G. Bodine draws pole for Budweiser Shootout

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Geoffrey Bodine drew the pole position Thursday for Saturday night's Budweiser Shootout at Daytona International Speedway, the opening event of Speedweeks 2003 and the NASCAR Winston Cup Series season.

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Bodine, who a month ago had no plans to race anything this season, will lead the 19-car field to the green flag in his No. 11 Hooters Ford. His younger brother, Brett Bodine, entered the car this week due to Geoffrey's guaranteed starting spot in the Shootout.

The elder Bodine, 53, earned his spot in the Shootout field when he won the 1992 version of the event. Their younger brother, Todd, will start eighth in the No. 54 Army National Guard Ford.

The race will be telecast live by FOX Sports and broadcast on MRN Radio at 8 p.m. ET. The winner will pocket $205,000.

"This is what's called brotherly love and I'm happy to be able to help Brett out," said Geoffrey, who finished third in the 2002 Daytona 500 while running a partial schedule for James Finch.

"It's a tune up for Brett to get ready for the 125s (qualifying races) and the Daytona 500. I love my brothers Brett and Todd. When we put our helmets on it gets a little heated, but this is going to be a lot of fun."

Jimmie Johnson will start his sophomore season on the outside of the front row in his No. 48 Chevrolet.

"That's gonna be good," Johnson said. "With the smaller pack there's not as much going on and if you get sent to the back there's not far to go. I just have to do my job and stay up there."

Tony Stewart, the defending Winston Cup champion, has won the last two Budweiser Shootouts. Stewart will start his Home Depot Chevrolet in the 12th spot.

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Kurt Busch, Ricky Rudd, Matt Kenseth, Ricky Craven, Dale Jarrett, Todd Bodine, Mark Martin and defending Daytona 500 winner Ward Burton will start third through 10th.

Ken Schrader, Stewart, Bill Elliott, Rusty Wallace, Ryan Newman, Kevin Harvick, Terry Labonte, Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. round out the field.

The race format calls for an initial 20-lap segment. At lap 20 a caution flag will be thrown and teams will come down pit road for a 10-minute break to add fuel, change tires and make minor chassis adjustments.

Drivers will align themselves in the same way they finished the first segment for a final 50-lap run that will require at least one fuel stop to complete, due to 13.5-gallon fuel cells mandated by NASCAR for Speedweeks 2003.

During both segments caution laps count but this year the race must finish under green.

Earnhardt Jr., who drives the Budweiser Chevrolet, wasn't too bothered by his 19th starting spot. Junior has won four out of the last eight races at NASCAR's restrictor-plate tracks, including the 2001 Pepsi 400 at Daytona.

"Can't get any worse, I guess," Junior said. "That will be a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to it. I'll probably get my game face on during that break."