Stewart admits: Key to winning was Bobby.

Tony Stewart averted a multi-car crash and a charging Jeff Burton to win the second of two Gatorade Duel NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series Daytona 500 qualifying races at Daytona International Speedway.

The driver of the #20 Home Depot Chevrolet slipped through the smoke of a seven-car accident on the 37th lap of the 60-lap affair to emerge third, which he parlayed into a first-place finish when the chequered flag waved.

"The key to winning the race was my team-mate Bobby Labonte," said Stewart, who took the lead from Burton on lap 48 as the nose of Labonte's #18 Chevrolet shoved Stewart to the front.

"We got such a good push from him into turn one that it got us by Jeff. I didn't intend on going by that early, but we just had too good of a run. We never would've won the race if it weren't for Bobby Labonte."

Avoiding the race's big wreck was also a key component to Stewart's win. The two-time Budweiser Shootout winner at Daytona [2001 and 2002] was tucked in behind the leaders when the race went from serene to scary.

Contact between Kevin Harvick and Jimmie Johnson sent cars spinning and a plume of smoke rising as the two touched bumpers off turn two. Johnson spun deep onto the apron and seemed to suffer little damage while Harvick got pin-balled by a line of traffic behind him. Joe Nemechek, Dave Blaney, Rusty Wallace and Mark Martin incurred heavy damage, with Harvick, Nemechek, Wallace and Blaney forced to unload their back-up cars for Sunday's Daytona 500.

"I didn't see what happened," said Stewart. "I was about four cars back and I was watching what was behind me as well as what was in front of me. I didn't see what caused it, but when we got to it, it was a matter of trying to find a hole. That was the biggest thing. I didn't know where to go. I just saw an opening before the smoke got so thick you couldn't see anything. I aimed for that and it was good enough to get us through."

The escape proved good enough for a win too, as Stewart first's Gatorade Duel victory and third at Daytona placed him in prime position for the Daytona 500.

"To be honest, Sunday is another day," said Stewart, who will start fourth in the 47th running of the Daytona 500. "There's a lot of practice that's going to happen between now and Sunday.

"I would love to say that what happened today is what's going to happen on Sunday, but I can't do that. We only raced with half the field. The guys who crashed today are going to have back-up cars on Sunday. It's a whole different race on Sunday. It's 500 miles versus the 150 miles today. We've got to keep working hard in every session and keep trying to make The Home Depot Chevrolet better and better."