Busch draws pole post

Friday, Feb. 8, 2002 | 8:57 a.m.

Kurt Busch had planned to use Sunday's Budweiser Shootout as a bonus test session for next week's qualifying races that set the field for the Feb. 17 Daytona 500.

But after drawing the pole position for the 70-lap, made-for-TV race, the 23-year-old Las Vegas native is heading back to the drawing board.

"It's hard to say what the strategy will be (now)," Busch said Thursday. "I'm going to go to (crew chief) Jimmy Fennig for advice on that and I'm sure it's gonna change now that we're starting from the pole, which might present a different strategy or a call that he'd make."

Busch will lead a field of 22 drivers -- all of whom either won a NASCAR Winston Cup pole last season or are past champions of the race -- to the green flag at 11:15 a.m. (PDT) Sunday at the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway. The race will be televised live on TNT (Cox Cable channel 18).

NASCAR veteran Kenny Wallace drew the second starting position and will start on the outside of the front row. Tony Stewart, who won the Bud Shootout last year, drew the third starting position and two-time Bud Shootout winner Ken Schrader will start fourth.

"Starting up front, we'll see if we can hold off the positions behind me," said Busch, who earned an invitation to participate in the Budweiser Shootout by winning the pole last September at Darlington Raceway. "I'm looking at the odd-numbered starting positions and I don't know if it's stacking up in my favor or not -- I think it will be very difficult to stay up front."

Busch, a graduate of Durango High, is starting his second season in the Winston Cup Series in the No. 97 Ford owned by Jack Roush. This will be his first appearance in the Budweiser Shootout.

"It's my first time in what you'd call an all-star event," Busch said. "To be in our second year in racing and get this invitation ... it's a great team morale booster to be with the best of the best. If we position ourselves to win that race, we'll try to win it -- but it's more or less a test session for us, to get our guidelines for the Daytona 500.

"The main thing is to get knowledge about the new (aerodynamic rules), the way the draft is going to be with these cars, and to get fine-tuned for the Daytona 500. Hopefully that will prepare us better for the Twin 125 (qualifying races) so we can position ourselves with a good start for the 500."

All drivers will be required to make a mandatory green-flag pit stop at any point during the 70-lap race. Busch said he is looking forward to going through a pit stop under race conditions with his new crew.

"For the whole team to work together and to do that right-side-tire pit stop under green-flag conditions gets us back in the swing of things and starts getting us ready for that 500-mile race," said Busch, who traded entire crews -- including crew chiefs -- with Roush Racing teammate Mark Martin during the winter.