Jeremy Mayfield choked back emotion. AJ Allmendinger hid his tears behind sunglasses. Scott Riggs felt as if he had just won NASCAR's biggest race.

None of them is a threat to win the Daytona 500, but at least they will be in the show.

Allmendinger, Mayfield, Riggs and Regan Smith earned spots in the season-opening race in yesterday's pair of qualifying Gatorade Duels.

"It feels absolutely awesome. It's like we just won the race," said Riggs, who finished eighth in the first qualifier.

None of the four drivers had rides a month ago, piecing together any opportunity they could to get to Daytona International Speedway.

Allmendinger was let go from Red Bull Racing late last year, and is clinging to an eight-race deal with Richard Petty Motorsports. Riggs became unemployed when Tony Stewart took control of his race team and revamped the driver lineup.

Smith was a casualty of the merger between Dale Earnhardt Inc. and Chip Ganassi Racing. Mayfield has been out of full-time work since Ray Evernham fired him midway through the 2006 season.

With no ride lined up, Mayfield at the last minute threw his own team together for one last try.

"Man, 23 days ago we didn't even have a race team," Mayfield said after finishing ninth in the second qualifier.

Gordon ended the longest winless drought of his career by winning the first duel. The four-time Cup champion is coming off his first winless season since his 1993 rookie year.

The non-points Gatorade Duel doesn't officially count for anything in Gordon's victory total, but it gave him a second-row starting spot in Sunday's race.

Busch also made an overdue return to Victory Lane. He won eight races last year and led the Sprint Cup standings most of the season, but he started to falter in August and fell apart when the Chase for the Championship began.