Pepsi 400 - Christian Fittipaldi Notes

Christian Fittipaldi Notes, Quotes: Daytona 400
#44 Bugles Dodge to debut under the lights

Preparing for his third start at NASCAR’s most prestigious track, Christian Fittipaldi, driver of the #44 Bugles Dodge, heads to the 2.5-mile Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway this week for Saturday night’s Daytona 400.

The summer classic will be the second Winston Cup start for Fittipaldi at the famed oval but his first under the lights at any stock car track. In February Fittipaldi raced the Daytona 500 in a car prepared by Andy Petree Racing. He also raced the ARCA race during Speed Weeks in a Petty Enterprises-built Dodge.

Fittipaldi, who normally drives the #43 Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge, will step into the #44 Bugles Dodge for this event. It is the first of three 2003 races for Fittipaldi under the Bugles colors, other events planned at Talladega, Ala., and Concord, N.C. He will also drive a New York Yankees car in August at Watkins Glen, N.Y.

In the summer of 2002 Fittipaldi signed to drive for the legendary Petty Enterprises. An open-wheel star, Fittipaldi, 33, is a two-time CART winner (California Speedway and Road America) and Formula One World Championship driver. He is the first-ever Brazilian native to run full time in NASCAR’s top series and is the only regular NASCAR driver to have raced full-time in Formula One and CART.

The thoughts of Bugles Dodge driver Christian Fittipaldi heading into Daytona:

“Daytona is a really funny place in the terms of driving a stock car. During the months of January and February I was trying to learn everything I could. I got a lot of help from everyone at Andy Petree Racing and from everyone here at Petty Enterprises. There was nothing, however, that could prepare me for racing the track than actually going out there and racing.

“I was surprised with the ease of qualifying. I think qualifying at Daytona is one of the easiest things I have ever done in a race car and on a race track. On the other hand, racing is the one of the hardest things I have ever had to do in a car or on a track. It is two different extremes that you have to go through at Daytona, and you have to prepare yourself for those extremes.

“It’s almost funny. Qualifying is too easy, but then the racing is almost too hard. When you are out there racing with a pack of 42 other cars it seems to me that we are always running over each other. You have to keep paying attention to the guys around you and listen to your spotter.

“There is nothing you can change about it. It’s the nature of superspeedway racing. The way the rules are, it’s hard to separate yourself, and you don’t want to be separated and lose the draft. It puts a huge emphasis on qualifying. You don’t want to start in the back and have to work yourself up through the field.

“Qualifying at Daytona is so straight forward. The guys back in the shop who build the cars, and the guys preparing the car at the track, are really the ones who help you the most in qualifying at Daytona. The car is going to do what the car is going to do. The driver just goes around the track and the car does all the work. Qualifying is pretty simple for a driver at superspeedways.

“Qualifying is easy, but the racing is a different style of racing than what I have been used to in the past. It’s so intense. You really have to concentrate hard and make good decisions on the track. So much of it comes down to being at the right place at the right time. It’s almost more luck than anything else.

“I think racing at night in Daytona will be fun. The lights at the track are really good. The number of lights the track has makes it seem that it is still daylight. I don’t anticipate any problems racing at night and I think it will be fun.

“I am looking forward to Daytona. I have a cool looking car with Bugles on the side of the #44 Dodge. I have been getting used to drafting, and it’s like I said before, it’s just a matter of being in the right place at the right time. Some skill goes into picking the right lines, and I just want to get in the line that will put this #44 Bugles Dodge to the front. I have been to the track once and hopefully this time we will come away with an even better outcome than what we did in February.”

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