Earnhardt Jr.

	Rudd

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Sure, everybody wanted to win the Bud Shootout, but even those who fell short of Victory Lane might walk away with some key information.

The 19 cars in Saturday night's lineup got a chance to test setups during race conditions and take that knowledge into Thursday's Gatorade 125s and the Daytona 500.

"We learned quite a bit," said Ricky Rudd, who finished eighth. "We learned in that 20-lap segment -- we weren't really good. We had some problems and that 10 minutes gave us the change to adjust the car around."

The 10-minute break after the first 20 laps, along with the one mandatory pit stop in the final segment, gave teams a chance to tweak the cars and adjust during the race -- something that will obviously be key during the upcoming races.

"We made some adjustments on it, it brought it back around and we were pretty racy," Rudd said. "The car drove real good. We elected not to change tires on that last (stop), so that goes to show that the chassis and everything is working good."

Rudd said that cars competing in Saturday's race might have a little advantage come Thursday and next Sunday.

"The longer format with the pit stop gives everybody the change -- it's a true indication of what's going to happen in the 125," he said. "And I'm just glad we were in that race because it gives us a tune up for the 125, which is a very important race for everybody."

Among the other teams in Thursday's race taking notes for race week was the No. 24 team of Jeff Gordon, who finished second to Dale Earnhardt Jr. on Saturday night.

"That was the first time I got a chance to race the new Monte Carlo body in the draft," Gordon said. "I think a lot of what I wanted to take out of this is a little bit of drafting practice, but more so the handling of the car -- what we're going to have in store for us in the 125s and for the 500 as far as the balance of the car. I was pretty happy with what I saw but I also know that we're going to tweak on it a little bit more."

Some drivers -- including Rudd -- universally thought Earnhardt Jr. had by far the best car out there. And Junior said he was at Daytona to send a message to the rest of the field.

"We come down here and we test and we run real hard," Earnhardt said "We normally don't qualify real well, but the car looks real good for (Sunday's) qualifying. But we never really do play with them. I've just always gone to the front. I want to be up front and a lot of those guys I race against would rather me probably help them out and work and be a little more calm in the draft, but I want to be the guy leading."

Junior said, however, he doesn't enjoy being the favorite. And Gordon might not even think the No. 8 car is.

"I didn't think anybody had a better car than I did (on Saturday)," Gordon said. "I think Junior just got a little bit better push than everybody else. I mean he's certainly good -- give him credit, and his team. They have a strong restrictor-plate program. But I don't think anyone's stronger than we are right now."

Gordon's teammate, Jimmie Johnson, was able to sit right behind Gordon for several laps while the No. 24 led. A pit road mishap dropped Johnson back and forced him to take four tires while the rest of the field took none or just two, but Johnson rallied to finish seventh.

"The car was good. The new Monte Carlo works well in traffic," Johnson said. "The Hendrick car -- the work that we've done to make improvements has been really good. The race was fun. I think in the day for the 500 the handling's going to be a lot different than it was tonight. I think we got away with a little bit with it being so cool and dark. The handling characteristics didn't really go away on the cars. But it's going to an interesting 500. It's going to be one of the closest ones you've seen in a long time."

Despite the conditions likely not being close to what's expected for the 500, Johnson thinks Saturday's action was a good indication of the type of racing we'll see come the 16th.

"I think the parity -- it doesn't matter which make it is, they're all going to have a shot at winning," he said. "I think the handling's going to be a little more important. Tonight, it seemed like the bottom wasn't working like it used to. I think when handling comes into play, the cars that can stay on the bottom late in the run are going to be the ones that rise to the front at the end of the day."

Third-place finisher Matt Kenseth, who battled with Earnhardt Jr. early and led several laps, isn't sure how much the team will be able to use from what they learned Saturday.

"I don't really know because they are two different cars (in the Shootout and the 500)," Kenseth said. "I hope so. We're going to try to put this setup in our 500 car after we qualify (on Sunday) and see what it looks like on Monday."

Ricky Craven was one of many drivers who moved back and forth through the field Saturday. At one point he was three-wide at virtually the back of the pack with Dale Jarrett (finished 18th) and Terry Labonte (finished 14th).

Craven was able to rally and scored a 10th-place finish, but did he take anything away from the race that he and the No. 32 team can use later on?

"Definitely. There are some things that we won't do," he said. "There are some mechanical things that we'll change. And we'll probably experiment a little bit for Sunday."

Craven was also a fan of the close and mildly chaotic racing.

"It was like a 2½-mile Martinsville. It was perfect."

Rusty Wallace, who came back from a tire going down at the end of the first segment to challenge the leaders but eventually slipped to 12th, also approved of Saturday's racing.

"The competition was good," Wallace said. "Everybody could draft up real good. Nobody could get away from everybody. My car handled really good the whole entire run, so that's good. Aerodynamically is stuck pretty tight.

"I feel good about it."