Several hours before the start of yesterday's race, NASCAR officials and drivers met to lay out the rules and welcome a special guest. Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani wished good luck to the 43 drivers in the back of the room. He then said he had "profound respect and admiration" for the men and women of the military.

"We realize that we are able to have this race," Giuliani said, "because you are willing to put your lives at risk and protect us."

Soon after, he lowered his head as NASCAR's chaplain led the room in prayer.

As campaign events go, Giuliani's appearance yesterday was fairly low-key. He inspected the cars, chatted up a few drivers and rode the official pace car around the track for two laps.

When he stepped up to the podium behind the starting line, he received a respectful but lukewarm applause. Many of the 101,000 fans who crammed onto the bleachers were still filing into the speedway. He repeated a few of the lines he said to the drivers hours earlier, including a point about how much better it was to see the race live than on television. He did not make a direct pitch for support or even mention that he was running for the Republican presidential nomination.

"Politics don't belong on the racetrack," said Dan Truesdale, from West Springfield, Mass. "I'm glad he just came out to say hello, and to say, 'Enjoy the race.' "

Among fans, Giuliani enjoyed widespread recognition as the face of New York after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. But few fans said they knew much else about him, and some questioned whether his visibility during a time of crisis was enough to qualify him to be president.

"We know what he was doing during 9/11," said Jancy Hanscom of Gray, Maine. "But I don't know what he is going do to try to get elected beyond supporting President Bush in the war."

Hanscom and her husband said health care and border security were the most important issues for them. They said that they knew little of Giuliani's domestic agenda.

Speaking to reporters, Giuliani focused on his support for an aggressive approach to terrorism, an argument he used to support the American invasion of Iraq.

"For me, the Iraq war was about removing a pillar of Islamic terrorism, Saddam Hussein," he said. "Iraq, in the present condition that it is in, cannot offer the kind of support to Islamic terrorism that it could in the past."

Fans seemed more patriotic than partisan, with many saying they were not concerned with politics. Several people said they had friends or family fighting in Iraq. Before the start of the race, a jet from the New Hampshire Air National Guard in Portsmouth swooped low in the sky.

Amid a sea of people wearing dark, mirrored glasses, earplugs, and blue jeans, Giuliani looked out of place in his navy sports jacket and yellow striped tie. During the singing of the National Anthem by a Coast Guard reservist, he held his hand tightly over his heart while standing with drivers and crew who joked and laughed.

Even though Giuliani did little overt stumping at the track, plenty of fans were ready to offer an opinion about his candidacy.

"Based on character, I would rather see John McCain," said Bill Frey, a Navy veteran who volunteered from his Massachussetts Coast Guard base on Sept. 11 to help in New York. "He can't let this crisis be the whole focal point of who he is."

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