February 18, 2012
By Donalde z Smith
Yeah, NASCAR racing is right around the corner! NASCAR Race Mom cannot wait for the fast pace sports entertainment to begin.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup begins each season with the Budweiser Shootout. The Shootout, held the weekend before the Daytona 500, is a non-points race that never fails to generate a lot of excitement.
The Shootout is held on the two and a half mile tri-oval of the Daytona International Speedway. It features thirty-one degrees of banking in the turns and eighteen degrees of banking in the front tri-oval.
The Budweiser Shootout will run 187.5 miles in two segments. A 25-lap segment will start the race. Then there will be a ten-minute intermission. The teams will be allowed to do any work that would normally be done during a pit stop.
The final 50 laps will be a mad dash for the checkered flag and a chance to be part of NASCAR History.
The Budweiser Shootout was first held in 1979 and was originally known as the Busch Clash. It has morphed through infinite formats. Until 1990, the race was a standard twenty-lap format. From 1991 until 1994, a half-time break was added to break up the twenty laps. The years of 1995, 1996, and 1997, offered a stimulating twist, where the last half of the race was started with the field inverted. Between 1998 and 2000, the race increase to twenty-five laps.
In 2001 and 2002, the Budweiser Shootout expanded to a seventy-lap race featuring pole winners and past Budweiser Shootout champions. In 2003, the race was first held under the lights and until 2008, the race featured a halftime break after the first twenty laps.
The last four years of the Budweiser Shootout contained changes every year. This makes it unclear as to who is allowed to participate in the shootout. Not all Sprint Cup drivers qualify for this special event.
In 2009, the race was expanded to 75 laps. The top-six drivers in owner’s points from each manufacturer earned a starting berth. In addition, each manufacturer was able to enter a wild card driver. (28 driver field)
In 2010, the field was made up of the twelve drivers who qualified for the previous year’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, past NASCAR Sprint Cup champions, past Budweiser Shootout champions, past Daytona 500 and Coke Zero 400 champions, and the reigning Rookie of the Year. (24 driver field)
Last year, the field was made up of the 12 drivers who qualified for the previous year’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, past NASCAR Sprint Cup champions, past Budweiser Shootout champions, past Daytona 500 and Coke Zero 400 champions, & the Rookies of the Year for the last 10 years. (24 driver field)
Are you confused yet? No? Okay here is the 2012 Budweiser Shootout driver entry criteria:
The highest ranked 25 competitors in 2011 Driver Points.
Previous winners at Daytona, including the Daytona 500, Coke Zero 400 Powered By Coca-Cola, and Budweiser Shootout events.
“By taking the top 25 competitors in last year’s driver points and combine that with former race winners at Daytona, you have all the ingredients for an extremely deep and talented field of drivers for the 2012 Budweiser Shootout,” said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR vice president of competition. “When you take a look at the roster of drivers that this entails, I have to believe this is one of the most competitive fields that have ever been assembled for this event.”
Drivers eligible for the 2012 Budweiser Shootout include:
2011 Top 25 Driver Points
Tony Stewart
Carl Edwards
Kevin Harvick
Matt Kenseth
Brad Keselowski
Jimmie Johnson
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Jeff Gordon
Denny Hamlin
Ryan Newman
Kurt Busch
Kyle Busch
Clint Bowyer
Kasey Kahne
A.J. Allmendinger
Greg Biffle
Paul Menard
Martin Truex Jr.
Marcos Ambrose
Jeff Burton
Juan Pablo Montoya
Mark Martin
David Ragan
Joey Logano
Brian Vickers
Others (criteria in parentheses)
Bill Elliott (Daytona 500, Coke Zero 400, Budweiser Shootout)
Geoff Bodine (Daytona 500, Budweiser Shootout)
Derrike Cope (Daytona 500)
Michael Waltrip (Daytona 500, Coke Zero 400)
Jamie McMurray (Daytona 500, Coke Zero 400)
Trevor Bayne (Daytona 500)
Terry Labonte (Budweiser Shootout)
Ken Schrader (Budweiser Shootout)
If they all participated, the field would be “deep” with thirty-three drivers! It will be most interesting to see if this year’s defending Budweiser Shootout champion, Kurt Busch, will be able to shed his bad luck and win the shootout for a second year in a row.
NASCAR Race Mom misses the format where only the pole winners from the previous season and past Budweiser Shootout champions would race each other. That format insured that the race was truly a Shootout with an exclusive field of the fastest drivers available. Current qualifying criteria make the race more like a regular Sprint Cup Race. How about we return to inverting the field at the break – now that would make for an electrifying fifty-lap dash to the prize!
The 34th annual season-opening event launches Speedweeks at the Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, Feb. 18 (tonight) with start time set for 8:10 p.m. FOX Sports and MRN Radio will broadcast live nationally. Starting positions were again determined by a blind-draw at the annual Budweiser Shootout Draw Party on Friday, Feb. 17 (last night) at 8 p.m. on the SPEED stage in the Midway, outside Turn 4.
If you would like to learn more about Donalde z Smith, please check out her web site at NASCAR Race Mom.
You can contact Donalde z Smith at .. Insider Racing News
The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.
