DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Michael Waltrip, embarrassed by his team's role in NASCAR's biggest cheating scandal, didn't decide until Thursday morning to try to race his way into the Daytona 500.

It turned out to be a good decision because he'll be in the starting lineup for NASCAR's biggest race Sunday.

"I know I am good enough to do it without having any cheating on my car," said Waltrip, who will start 15th in the 43-car field after finishing eighth in a qualifying race won by Tony Stewart. "I don't need it. I can go fast without it. I think we proved that today."

Jeff Gordon won the second qualifying race, but his car failed a postrace inspection - NASCAR officials blamed it on a part failure, not cheating - and he will start 42nd instead of on the second row.

Gordon's incident was minor compared with the controversy surrounding Waltrip. His car was impounded Sunday because a foreign substance, reportedly a fuel additive, was found in the manifold during qualifying inspections.

He felt better after racing his way into the field at the 2 1/2-mile Daytona International Speedway. But he still wasn't smiling.

Waltrip, a two-time Daytona 500 champion, apologized during a morning news conference, then got behind the wheel of what had been the backup car of teammate David Reutimann before it was converted to the No. 55 Toyota.

"I'm just sad, but I'm happy at the same time," Waltrip said. "I race cars, that's what I do. I want to thank Mr. (Mike) Helton (NASCAR president) and my wife for reminding me of that because I was so upset (Wednesday) that I wanted to go home.

"They said you have to stay and race because that's what you do."

Not everyone was happy to see Waltrip's Toyota in the field.

"To tell you the truth, Michael Waltrip got off easy," driver Joe Nemechek said. "It gave the sport a black eye. Anybody that's doing something that blatant, that's pretty bad."

Waltrip clipped the rear of Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s car on Lap 17 but rallied to finish eighth. He and Boris Said claimed the two transfer positions available to drivers not already assured of being in the race.

David Hyder, Waltrip's crew chief, and Bobby Kennedy, the team competition director, weren't around because both were suspended indefinitely and ejected from Speedweeks events.

Hyder was also fined a NASCAR-record $100,000.

"Sunday was a very difficult day for me and my family and my race team," Waltrip said. "What took place was the action of an individual or individuals and not the reflection of our team or sponsors or our manufacturer. You can't be skeptical of Toyota, you just have to look straight at me.

"I am ready to bear all responsibility for what occurred. We continue to aggressively try to pinpoint what happened. I still haven't got anybody to fess up.

"In theory, it was supposed to hype the fuel up and make the car go faster, but it didn't. My beautiful 9-year-old daughter asked her mom on Monday why her daddy cheated the rules."

Waltrip, who started at the rear in the first qualifying race, will join teammates Dale Jarrett and Reutimann in the race.

"We got all three teams in, and that'll help us pay the fines," Waltrip said.

Stewart, who won Saturday's Bud Shootout, recorded his 11th win at Daytona.

"This Chevy has been bad to the bone all week," Stewart said of his No. 20 Monte Carlo.

NASCAR inspectors said Gordon's Chevrolet almost was 1 inch too low. He was not stripped of the win, his 13th at Daytona.

"We feel it was unintentional, and actually fairly unsafe," NASCAR competition director Robin Pemberton said.

Nemechek and Mike Wallace gained the two transfer spots in the second race.

bentonj@RockyMountainNews.com

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