Jason Leffler was one of four drivers to make Sunday's Daytona 500 on speed. Credit: Autostock

Notebook: Four more join 35 in Sunday's Daytona 500

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Thirty-five Nextel Cup teams came to Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway knowing they were already in the Daytona 500.

Jason Leffler

After Sunday's qualifying, four more drivers know they are in: Jason Leffler, Boris Said, Mike Skinner and John Andretti. They were the four fastest non-top 35 cars Sunday, meaning no matter what happens in Thursday's Gatorade Duel qualifying races, they're in the Daytona 500.

Under new rules in 2005, the top 35 cars based on last year's owners' points are assured a spot in the Daytona 500. The next four spots are reserved for the two highest-finishing cars in each qualifying race, and the final four are given to the four fastest remaining cars.

One of the four, Leffler, carried a heavy burden to Speedweeks. His No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team was slow during January testing, meaning there was a chance the new team -- backed by big sponsor FedEx -- could miss the season's biggest race.

Second quickJimmie Johnson will join Dale Jarrett on the front row of the Daytona 500 Sign up for TrackPass now BUY YOUR NEXTEL DRIVER PHONE

But JGR officials told Leffler not to sweat the small stuff. The team, led by crew chief Dave Rogers, got the car better, and Leffler went and qualified seventh-fastest at 187.715.

"I'm relieved," Leffler said. "We came down here for testing and lacked some speed. We went back to the shop, and Jimmy Makar and Dave Rogers told me, 'Don't worry, we got it handled.' And they sure did."

That pressure lifted, Leffler has his sights set on the Daytona 500 next Sunday.

"It's great to be driving for such a great organization," Leffler said. "I think we're pretty much locked in now, so I can go into Thursday's 150s and learn as much as I can and get ready for the Daytona 500."

Several drivers in trouble

As happy as Leffler and the three other drivers were about locking up Daytona 500 spots, eighteen drivers know they're in for a tough time if they want to race next Sunday.

Robby Gordon

Those 18 drivers will be fighting for the four remaining spots left. Among them are Mike Wallace in Morgan-McClure Motorsports' Chevrolet, Robby Gordon in his own Chevrolet, Martin Truex in a Dale Earnhardt Inc. Chevrolet and Kerry Earnhardt in a Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.

"It'll hopefully get us a good starting spot for the 150, and we'll take our chances from there," Gordon said. "There are only 35 cars that are guaranteed into this deal. So there are about 20 cars trying to get one of those eight extra spots."

Gordon started his own team after being let go from RCR and admitted he is "a little behind."

"Any new race team will always be behind for a while because you race against the best and most established teams in the business," Gordon said. "But we've got out car count. We're working hard trying to build that up. Our fab shop is running close to 18-hour shifts trying to get us properly built race cars that we can be competitive with."

Biffle's problems up in smoke?

Greg Biffle's chances at a top-10 qualifying run may have gone up in smoke with a bizarre fire in his No. 16 Ford. According to crew chief Doug Richert, one of several oil tank heating probes shorted out and caught fire.

Daytona 500 Qualifying Results Pos. Driver Speed Time 1 D. Jarrett 188.312 47.793 2 J. Johnson 188.17 47.829 3 J. Gordon 188.155 47.833 4 K. Harvick 187.915 47.894 5 J. Nemechek 187.837 47.914 6 S. Riggs 187.758 47.934 7 J. Leffler 187.715 47.945 8 Ku. Busch 187.699 47.949 9 R. Rudd 187.414 48.022 10 E. Sadler 187.398 48.026

Safety workers doused the car with fire extinguisher, and the crew then took the car back to the garage to make sure nothing else was damaged. Everything was fine, expect for some extinguisher chemical that was left in the car.

"It was the worst taste ever in your mouth, that dry chemical going through the car when I took off -- and for about the first lap," Biffle said. "That was what I was worried about making my qualifying laps. It smelled so bad inside the car with all that chemical in there under the seat and everywhere where they couldn't get it all out. That was probably the worst time I've ever been in a racecar."

Biffle said the problems may not have affected the speed, but Biffle still wasn't happy with his 186.587 mph lap that placed him 14th.

"It was kind of a disappointing lap for us," Biffle said. "It felt like we were going to run a 47.90 or maybe a 48-flat at the worst, and we ended up 48.20-something, so that's not the lap we were looking for."

Green, Kenseth suffer blown engines

Jeff Green and Biffle's teammate, Matt Kenseth, didn't get what they were looking form either. Green's engine blew up on his first lap, while Kenseth's let go on his second.

Matt Kenseth

Kenseth said he burned a piston, but Green wasn't sure what happened.

"Something happened and the motor started tightening up," Green said. "I thought we hit a big gust of wind, but something must have broke. I thought we had a shot at the pole or at least a top five. We've got enough points for a provisional, so we don't have to work about Thursday anyway.

"I know this car will draft good. We've got two good cars, and I'm not going to sit here being sour about something that happened. I hate it happened and we've got to figure out why it happened, but we've got a good racecar. That's for sure."

Kyle salvages Petty Enterprises' hopes

Petty Enterprises was hoping for two solid qualifying efforts, but at least they got one. Kyle Petty put the No. 45 Dodge in 12th at 186.974, making him the fastest of the new Chargers.

Kyle Petty

Petty was third in Saturday's final practice but admitted he got a draft.

"It's kind of bittersweet," Petty said. "It's good because that's where we're at, but the 43 could have been in front of me. That means we would have had the two fastest Dodge Chargers here maybe, and that would have been good for Petty Enterprises and good for Evernham because those guys really worked hard to make it happen for us."