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Notebook Harvick drops out after tangling with Busch on pit roadPosted: Thursday February 13, 2003 7:05 PMDAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- Kurt Busch spun after he cut off Kevin Harvick entering the pits, forcing other drivers to dart around him. Busch missed his braking zone for the pits, nearly sliding past, then found himself on the outside of Harvick. When Busch reached his stall, he simply turned his No. 97 Ford too quickly and rammed the right-front of Harvick's Chevrolet. Busch was able to continue, but Harvick eventually dropped out because of the damage. "It's not the first stupid thing I've seen him do and I've done some stupid things, too," Harvick said. "The 97 came flying through there with all four times smoking and out of control. Basically, he tore the right side off our car and knocked us out of the race." While accepting blame, Busch was evasive about the cause. "A lot of events led to the final outcome," he said. "The only real thing that we need to explain is that I'm sorry for making the mistake that I had made."
Schrader gets inKen Schrader didn't have the same type of battle to make the race, but it was just as important. Schrader finished 15th in the second 125, running alone on the track after his pit stop. A group of cars led by Kyle Petty closed on Schrader every lap but never could catch him. "It might not have been the prettiest thing," Schrader said. "We're in the race. We knew we had to race in. Running 15th or better was the plan. Guess it worked out." Driving for BAM Racing, which didn't have enough points from last season for a provisional, Schrader couldn't rely on his qualifying speed of 182.363 mph. He got a bit lucky, dodging a spinning Kurt Busch on pit road when the majority of the leaders pitted. After that, he simply had to hang on. "We worked hard, but everybody works hard," Schrader said. "This is the Daytona 500. You're supposed to work hard. Most of the time, it pays off."
One Bodine in fieldTodd Bodine fared much better than older brother Brett, finishing third in the second qualifying race. Brett Bodine was 20th in the first one. "I felt like we could be competitive," Todd Bodine said. "That was the main thing, just to be competitive and be in there and get in the 500. To run third, that's pretty good." It's the first race for BelCar Racing, a partnership between longtime owner Travis Carter and newcomer Sam Belnavis. Belnavis, who's black, is the first minority owner trying to run a full a Winston Cup season. "I tell you who I'm happy for, all the guys back at the shop," Bodine said. "We came down here and tested and had two cars that were just terrible. We went home and the fab shop worked seven days of the week, 14 hours a day and built this car."
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