Yes, there are sports events going on this weekend other than the Super Bowl, and that includes the return of NASCAR with the Bud Shootout. It’s a non-points race, but it officially kicks off NASCAR season, with the season-opening Daytona 500 coming next Sunday.
From 1979 until 2008, pole winners from the previous season made up the Shootout field. Last year, each manufacturer sent its top six cars. Because Dodge will field only three cars this year, the Speedway and NASCAR changed the Shootout rules again to create a more star-studded field. Here is how the field was determined for Saturday night’s race in Daytona:
* The 12 drivers who qualified for the previous year’s Chase for the Championship
* Past NASCAR Sprint Cup champions
* Past Budweiser Shootout champions
* Past Daytona 500 and Coke Zero 400 champions
* The reigning Rookie of the Year
The race distance will continue to be 75 laps (187.5 miles) on the 2.5-mile tri-oval. The race will have two segments, of 25 and 50 laps. Both green- and yellow-flag laps will count. Between segments, there will be a 10-minute pit stop at which time teams will pit and may elect to change tires, add fuel and make normal chassis adjustments.
Mark Martin, who has 40 career Cup victories, had raced in the event every year since 1989 until missing it last year. He won it in 1999.
Kevin Harvick won this race last year and then didn’t win a single race during the NASCAR season. He and Carl Edwards start Saturday on the front row. The winner of this race, however, has started outside of the top 10 in 11 of the past 14 Shootouts. In the 31 year history of the race, only five drivers have managed to win the Shootout and 500, the last coming in 2000 with Dale Jarrett.
Five of 24 teams in the race are already using backup cars after two crashes Thursday. NASCAR eased its rules prohibiting bump-drafting at Daytona, which likely will mean more crashes.
This race can be an advantage for next week’s Daytona 500. With no preseason testing at Daytona for the second straight year, drivers and teams have not tested their restrictor-plate cars and have not raced them since October at Talladega. There is also little track time between Daytona 500 qualifying Saturday and the 150-mile qualifying races on Thursday, giving drivers and teams in the Shootout an advantage going into next week.
Here is the lineup for the Shootout:
1. (99) Carl Edwards, Ford.
2. (29) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet.
3. (83) Brian Vickers, Toyota.
4. (39) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet.
5. (16) Greg Biffle, Ford.
6. (5) Mark Martin, Chevrolet.
7. (31) Jeff Burton, Chevrolet.
8. (17) Matt Kenseth, Ford.
9. (1) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet.
10. (34) John Andretti, Ford.
11. (88) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet.
12. (71) Bobby Labonte, Chevrolet.
13. (14) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet.
14. (82) Ken Schrader, Toyota.
15. (51) Michael Waltrip, Toyota.
16. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet.
17. (18) Kyle Busch, Toyota.
18. (75) Derrike Cope, Dodge.
19. (9) Kasey Kahne, Ford.
20. (42) Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet.
21. (20) Joey Logano, Toyota.
22. (2) Kurt Busch, Dodge.
23. (24) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet.
24. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota.
Here is how last year’s race ended:
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