Mike Bliss makes 500 in backup; Michael Waltrip gets in with help from Scott Speed
Michael Waltrip will race in the Daytona 500. // LaDon George, NASCAR ILLUSTRATED
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Michael Waltrip gave Scott Speed a big hug after the second Gatorade Duel on Thursday at Daytona International Speedway, as Speed and Mike Bliss earned transfer spots into the Daytona 500 and brought Waltrip into the Daytona 500 field with them.
After wrecking in the first qualifying race Thursday, Waltrip needed Speed or Bobby Labonte to earn one of the two transfer spots so that he could make the race based on his time in time trials last Saturday.
“I figured when I woke up this morning I’d be crying before the day was over,” said Waltrip, who has retired from full-time driving but plans on running at least one other Cup race this year. “I just didn’t know if it would be because I was happy or because I was sad. And then I damn sure didn’t know it would be both within an hour of each other.
“To be able to smile now, you know, it really feels rewarding.”
Each of the two 150-mile races generates two automatic qualifiers for the Daytona 500 from drivers whose teams didn’t finish in the top 35 in 2009 owner points. Red Bull Racing’s Speed already knew he would be in the 500 because he had a quick time in the time trials and could fall back on that if he didn’t earn one of the two transfer spots.
“Michael, he’s a big teddy bear, that guy,” Speed said. “Anyways, we’re friends. I’m glad I was able to get him in that race.”
Bliss was one of the drivers on the bubble entering the race and the only way he could guarantee himself a spot in the Daytona 500 was to earn one of the two transfer spots. The Tommy Baldwin Racing driver was in a car that had never seen the track, as Bliss wrecked the primary car in practice a day earlier. Bliss ended up finishing 13th overall in the race while Speed was 14th.
“I was really, really upset [about that wreck],” Bliss said. “I still don’t know why I wrecked off [Turn] 4 because our car wasn’t, like, bad. We were on stickers. I still don’t know what happened.
“It was really disappointing. I watched Tommy and those guys work on that car from November until when they loaded it up. They worked hard on it. And this was a car that ran last year, and it just got decaled up and thrown in the trailer.”
If Bliss made it sound as if he felt lucky, Waltrip made it sound like he felt luckier as he enters what could be his last Daytona 500.
“As far as the last 500 [for me], I need to just become a car owner because this was hard today,” Waltrip said. “I got to prove to myself on Sunday in the 500 or at Talladega where I know I’m going to run that I can, indeed, make the moves to win these races. I didn’t do anything today to impress myself, and that’s disappointing.”
Missing the race out of the second qualifying race were Keyed-Up Motorsports’ Casey Mears, BAM Racing’s David Gilliland, Phoenix Racing’s Aric Almirola, Prism Motorsports’ Dave Blaney, Stratus Racing Group’s Derrike Cope, K Automotive Motorsports’ Mike Wallace and Norm Benning Racing’s Norm Benning.
