Racing

Calm day in qualifying races eases tension

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - NASCAR officials never had to pull the yellow hankies out of their back pockets Thursday. There were no penalties called and the only bent sheet metal at Daytona International Speedway during the twin 150-mile qualifying races for the Daytona 500 was from exploding tires, a few bad decisions and some minor mishaps. After being warned by NASCAR president Mike Helton to refrain from aggressive driving or face severe consequences, the competitors were on their best behavior. "I noticed a lot of guys were not slamming into each other," said Elliott Sadler, who won the first of the two races that set the starting lineup for Sunday's event. "Eighty percent of it in the 150 is protecting your 500 car." The big story this week was bump-drafting, the "art" of ramming into the rear bumper of the car ahead of you to gain momentum for a pass. After a particularly wild evening of what NASCAR officials dubbed "slam-drafting" on Sunday in the Budweiser Shootout exhibition race, two-time and reigning Nextel Cup champion Stewart sounded the alarm. "We're going to kill somebody," Stewart said. "Somebody else is going to die at Daytona or Talladega with what we're doing right here." The bump-drafting maneuver has become commonplace at those two tracks, the only places where NASCAR requires carburetor restrictor plates to sap horsepower, keep the cars under 200 mph and avoid the disastrous possibility of a car flying into a packed grandstand. It's never been genteel, but what began as a relatively careful prod to the center of somebody's rear bumper in the middle of the straightaway has changed, thanks mostly to a gaggle of talented and aggressive youngsters flooding into Cup. With safer cars and energy-absorbing "soft walls" to make them feel comfortable - and bulletproof - inside their 3,400-pound battering rams, drivers have begun drilling the rear or side of the other guy, anywhere on the track. NASCAR heeded Stewart's warning, announcing Tuesday that it would begin policing the bumping in the qualifying races and again in Sunday's main event. "This action by NASCAR isn't as much about bump-drafting as it is about aggressive driving," Helton told the drivers during Thursday's pre-race meeting. "Bump-drafting is better off if drivers on the racetrack control it and do it properly, if you're going to do it at all. "It's a gray area where we cannot prove to anybody that we made the right decision. But, if we have to, we'll get into it. So, today's your warning we're getting into it." The drivers listened to the warning, racing carefully through 300 miles of close-quarters competition at speeds above 190 mph. "The mentality is different," said Dale Earnhardt Jr., who was third in his qualifier. "The Shootout is a night race. Hell, we all came from night racing, banging Saturday night, a lot of money, a little bit of time to get it, a lot of hungry drivers (who) ain't been on the racetrack all winter." To make sure things didn't get out of hand, NASCAR placed officials in "no zones," areas in the tri-oval on the main straightaway and at both ends of the 2.5-mile oval. "I think having those no-bumping zones out there did make a difference," said second-race winner Jeff Gordon, the three-time and defending Daytona 500 winner. "There was certainly some desperation for the guys who had to race their way into the 500, but I think we saw a heck of lot less crashes than we would have seen without NASCAR making that change." It was definitely on the drivers' minds, although they didn't stop bump-drafting entirely. "All I know about those zones, I wasn't sure where they were," said Carl Edwards, who finished between Sadler and Earnhardt in the opener. "I slid up in front of (Earnhardt) off of (turn) two that one time. I was, like, `He's coming. I think we're in one of those zones.' "Bam! 'No, we must be out of it," he added," laughing. Earnhardt, sitting alongside, grinned and said, "He wasn't paying attention. I just passed." NASCAR will certainly maintain it's vigil on Sunday, and the drivers will almost certainly try to stay out of trouble - at least until NASCAR's biggest race is on the line in the closing laps. Meanwhile, at least some of the drivers will try to figure out exactly what they can get away with. "I'll look at film of today's races tonight as a fan and a student," Sadler said. "What is NASCAR letting them get away with? What are they not letting them get away with? What's going on, so on Sunday I'll know where to draw the line at."