Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Christian thrown to NASCAR lions at Daytona speedway

Tuesday, July 1, 2003 | 9:14 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at bh@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4089.

When Christian Fittipaldi was at Daytona International Speedway back in February, the idea was for him to gain experience in a stock car in preparation for his move to NASCAR Winston Cup with Petty Enterprises on a full-time basis in 2004.

Fittipaldi competed in the ARCA race in a Petty Enterprises Dodge and in the Daytona 500 in a car prepared by Andy Petree Racing and was to run a mixture of Winston Cup, Busch Series and ARCA races the remainder of the season.

As the Winston Cup Series returns to Daytona for Saturday night's Pepsi 400, Fittipaldi is a full-time Winston Cup driver after John Andretti was fired last month as driver of the No. 43 Petty Enterprises Dodge.

Fittipaldi, a former Formula One and CART driver, said he has mixed feelings about the 2.5-mile superspeedway in Daytona.

"Daytona is a really funny place in the terms of driving a stock car," he said. "During the months of January and February I was trying to learn everything I could. There was nothing, however, that could prepare me for racing the track than actually going out there and racing.

"I was surprised with the ease of qualifying. I think qualifying at Daytona is one of the easiest things I have ever done in a racecar and on a racetrack. On the other hand, racing is the one of the hardest things I have ever had to do in a car or on a track. It is two different extremes that you have to go through at Daytona, and you have to prepare yourself for those extremes."

Fittipaldi qualified seventh for the February ARCA race and was the 24th-fastest qualifier for the Daytona 500. After a seventh-place finish in the ARCA race, Fittipaldi took 35th in the rain-shortened Daytona 500.

"When you are out there racing with a pack of 42 other cars, it seems to me that we are always running over each other," he said. "You have to keep paying attention to the guys around you and listen to your spotter.

"Qualifying is easy but the racing is a different style of racing than what I have been used to in the past. It's so intense, you really have to concentrate hard and make good decisions on the track. So much of it comes down to being at the right place at the right time. It's almost more luck than anything else."

Although he was named last month to replace Andretti in the No. 43 Dodge, Fittipaldi will be driving the No. 44 Dodge on Saturday for Petty Enterprises as part of a special three-race deal with sponsorship from Bugles and one race with funding from the New York Yankees.

"I'd love to do a (F-1) test if it was possible," Busch told the Internet site GrandPrix.com. "But I am an oval racer and I am committed to NASCAR until at least 2006."

Busch, a Las Vegas native, was invited to test Michel Jourdain Jr.'s Champ Car during CART's spring training at Sebring International Raceway in March. Despite never having driven one of the 700-horsepower open-wheel cars, Busch was only about a second and a half off the slowest time posted during the test.

Earnhardt, who is 19th in NASCAR Busch Series points, also will run Friday's Busch race at Daytona.