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Crew Chief Club at the Bud Shootout

Event: Bud Shootout When: Sun., Feb. 7 at 12 noon EST on CBS Where: Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway (2.5-mile oval) Winner's Purse: $108,000 Robin Pemberton and Rusty Wallace are the defending winners of the Bud ...

Event: Bud Shootout When: Sun., Feb. 7 at 12 noon EST on CBS

Where: Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway (2.5-mile oval)

Winner's Purse: $108,000

Robin Pemberton and Rusty Wallace are the defending winners of the Bud Shootout.

The Crew Chief Club has two wins in the annual February event. The wins were provided by Wallace and Pemberton in 1998 and Todd Parrott and Dale Jarrett in 1996. In last year's Bud Shootout, the Crew Chief Club finished in the following order: Pemberton/Wallace Finish: 1st Parrott/Jarrett Finish: 11th Makar/Labonte Finish: 15th McReynolds/Earnhardt DNQ (finished 3rd in qualifying race) The Crew Chief Club will be signing autographs on Sat., Feb. 6, from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on the Chevrolet and Ford souvenir trailers. Crew Chief Club souvenirs and wearables are available on both trailers. Fans can also log-on to the Crew Chief Club at their official website, www.crewchiefclub.com.

HOW DO YOU PLAN FOR A "MONEY RACE", ESPECIALLY WHEN THE SEASON OPENER/BIGGEST RACE OF THE YEAR IS THE FOLLOWING WEEK?

Jimmy Makar - Interstate Batteries Pontiac of Bobby Labonte - "We don't go into the Bud Shootout with a plan, other than the thought that we have to take a second car with us to run in another race. Speedweeks is filled with little races. We have to race for a qualifying position and we have the Bud Shootout. It's a whole different schedule with a lot of distractions, compared to the average weekend where we come in and qualify on Friday, prepare for the race on Saturday and race on Sunday. There is no real plan other than to go in there and run the race."

Larry McReynolds - Lowe's Home Improvement Chevrolet of Mike Skinner - "We treat the Bud Shootout qualifier as an important race. I think you can prepare well for that event and not interfere with your plans for the Daytona 500. We're there for 11 days, and all we've done up to the point of the Bud Shootout is work on qualifying and get the car qualified. We can learn a few things from the race, but it is only 25-lap race with a pit stop. We'll be as aggressive as we can with the car, as far as setup goes, and we'll have the car good enough so that Mike can flat-foot for 25 laps. It's a race where there's not a lot of time, and the luck of the draw has a lot to do with it. If you look at last year, Jimmy Spencer won the qualifier because he had a good car and his guys reeled off a great pit stop. That made a difference. He was out front and nobody could overtake him. That's what we've got to do to make it to the Bud Shootout."

Todd Parrott - Ford Quality Care Service/Ford Credit Ford of Dale Jarrett - "We go into the Bud Shootout like any other race - we try to win. But basically, we use that event as a test session for the race which pays 180 points toward winning the championship."

Robin Pemberton - Miller Lite Ford of Rusty Wallace - "It's really no different than any other race - just shorter. We did well last year. We won it. So basically, we just treat it as a race and go in there running hard."

ALTHOUGH IT'S ONLY A 25-LAP RACE, HOW MUCH INFORMATION DO YOU TRANSFER FROM THE BUD SHOOTOUT TO YOUR DAYTONA 500 SETUP?

Jimmy Makar: "We take some information that we find during race, such as chassis setup, track conditions and the way the car handles in the draft, and we try to apply that to the 125-mile qualifier. From there, we take the information from the 125 to the 500. It's an added racing situation to help you tune your car."

Larry McReynolds: "The biggest thing you can find out is how your car reacts in the draft. You only have 25 laps, which is about half of a fuel stop of what we'd run in the 500 or 125. It's hard to convey a lot of it, so you can be more aggressive with the setup because it's a short race. "

Todd Parrott: "After the Shootout, we take our notes on car setup and apply that information to our car for the 500."

Robin Pemberton: "We transfer a lot of information on our setup, but we look at this event as a step for the 125s and the 500"

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