Motor Sports Weekly News

By: Drew Hierwarter

In 1979 NASCAR, together with Anheuser-Busch established the “Busch Clash”. This was a short, non-points paying, but big money race a few days before the Daytona 500. The only drivers eligible to enter this race were those who had won a pole position any time during the previous season. This eventually became a very prestigious and important event that every driver wanted to be a part of.

 It was common during post-qualifying interviews with the pole winner to hear comments like; “This is great, this gets us into the Clash for next year!”

 

From time to time NASCAR has adjusted the format of the race, but except for a name change to the “Bud Shootout”, it has remained basically the same through the years. Until now that is.

For the 2010 Bud Shootout NASCAR has decided to, huh, expand the field somewhat. The new qualification for entry is based on the following criteria among those drivers who have competed in the Cup Series within the past two seasons:

• The 12 drivers that qualified for the 2009 Chase
• Past Cup Series champions
• Past Budweiser Shootout champions
• Past Daytona points race winners
• The reigning rookie of the year

The race distance will still be 75 laps run in segments of 25 and 50 laps. All caution laps will count. Between segments there will be a 10-minute pit stop for teams to change tires, add fuel and make normal chassis adjustments.

Robin Pemberton, NASCAR’s Vice President of Competition made the following statement; “We’re always looking at ways to make this event bigger and better for our fans and we believe the new format for the Budweiser Shootout puts together an exceptionally strong lineup of our top drivers. In our discussions with the track, we thought by placing an additional emphasis on the drivers who had performed well at Daytona over the years would create an even more compelling element for the fans to get excited about at the beginning of the season.”

Starting positions will again be determined by a blind-draw and the 32nd annual season-opening event will once again launch Speedweeks at Daytona this coming February 6^th with the green flag set for 8:10 p.m. Eastern time.

Here is the list of drivers who are eligible for this year’s “Bud Shootout”:

John Andretti,          July race winner

Greg Biffle,              2009 Chase

Geoff Bodine,          Daytona 500, Shootout winner

Jeff Burton,              July race winner

Kurt Busch,              2009 Chase

Kyle Busch,              July race winner

Derrike Cope,         Daytona 500 winner

Dale Earnhardt Jr.,    Daytona 500, July race, Shootout winner

Carl Edwards,           2009 Chase

Bill Elliott,                Series champion, Daytona 500, July race, Shootout winner

Jeff Gordon,              2009 Chase

Denny Hamlin,          2009 Chase

Kevin Harvick,          Daytona 500, Shootout winner

Jimmie Johnson,        2009 Chase

Kasey Kahne,            2009 Chase

Matt Kenseth,           Series champion, Daytona 500 winner

Bobby Labonte,         Series champion

Terry Labonte,          Series champion, Shootout winner

Joey Logano,             Reigning Raybestos rookie of the year

Sterling Marlin,          Daytona 500, July race winner

Mark Martin,             2009 Chase

Jamie McMurray,       July race winner

Juan Montoya,           2009 Chase

Ryan Newman,          2009 Chase

Ken Schrader,            Shootout winner

Tony Stewart,            2009 Chase

Brian Vickers,            2009 Chase

Michael Waltrip,        Daytona 500, July race winner

 

Several of the drivers on the eligibility list have not been competing in the Cup Series on anything resembling a regular basis in recent seasons. For example, Ken Schrader’s last Cup race was Phoenix in 2008. (He failed to qualify for the Homestead race that year) Sterling Marlin only ran seven races in 2009, and while Derrick Cope attempted to qualify seven times last year the only race he made was Martinsville in the fall where he started last and did a “start and park”, withdrawing from the race after only 31 laps.

As always, your comments are welcomed. Do you like this change? Should it go back to just Pole winners? How would you do it?