Less than half the field competing in Shootout

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) – The 19 entries in the made-for-TV Budweiser Shootout will have somewhat of an advantage over the rest of the drivers trying to earn starting spots in the Daytona 500.

They got to practice Friday and will get an exclusive 70-lap drafting session on the high-banked oval Saturday night.

“Any extra time we can get on the track is a plus,” said Kevin Harvick, who will be making his second Shootout start. “I know the rest of those guys would like to be out there today.”

The other 26 drivers entered in Feb. 15 Daytona 500 won’t even get to practice until Saturday.

Thirteen of the 15 drivers who automatically earned spots in the Shootout by winning poles in 2003 will participate, along with six former champions.

“Obviously, anyone who has a car capable of winning in the Shootout is someone we’re going to look at as contenders for the win in the 500 a week later,” said Dale Jarrett, a former Winston Cup champion who won the Shootout in 1996 and 2000 and went on to win the 500-miler each time.

“Of course, it doesn’t always work out that way,” he added. “There are a number of guys who aren’t in the Shootout that have good cars, so I think more than anything it’s a great opportunity to test the restrictor-plate program that the teams have spent so many hours over the winter getting ready for and preparing.”

Daytona is one of only two NASCAR tracks where the horsepower-sapping plates are required to keep the speeds under 200 mph for safety reasons.

The plates do their job well, but they also equalize the cars and make racing at Daytona and Talladega Superspeedway wide open and dangerous, with cars often in tight drafting packs running two- and three-wide at more than 190 mph.

Harvick said he is ready to start racing after a tedious month of testing.

“You can only learn so much from testing and, after a while, you need times like this to make sure you’re going in the right direction,” Harvick said. “It’s really when you get in the action with cars around you that you know it’s time to go racing again. All we can do is hope we’re ready.”

Heading the Shootout entry list are Ryan Newman, who won a series-high 11 poles last year – the most since Bill Elliott also won 11 in 1985 – and four-time pole winners Jeff Gordon and Bobby Labonte.

The lineup also includes pole winners Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, Terry Labonte, Jamie McMurray, Jeremy Mayfield, Elliott Sadler, Dave Blaney, Mike Skinner and road racing specialist Boris Said, who led qualifying at Infineon Raceway.

Both Said and Skinner, who lost his full-time ride in the Cup series and is returning to the Craftsman Truck series, came up with Shootout rides in January.

Steve Park, who won two poles in 2003 but is also heading for the truck series, will not race in the Shootout. Neither will Daytona 500 pole winner Jeff Green, who now drives for Petty Enterprises, which does not take part in special events sponsored by beer companies.

Former Shootout champions entered in Saturday night’s event – the second Shootout run under the lights – are Jarrett, Mark Martin, 2003 winner Dale Earnhardt Jr., Ken Schrader, Rusty Wallace and Elliott, who will drive a limited schedule in 2004 and is not entered in the 500.

“Right now, my role is to help Jeremy and Kasey,” Elliott said, referring to Evernham Motorsports teammates Mayfield and rookie Kasey Kahne. “I’m not thinking about Daytona 500 at all, and that’s a very different role for me.”

Under the format adopted last year, the drivers in the 26th Shootout will race for 20 laps on the 2-mile Daytona oval, take a 10-minute intermission, during which their crews will be allowed to make adjustments on the cars, then race the final 50 laps. Everyone will be required to make a pit stop following the break.

There should be plenty of hard racing, but there is also some strategy required due to the unusual race format.

“I don’t know that you call it a strategy other than we probably will try to lay back a little at the beginning and we’ll try to pit as soon as we can make it to our fuel window so we can spend the final 20 laps getting ourselves in position for the win,” Jarrett said.

Harvick, who finished ninth last year, said his first experience with the Shootout was an eye-opener.

“I definitely learned some things about the setup of the race that will help me this time around,” he said. “The smaller field really makes you evaluate how you approach it. It should be fun.”