The Associated Press

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - For some drivers, today's twin 125-mile qualifying races are simply a warmup for the Daytona 500. For others, they are their only chance to get into Sunday's race.

"It can be intense," said Ricky Rudd, getting ready to race in his 26th consecutive Daytona 500 and an equal number of qualifying races. "There are a lot of guys here where that race is the only race they're thinking about. They're not even thinking about the Daytona 500."

"If they don't do well in the 125s, they won't have a Daytona 500. Other guys, like us, we're pretty good in points and, with our qualifying speed, the race has a little different meaning to us."

In Daytona's unique qualifying format, Jeff Green and Dale Earnhardt Jr. secured the front-row starting spots in the 43-car lineup for the 500-miler by being fastest in time trials Monday.

Positions 3-30 in the 500 will go to the top 14 finishers in today's Gatorade Twin 125s. The 31st through 36th spots will be filled by the fastest drivers from Monday's qualifying session who don't make it in the 125, with the remaining places going to the highest-finishing teams in last year's car-owner points that are not already in the Daytona 500.

There is an added element of strategy in the 125s this year, thanks to NASCAR's decision to use smaller gas tanks in an effort to break up the big, dangerous packs of cars so common here.

It has been routine for the drivers to complete the 50 laps on Daytona International Speedway's 21/2-mile without a pit stop. Today, everyone will have to stop once.

"Everyone's got to do it," Rudd said. "No one can afford to put on four tires if the track stays green. They're going to have to put on two tires, or gas and go.

"That's a different element than we've had to deal with in the past. Instead of all that pressure being on that driver to go out there and finish in that transfer spot, some of the pressure comes back to the crew if it stays green."

ANOTHER PRACTICE MISHAP: A day after a practice crash sent three Winston Cup drivers scrambling to backup cars, Ryan Newman brushed the wall in Turn 2 while in heavy traffic.

Damage to Newman's Dodge wasn't too significant, and he later returned to the track.

"I just got caught three-wide on the high side coming off Turn 2 and I didn't expect it," he said. "The next thing I knew, I was up in the wall."

Jeff Burton, Elliott Sadler and Mike Skinner, involved with Steve Park and rookie Jack Sprague in Tuesday's accident, got their backup cars on the track for the first time. Burton was sixth-fastest in the late practice, turning a lap of 189.278 mph in the draft.

TOYOTA TO TRUCK SERIES: A top NASCAR series will have a foreign automaker next year for the first time in history. Toyota will join the Craftsman Truck Series next season with its Tundra model, skirting NASCAR rules prohibiting foreign automakers by running the program out of its sales division in the United States.

The long-rumored announcement came Wednesday at the Chicago Auto Show, and it's eventually expected to lead to an entry into the Winston Cup Series.

ELLIOTT BOWS OUT: Bill Elliott, voted NASCAR's Most Popular Driver a record 16 times, bowed out of the contest for 2003.

"I've had such a loyal fan base for so many years, it's been incredible," Elliott said. Online voting begins Thursday.

BUSCH POLE: Two familiar Winston Cup faces will start from the front of Saturday's Koolerz 300 for NASCAR's Busch series. Joe Nemechek, driving his own Pontiac, ran a lap at 186.050 mph to take the pole, and Earnhardt took the outside spot in a Chevy.