Busch

	Harvick

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- For some drivers, Thursday's Gatorade 125s were the pits.

Or, they were ruined in the pits, anyway.

The most glaring example was Kurt Busch's spin in pit lane during the second qualifying race. During his pit stop, Busch jumped on his brakes, smoking the tires to slow below the 55 mph pit road speed limit. Busch came past on Kevin Harvick's outside and suddenly turned right in front of Harvick, who hit Busch's Ford and spun it around. Busch hit one of his crew members, who was not seriously injured.

The damage forced Harvick out after 40 laps and Busch was penalized a lap for his pit road spin.

"A lot of events led to the final outcome," said Busch, who was forced to use a provisional to make the Daytona 500 and will start 37th on Sunday. "The only real thing that we need to explain is that I'm sorry for making the mistake that I had made. And, I hope that all of the people on pit road are safe, and that everybody that deserved to be in the show are in the show.

"So, I'm sorry to have that outcome."

Harvick obviously wasn't able to drive his way in to the Daytona 500 via a good finish in Thursday's 125. But his 185.063 mph lap during qualifying Monday was enough to secure the 31st starting spot, which is the best -- aside from front-row starters Jeff Green and Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- among those who made it into the race on time rather than through the 125s.

"I don't know what happened," Harvick said. "I think Busch came in at about 500 mph and couldn't stop himself. I didn't even see him come across me until it was too late. It pushed our right front fender in and our day was done. He was driving way over his head and it ended up costing us big."

But Harvick isn't worried about having to start toward the back of the field Sunday.

"It'll be OK," he said. "We've got a lot of guys in the fab shop here who will make this car better than it was. Now you get to watch us race from 31st to first."

Before the pit road incident, Harvick was happy with the way his No. 29 Chevrolet was running.

"We had a great car from the start and I was content to run second there behind Junior and with Michael behind. He got out of line and I just felt good enough to run out front."

Mike Skinner and Dave Blaney were also forced to take provisionals to make the 500 starting field.

Blaney started 22nd but had moved up to the top-15 before the pit stop during the second race.

"I don't actually know if it ran out of fuel or if I just stalled it when I took off," said Blaney, who finished 21st in the race and will start 39th on Sunday. "All I know is it just quit running as I was trying to take off."

Skinner had been running in the top 10 during the first Gatorade 125 before he appeared to stall his No. 4 Pontiac following his pit stop. Skinner ultimately finished 21st in the race and will start last in the 500.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.