[The General]

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- The Sprint Cup Series officially returns to the track as events leading to Saturday night's traditional Budweiser Shootout at Daytona grow in significance, with a few twists.

This week, everything builds to Saturday's Budweiser Shootout -- the non-points precursor to the season-opening Daytona 500 on Feb. 14.

NASCAR announced changes last year to the event's lineup format that emphasizes top performers from the previous season, plus drivers who have excelled at Daytona.

The Budweiser Shootout field now includes a collection of the sport's top drivers and top performers at Daytona. Below is the new criteria, with eligibility dependent on drivers having competed in the Cup Series during 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 Budweiser Shootout will be run in two segments, the first at 25 laps and the second a 50-lap sprint for the win. That's 187.5 miles on the track's high-banked, 2.5-mile layout.

Following the first segment, a 10-minute "pit stop" gives crews the opportunity to make normal adjustments to their cars. That means tweaks they would do on a normal pit stop during a regular Cup Series event.

• All work must be done on pit road or in the garage.
• Teams may not change springs, shocks or rear-ends.
• All green- and yellow-flag laps in both segments will count.

Following the 10-minute "pit stop", the event's second segment remains a 50-lap sprint for the win.

Daytona 500 qualifying will begin at 1:05 p.m. ET Saturday before the Budweiser Shootout.

2010 Budweiser Shootout
Eligible drivers

Driver Filled Criteria

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


http://www.nascar.com/2010/news/head...ona/index.html

[Busterflywheel]

Great info...THX I cant wait..I went to 500 in 2005 and I'll never forget the vibe in Daytona Beach...

[your pixel army]

The previous qualifications for the shootout were dumb (top 6 each make + "wildcard"? lol)

But this is sad.

• The 12 drivers that qualified for the 2009 Chase (OK with this)
• Past Cup Series champions (Seriously? Put a time limit on this. 5 years max)
• Past Budweiser Shootout champions (Same. 5 years max)
• Past Daytona points race winners (Get this out of here)
• The reigning rookie of the year (OK with this)

The old format was great when it was just pole winners. Just because Nascar can create some formula to get 75% of the drivers in once race, doesn't mean they should.

If they need more cars than just pole winners and past champions, try something like this:
* Chase drivers from previous year
* Past Budweiser Shootout Champions (5 years)
* Past Cup Series Champs (5 years)
* Rookie of the Year
* Pole Winners from previous year

At least the drivers would have had to have done something of significance in recent memory.

[your pixel army]

Hm. It only took one day for Hamlin to start wrecking people.

[golfrulz]

thx for the info general.

[sharpmoney]

Too bad the shootout couldn't be a bit longer.

[Wrigley]

The shootout got me in the mood for racing what a wreck on lap 74

[The General]

It was good IMO. I thought the drivers showed good control and good racing.

[BigOrangeTitans]

good race