Friday, Feb. 15, 2002 | 9:48 a.m.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Kurt Busch was more relieved than excited after his seventh-place finish Thursday in his 125-mile qualifying race for the Daytona 500.
Busch, a Durango High graduate, will start 15th in Sunday's NASCAR Winston Cup season opener in the No. 97 Roush Racing Ford.
"It's a big sigh of relief but you think all along that you're in (the Daytona 500) no matter what; that's the feeling the Rubbermaid team has, with all this experience and all the hard work and dedication," Busch said.
Jeff Gordon led all 50 laps to win the first Twin 125, beating Dale Earnhardt Jr. to the checkered flag by .162 seconds. Ken Schrader was third.
Michael Waltrip led the final 44 laps of the second qualifying race and held off a furious challenge from Tony Stewart. Jerry Nadeau was third.
Busch started 22nd in his qualifying race but quickly moved into the top 10. The second-year Winston Cup driver was running 20th on the ninth lap but charged into 10th place on lap 13 -- where he stayed for the next 18 laps.
"We needed to break away from the big pack," Busch said of his run into the top 10. "After that, I knew we needed to ride around. We needed to take a breather -- kind of like the intermission period in hockey.
"It all panned out real well. I was fortunate to get through the big pack like we did."
Busch was running eighth when the white flag came out and managed to pass one car on the final lap to secure seventh place. That maneuver left Busch with a good feeling going into the 500.
"To have (the car) work and have it pull through and to catch the lead draft -- and actually pass a car in the lead draft to finish seventh -- gives us a lot of confidence for what we need to do on Sunday," he said.
"You never know how the draft is going to go, but the car seemed to be stable for the full 50 laps and that's your first key to success. Now that we're in it, we'll give it a good run in the 500."
Busch will be making his second start in the Daytona 500. Last year, as a rookie, he started 26th and ran as high as second before a minor late-race accident relegated him to a 41st-place finish.
Busch's crew chief, the veteran Jimmy Fennig, said he has been impressed with what he has seen from Busch since Fennig joined the No. 97 team last winter.
"I'll tell you one thing: he has done an excellent job," said Fennig, who spent the past five seasons as Mark Martin's crew chief.
"He's a very talented, very smart racecar driver. He's not a rookie anymore; he knows what he's doing out there."
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