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The lights go on for tonight's Shootout

DAYTONA BEACH -- The Winston Cup season begins in high style tonight with the first running of the Bud Shootout all-star race under the lights at Daytona International Speedway.

The nonpoints event, to be shown on Ch. 13 at 8, features many of the sport's biggest stars and serves as a preview for the Daytona 500.

"I've always said that racing at night makes everything appear a little more spectacular," veteran driver Dale Jarrett said. "It's fun racing here at night. And this is the kind of race you need to have at night, because it's just about winning."

The 19-car field includes 2002 pole winners and past Shootout winners. Winston Cup champion Tony Stewart is the two-time defending Shootout winner.

The winner receives $205,000 of a $966,000 purse.

The 70-lap event has a new format. There will be a caution after 20 laps and a 10-minute break for teams to change tires, add fuel and make adjustments. The race resumes with cars in the same order in which they came onto pit road. A green-white-checkered rule assures a green-flag finish.

NASCAR is using a 13.5-gallon fuel cell at Daytona and Talladega this season, hoping to break up the big pack of cars typical in restrictor-plate races. That means teams must make at least one stop during the Shootout's final 50 laps, bringing strategy and pit crews into the action.

Moving the race from its traditional Sunday afternoon slot in the Speedweeks lineup bumped front-row qualifying for the Daytona 500, previously held Saturday, to 1:15 p.m. Sunday.

GUESS WHO: Ryan Newman, who led the series with six poles last year, was fastest in the afternoon Bud Shootout practice with a lap of 186.220 mph on the 2.5-mile track. With temperatures dipping into the 50s, Terry Labonte topped the evening practice at 188.336 mph.

BRING A BOOK: There was no Winston Cup practice Friday, and it was a good thing. With NASCAR inspectors paying special attention to the new series of car templates, it took all day for teams to get through the inspection line. Most had to go through twice to get the windshield sticker that signifies a legal race car.

"Our guys have been in line for seven hours," said Chad Knaus, crew chief for Jimmie Johnson's No. 48 Chevrolet. "They're being a lot more particular with the new templates, which is good. But if they do this at Rockingham or Las Vegas, it'll be Sunday before we get the sticker."

The first Winston Cup practice is at 9:15 a.m. today.

DASHING ALL THE WAY: Johnny Chapman won the pole for Sunday's Goody's Dash 150 with a lap of 162.784 mph in the No. 33 Pontiac Sunfire. The series, which must find a title sponsor to continue beyond this year, is on its biggest stage at Daytona.

"This is just like our Daytona 500," said Chapman, the 1991 series champion. "We're still true racers who work a job and come home and work on these cars at night. This is a family deal, like Winston Cup used to be a long time ago."

SPEED SHOPPING: Just in case fans have any money left after paying for a hotel, tickets and meals during Speedweeks, Daytona International Speedway has opened Superstore. Modeled after stores at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, Superstore offers all variety of racing merchandise. Located outside the track, just east of the pedestrian bridge on International Speedway Boulevard, the 16,000-square foot structure is 30 feet high, carpeted and climate controlled.

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