DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Dale Jarrett was less than pleased with his sixth-place finish in Sunday's Budweiser Shootout.
Tony Stewart won the 70-lap, made-for-TV event in a Pontiac, beating the Chevrolets of Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon. Ken Schrader's Pontiac was fourth, followed by Sterling Marlin's Dodge.
Jarrett had the first Ford, nearly 4 seconds behind Stewart.
"We're usually a contender here for this, and we weren't even hardly in the race," Jarrett said. "We ran good and made some passes, but most of the cars I passed were Fords."
NASCAR responded to the complaints of Jarrett and other Ford drivers later Sunday, announcing a rule change that shortens the Ford rear spoilers by a quarter-inch. The new rule goes into effect Tuesday, a day after the final round of qualifying, and will be in place for Thursday's twin 125-mile qualifying races.
"That should help because we've known all along that the biggest problem area we have is too much drag," Jarrett said after the announcement. "I hope this does the trick and I applaud NASCAR for realizing that we had a need and for taking the initiative to make a change.
"This should give us a chance in the Daytona 500."
Kurt Busch, who gained the pole for the shootout in a blind draw Thursday, led the first three laps in a Ford, and Rusty Wallace's Ford led four laps after a fast pit stop put him several seconds ahead.
That was it for Ford.