DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. -- Hendrick Motorsports made NASCAR history last November by sweeping the top three positions in the battle for the 2009 Sprint Cup championship.
On Sunday, the Hendrick juggernaut will kick off NASCAR's season-opening Daytona 500 in the same dominant fashion, with Jimmie Johnson winning the first of two 150-mile qualifying races Thursday to lock up starting spot No. 3.
Johnson's teammates Mark Martin and Dale Earnhardt Jr. had claimed the front row last Saturday by running the fastest qualifying laps -- upwards of 193 mph -- around the high-banked, 2.5 mile oval.
On Thursday, Johnson prevailed in a furious, side-by-side battle with Kevin Harvick exiting Turn 4 on the final lap of the 60-mile event to roar across the finish line 0.005 of a second in front.
Kasey Kahne edged Tony Stewart in the second race in a last-lap duel that was just as heated and nearly as close, taking the checkered flag with 0.014 of a second to spare.
Both races featured plenty of bumping and jostling at nearly 200 mph down the straightaways. But the first race was a testament to Johnson's skill and his race team's might, given that he was skating around the track on worn tires over the final laps and competing in a backup car after his best Chevrolet was mangled in a pileup during Wednesday's practice.
The 150-mile qualifying races cull the 50-plus entrants for the Daytona 500 to 43 and set the starting order for positions No. 3 on back. They also serve as a preview of what's in store for the Daytona 500 -- a race that can be riveting one year and tedious the next, depending on many variables.
Last year's race ended on more of a whimper than a roar, with rain halting the proceedings 48 laps shy of the finish just after Matt Kenseth had taken the lead. NASCAR officials cut the event short and awarded the trophy to Kenseth, who had crept across the finish line at a 55-mph crawl under the caution flag.
NASCAR is unique among pro sports in starting its season with its marquee event. But last year's anticlimactic 500 was a buzzkill, generating little momentum for the races that followed. And the TV ratings were a disappointing 9.2 -- down 16 percent from 2005, when the 500 drew a 10.9 rating.
With an eye toward reversing the trend, NASCAR officials have given the racecars more horsepower and, in turn, more speed, for this year's race. They also lifted the ban on bump-drafting -- the practice of intentionally ramming a car ahead to create an aerodynamic boost through traffic. And on the eve of Thursday's 150-milers, NASCAR officials announced they'll make three attempts to finish races at top speed (under green-flag conditions) rather than having them end on a caution flag.
That new rule may come into play in Sunday's 500, which is notorious for multi-car wrecks as drivers jockey for position over the final laps. Each restart that follows a caution tends to breed subsequent wrecks as 43 drivers frantically accelerate from 55 to 190 mph as quickly as possible.
Martin, who will start Sunday's race from the pole, has warned that three attempts at a so-called "green-white-checkered finish" could result in "a circus."
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