Posts tagged BudweiserShootout at FanHouse

I wrote the other day about how much I disliked the new format NASCAR is going with for the season-opening Budweiser Shootout in 2009 at Daytona, mainly because of the qualification procedure.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. hates the new format for a completely different reason, though:

"I don't know what the extra five laps are for," he said Friday at Auto Club Speedway, site of Sunday's Pepsi 500 Sprint Cup race. "What the heck? They [NASCAR] don't get it. They messed up The Winston, the all-star race, and they're messing up the Shootout.

"They ought to line us up, make us run 10 laps. They want us to run around there for 25 first and have a 25-lap segment? That'd be cool. But 10 laps to go, all or nothing - that's what the fans want, that's what the drivers want.

"The last segment being 50 laps? We're just going to sit there for 30. I just don't get it. They don't get it. I don't understand. I don't know what the focus group is they're talking to to get these formats.

"It's frustrating because I want to like running those races. I don't want to dread them, but right now I'm dreading running them because the formats are no fun."

If Earnhardt Jr. was aiming for a scathing critique of the format, then he was spot on. And can you blame the guy?

For years and years and years, winning a pole in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series meant a whole lot more than getting to start out front for that specific race, or getting first selection of a pit stall.

Now, because of NASCAR's fumbling of sponsorship contracts, it means a whole lot less.

Winning a pole in the Sprint Cup Series in the previous season meant a driver was guaranteed a spot in the next season's opening event, the Budwieser Shootout at Daytona. The race is an exhibition of sorts that serves as a great tune-up to the coming NASCAR season a week in advance of the Daytona 500.

The race will still exist in 2009, but the format has changed the qualifying procedures have turned the event more into a showcase for sponsors instead of an underdog team that might have snuck into the race with a pole win in the previous season.

NASCAR announced the format change on Tuesday, and the specifics of the race include lengthening it by 5 laps to 75 laps and giving teams a 10-minute break after lap 25. The qualfying procedure, though, is what ticks me off.

Check out all of the NASCAR Fanhouse Daytona Speedweeks Coverage.

I literally laughed in the middle of hotel lobby when I read today the penalties exacted on Kurt Busch and Tony Stewart for their antics last Friday night during Budweiser Shootout practice.

And yes, the girl behind the Starbucks counter gave me a weird look.

Probation was the name of the game for the two former champions who got into an arguing match with two 3,500lb race cars Friday night. Who cares if the actions have cost drivers points and fines in the past, for NASCAR is set about making NASCAR more user-friendly to people who like controversy.

Step one in that process is apparently slapping the weakest penalty known to man on the two drivers who consistently find themselves on the wrong side of NASCAR's ire.

Yep, Stewart and Busch earned a six-race probation for their antics. Nope, not a suspension. Not a fine. No community service. And nope, no points deductions either.

Probation.

We're talking about probation, man!

Check out all of the NASCAR Fanhouse Daytona Speedweeks Coverage.

A major highlight of Saturday night's Budweiser Shootout wasn't the passes for the lead or Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s first victory with his new team.

Rather, it was Kurt Busch's impressive near-save after getting loose heading in to turn 3 that stood out as one of the best driving moves of the night. I'll let the video do the talking, but the coolest part was that Busch didn't actually spin out until exiting turn four and avoided creating a major pile-up late in the race.

See for yourself at the 0:36 second mark.



Awesome.

Check out all of the NASCAR Fanhouse Daytona Speedweeks Coverage.

Casey Mears can now add his name to the list as a candidate for penalties either this week or next from NASCAR due to rules infractions.

The Hendrick Motorsports driver competing in his first race Saturday night as driver of the No. 5 Kelloggs Chevrolet formerly piloted by Kyle Busch finished a strong sixth in the Budweiser Shootout. After his car went through inspection though, the mood changed a little bit for the team.

NASCAR found the No. 5 Chevy to be one-eighth of an inch too low in the rear, adding him to the tentative penalty box now filled by Mears, Kurt Busch & Tony Stewart (bumping and punching during Friday night's Shootout practice), and Robby Gordon (came to Daytona with the wrong Dodge nose on the car).

Mears' new teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the event.

Crew chief Alan Gustafson seemed quite perplexed by the finding.

"I don't think our adjustments were unreasonable, so I'm real surprised," Gustafson said. "It's the first time we ran the car here. We're trying to learn it and figure out what's going to happen. ... We'll collect all the pieces together and figure out what went on."

I don't know that you can really fault Mears' team here, nor would it be appropriate to lump this lapse in with last year's Hendrick penalties and the laundry list of bad deeds committed by Jimmie Johnson's crew chief Chad Knaus.

Could one-eighth of an inch make a difference? Possibly. Should it really matter to a driver who finished sixth in a non-points race? I don't think so.

Check out all of the NASCAR Fanhouse Daytona Speedweeks coverage.

Say what you will, but it's been a long time since some of the top finishers in a race at Daytona for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series have raced cars that were as adaptable to other tracks as the ones that raced Saturday night.

The Budweiser Shootout, won by Hendrick Motorsports newcomer Dale Earnhardt Jr. in his first race with the team, had a majority of its news made the night before when a big wreck in practice forced many top contenders to backup cars for the money-only event.

Hendrick's Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson and Penske Racing's Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch all needed new cars for the event after separate Friday evening practice incidents. Because of the enormity of next Sunday's Daytona 500 and the amount of track time cars get leading up to it, none of those teams wanted to use the backup cars available for that race.

