By MARK DeCOTIS
Florida Today

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The ARCA series race, the traditional opening act for Saturday night's high-profile Bud Shootout, is normally an afterthought at Daytona International Speedway.

But to treat the race as such would be a mistake. The 200-miler, set for the green flag Saturday at 4 p.m. (Speed Channel), features too many familiar names and too many subplots to be ignored.

Among the top 10 starters:

Jason Jarrett, son of Winston Cup star Dale Jarrett, who'll start fifth.

Stock car newcomer and CART and Formula One veteran Christian Fittipaldi, in the No. 43 Kyle Petty Racing Dodge. He'll start seventh.

Rookie and fastest female qualifier Christi Passmore, starting ninth.

Deborah Renshaw, attempting a comeback after being involved in the practice accident that killed ARCA driver Eric Martin at Charlotte last season, will start 10th.

Other notables include Shawna Robinson, who ran a partial Winston Cup schedule last season; three-time series champion Tim Steele, making a comeback from a severe accident in a Winston Cup test session at Atlanta in 1997; Greg Sacks, who scored one of the biggest upsets in NASCAR history by winning the 1985 Pepsi 400 in a research and development car; and 17-year-old Shelby Howard.

Veteran Bobby Gerhart, who'll start on the pole after turning a lap of 184.245 mph, expects a close race.

"I don't know if it's a record, but I can't remember when the quality of automobiles from first to 34th has been so close," Gerhart said. "I believe it's pretty darn close to a little over a second and that's an unbelievable group of cars."

Billy Venturini starts second (184.158) and Montgomery Chase third (183.726) in a car co-sponsored by rock star Alice Cooper.

Fittipaldi, meanwhile, believes his Dodge will acquit itself well.

"Some of the guys ahead of us, who run the whole series, might have been trimmed out more for qualifying, so we are very confident that we will do well in the race," he said. "We have good downforce, so the car should handle well in the draft."

On Sunday, Fittipaldi will attempt to qualify the No. 33 Andy Petree Racing Chevy for the Daytona 500.