Burton: Slower Speeds Make for Boring Race

Jeff Burton, one of the preseason favorites to win his first Winston Cup championship in one of Jack Roush’s Fords, is not too pleased with the restrictor-plate regulations in effect at Daytona International Speedway designed to reduce speeds.

“It’s just one big pack of cars,” Burton said of the upcoming races here, today’s Budweiser Shootout, Thursday’s Twin 125 qualifying races and next Sunday’s Daytona 500. “Whoever you’re running with is how fast you can run. Missing the big wreck that is going to probably happen and making sure your car drives well so you don’t cause a wreck, I think those are the two most important things.”

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Seven-time Cup champion Dale Earnhardt qualified a disappointing 27th, but from the cheers at the sight of “The Intimidator” and his familiar black No. 3 Chevrolet, one might have thought he had won another Daytona 500.

In what seemed like a throwback to the days of Richard Petty, Earnhardt strolled to the pit wall while his car was in line to qualify and patiently signed everything thrust in his way--caps, programs, pictures, posters, slips of paper, even the T-shirt on the back of a fan.

“I don’t know if we’ve really got a good handle on the car and what it needs,” he said after running a lap of 180.694 mph. “But we’ll take it and we’ll go race on Thursday [in the 125-mile qualifier] and see what happens.”

Earnhardt has won 12 Twin 125s, 10 in a row from 1990 to 1999.

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What a difference a day makes.

Robby Gordon, whose Chevrolet was the fastest car on the track Friday, was only 19th quickest when it counted.

“I think the track obviously changed,” said Gordon, “but then it’s changing for everybody else too.”

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When what is now the Budweiser Shootout was first held in 1979 as the Busch Clash, it was 20 laps. In 1991 it became two 10-lap segments. Gradually, it stretched out, but never more than 25 laps.

Bill Elliott’s comments on today’s 70-lap race: “It’s a lot better than those itty-bitty things we used to run.”

Elliott will be making his 16th start, more than any other driver.