In a special-event race sponsored by Budweiser, with the starting order determined by a glorified video game, Dale Earnhardt Jr. figured to have a good shot at success in Thursday’s draw for the Budweiser Shootout starting lineup. So much for that. Earnhardt Jr. will start 19th – last – in the field for Saturday night’s 70-lap event that marks the first competition of a new NASCAR season. He was the fifth driver to pick his starting spot by pressing a bottle cap from the sponsor’s product hooked to a computer spinning numbers one through 19 on a screen. Earnhardt Jr. will have plenty of fast company in the back half of the field. Jeff Gordon starts 18th, Ryan Newman 15th and two-time defending Shootout champion Tony Stewart 12th. The pole position, meanwhile, lasted until the very end of the draw. With only two drivers – Geoffrey Bodine and Terry Labonte – left to pick their starting spot, Bodine pushed the button and got the pole in the #11 Ford that his brother, Brett [not Todd], owns and will drive in the Daytona 500 on Feb. 16. That left the 17th starting spot for Terry Labonte, the remaining driver. Jimmie Johnson, who won the pole for the Daytona 500 last year in his rookie season, will start on the outside of Row 1, with Kurt Busch and Ricky Rudd on Row 2, and Matt Kenseth and Ricky Craven on Row 3. Dale Jarrett, Todd Bodine, Mark Martin, Ward Burton, Ken Schrader, Stewart, Bill Elliott, Rusty Wallace, Newman, Kevin Harvick, Labonte, Gordon and Earnhardt Jr. round out the field. Fifteen of the eligible drivers won poles during the 2002 season and the other four are past winners of this event. Nine of the entrants are former Bud Shootout winners. The total purse for the event is $966,000, with the winner getting $205,000. The non-points event, being held under the lights for the first time this year, will be run in two segments. There will be a 10-minute break after the first 20 laps, during which teams may work on their cars without losing track position. The cars will start the final 50-lap segment in the same order they finished the first segment. With the 13.5-gallon fuel cells being used at the 2.5-mile Daytona track this year, teams will not be able to complete the final 50 laps without making another stop for fuel. If the caution flag is out on Lap 70, the race will be extended until there’s a green-white-checkered finish, so that also must be factored into fuel strategies.( ThatsRacin.com ) and see ThatsRacin.com for The lineup for Saturday night’s race (2-6-2003)
