February 15, 2007

The garage at Daytona was very much a boulevard of broken dreams on Thursday, and no team suffered worse than Team Red Bull.

The two-car Toyota team saw both of its cars miss the Daytona 500, as Brian Vickers and rookie A.J. Allmendinger both crashed in their qualifying races.

With its largest entry list in years, 18 cars missed the show. Former Daytona 500 winner Ward Burton was one, and Jeremy Mayfield, who finished third here in 1998, was another. Mayfield, who damaged his car on Lap 10 in first 150-mile qualifier, will miss his first Daytona 500 since 1993.

Rookie Paul Menard, who was outstanding here in January testing, also missed the race when he finished 15th in his qualifier

The quote of the day was attributed to Mike Bliss, who fell one spot -- literally a few feet -- shy of getting BAM Racing's Dodge into the field.

"I'll be watching at home. It sucks. I want to cry," Bliss said.

Vickers' heartbreak came on Lap 50 of the second 150-mile qualifier when he blew a right-rear tire and smacked the wall. Vickers, winner of the most recent restrictor-plate points race (Talladega), said there was no warning.

"Obviously it is a disappointing but we did our best," Vickers said. "We will go get them at California. When you blow a tire, you blow a tire."

Allmendinger, Vickers' teammate, tangled with Robby Gordon early in the first 150-mile qualifier.

"I don't know if you really put fault on that or what, but I just feel bad for the whole team because they deserve to have a car in the 500," Allmendinger said.

Burton, winner of the 2002 Daytona 500, was trying to race Morgan-McClure Motorsports' No. 4 Chevrolet into the field, but the car never showed any speed.

Burton said he knew making the 43-car field would be tough.

"It is not the end of the world," Burton said. "Everybody in the family is healthy, I didn't get hurt, and we will be back. Today we diced and didn't land right.

"I thought it was a crapshoot with Morgan McClure. They are great people but they have just got so far behind in resources, and I knew that going in I wanted to help them. I think I am a good racer. I have known all winter that this day could go either way."