his face with his hands. Tony Stewart, her team co-owner, entered the fray and instructed Hamlin to watch the video. “What do you want me to do, Tony? Not race close,” replied Hamlin, adamant that Patrick's car was too loose and he didn't make contact. He maintained the spin was caused by aerodynamics, not contact. “I try to treat everyone as equal,” Hamlin said. “If you're in this Cup series, you deserved your way here and you can handle a lot of situations. I just got close to her and her car got loose again. I just tried to explain that, ‘Danica, oh, it's you, I've got to stay away two feet because your car is loose?'” When Hamlin and Patrick were finally separated, teammate Kurt Busch was waiting to congratulate her. He did it by cupping her face with both hands; Busch has been accused by an ex-girlfriend of domestic assault, and he has maintained he merely cupped her face. “It shouldn't go unsaid, Kurt was there for me,” Patrick said. “Without Kurt, I wouldn't have finished where I did.” Meanwhile, the Earnhardt and Johnson wins were anticlimactic. Gordon and Johnson swept the front row Sunday in the first round of qualifying. Then Earnhardt, the defending Daytona 500 winner, won the first duel to take the third starting spot. Gordon, the four-time NASCAR champion, finished second in the duel and was followed by Joey Logano, Stewart and Clint Bowyer. Johnson easily won the second duel, leading Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle across the finish line. — AP