So instead, a "911 call" as Jimmie Johnson put it, went out to the teams nearly before the drivers had stopped colliding with the wall and each other Friday night to the race shops in suburban Charlotte, N.C. to summon in every able-bodied worker available.

It worked, and by Saturday morning, each team had a new car from the shop prepped, shined, and ready to race in that night's Shootout. And don't forget the fact that those cars were trucked from Charlotte to Daytona in that time, as well.

For Jeff Gordon, his car came from the garage floor, just months removed from winning at Darlington Raceway. Johnson's car? It was the winning car at the 3/4-mile Richmond International Raceway last spring.

Check out all of the NASCAR Fanhouse Daytona Speedweeks Coverage.
Despite the crashes, slams, punches and harsh words that prefaced Saturday night's 30th-running of the Budweiser Shootout at Daytona International Raceway, two things made themselves very clear.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. will have no troubles with his switch to Hendrick Motorsports and the next-generation race car put on one heckuva show.

Earnhardt Jr. led 47 laps en route to his win, holding off Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and a surprisingly strong Reed Sorenson.

"The shootout is a neat race. Those last few laps I got some great help from my teammates and that was awesome," said Earnhardt Jr. "I'm so happy. It's my new team, in victory lane. It don't get no better."

Junior led the field at the white flag with Stewart on his tail. When the field found the start/finish line for the final time, the No. 88 led a pack of two by two cars, scoring a convincing win in his first ride with the National Guard and AMP as sponsors on board.

Check out all of the NASCAR Fanhouse Daytona Speedweeks Coverage.

Friday night's Budweiser Shootout practice at Daytona International Speedway was action-packed, but what happened off the track may be a bigger story.

Tony Stewart, according to multiple sources, punched fellow driver Kurt Busch in front of NASCAR officials in the NASCAR hauler.

The two had been involved in an on-track incident that saw Stewart send Busch's No. 2 in to the wall coming in to turn 3, and then Busch retaliated with several door slams before coming to pit road.

From The Charlotte Observer's Jim Utter:

A meeting in the NASCAR hauler Friday night after an on-track incident between driver Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch ended abruptly when Stewart allegedly struck Busch in the presence of NASCAR officials and left the hauler, four sources with knowledge of the incident told The Charlotte Observer and ThatsRacin.com.

The physical altercation was the reason NASCAR vice president Jim Hunter told a gathering of media outside the hauler Saturday evening that another conversation with the two drivers would be held Saturday morning, the sources said.

Four sources generally means that something happened, and when they call confirm the same thing, well, I think you get my point.

NASCAR has talked about letting the drivers be themselves this season, but I do think they've already made a mistake in not making Kurt Busch and the rest of the field fully realize that using a car as a weapon is not a good idea. Fines and probation don't do that.

As for Stewart, if he really did punch Busch, that is simply unacceptable and is way over the line of "showing emotion".

I have a feeling this story isn't quite finished yet.

Check out all of the NASCAR Fanhouse Daytona Speedweeks Coverage.

What: Budweiser Shootout (non-points event for 2007 pole winners and former Shootout champions)

Where: Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, FL

When: Saturday Night, 8:30pm/ET FOX

Distance: 70 laps or 175 miles (20 laps, 10-minute intermission, 50 laps)

Weather: Saturday night, Clear, Low 53 Degrees

Pole Winner: Kurt Busch (based on qualifying draw, will start at rear of field in backup car)

2007 Champion: Tony Stewart

Prediction: Keep Reading!

Etc: The 2008 version of the Budweiser Shootout promises to be quite exciting Saturday night especially after the incidents during Friday night's practice sessions for the non-points race. Stars Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch will find themselves starting from the rear of the field after tearing up equipment during separate practice crashes for an event that might see its last running.

The first crash occurred in turn 3 after Clint Bowyer and Newman made contact, causing Newman to slide sideways before coming up the track and collecting others. Kurt Busch and Tony Stewart were there own worst enemies later in the session after tangling on-track and then on pit road. Both were summoned to the NASCAR hauler for a meeting with officials.

And yes, this is the very first race of the 2008 season.

Check out all of the NASCAR Fanhouse Daytona Speedweeks Coverage.

This really is going to be a crazy Daytona Speedweeks.

Hours after strapping into their cars for the first time that it mattered in 2008, Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch had already managed to get in each other's way again.

Props to Jayski (again!) for providing on-the-spot coverage of Budweiser Shootout practice:

A second incident happened midway through the session when #20-Stewart squeezed up beside #2-Busch on the backstretch. Busch caught the front of Stewart's car and was knocked up into the wall. Stewart came down the track and made minor contact with teammate #11-Hamlin. Busch then bumped Stewart's car as they were both headed back to pit road. Busch and Stewart were both called to the NASCAR trailer after the incident.

I would imagine NASCAR hasn't exactly forgotten the follies that the two drivers had in 2007, mainly in June at Dover. In case you did, here's what happened. And don't forget what happened last February when the two were dominating the field in the 49th Daytona 500 with less than 50 laps to go.

The two drivers, of course, are no strangers to the angry ire of NASCAR.

First impressions are everything, and from the looks of it, Stewart and Busch are trying to make sure they cement their status as the bad boys of NASCAR.

This truly, though, will be the first test of the new NASCAR idea announced by CEO Brian France in January that the sanctioning body wanted drivers to express themselves more to show their true character.

Will it be quieted before the season even begins?