Changes to 2010 Budweiser Shootout Should Remain

December 24th, 2009 | Tags: Motorsports

Filed under: Daytona Int’l Speedway , Sprint Cup There’s no doubt: NASCAR has officially allowed the Budweiser Shootout format to evolve into a confusing mess. The sanctioning body announced a new method of eligibility for the February 2010 edition of the exhibition season-opener at Daytona International Speedway on Wednesday — just 12 months after announcing a new plan for last year’s race. Now, the criteria for eligible drivers falls into one of five categories: 1) a member of the previous year’s Chase for the Sprint Cup 2) a former Budweiser Shootout winner 3) a former winner of a Sprint Cup race at Daytona 4) a past Sprint Cup champion or 5) the last season’s Rookie of the Year winner. The only caveat to all of that is that an eligible driver must have competed in the Sprint Cup Series in the past two seasons. Such a criteria, of course, still allows guys like Derrike Cope, Geoff Bodine, Terry Labonte, Sterling Marlin and Ken Schrader to be eligible for NASCAR’s quasi all-star race — despite having a total race count among them of 14 in 2009. The changes came primarily due to a decreased car count for Dodge in 2010. The manufacturer will now just support three cars in the Sprint Cup Series next season from Penske Racing. As a result, NASCAR’s attempt to draw more manufacturer allegiance into the Budweiser Shootout last season was tossed out the window. NASCAR opted to create a system last year where the top five cars from 2008 in each manufacturer — Chevrolet, Ford, Dodge and Toyota — were eligible for the Shootout. An unintended consequence of the rule originally left former Shootout winner and past series champion Tony Stewart high and dry, but a rule change — dub it the Tony Stewart Rule — allowed him back into the event. These two consecutive years of changes followed on the heels of change to one NASCAR’s longest running and easiest to understand traditions. Prior to a sponsorship flap that gave MillerCoors the rights to the pole award, Anheuser-Busch had originally owned the naming rights to both that and the Shootout — allowing the Budweiser Shootout field to be determined by pole winners from the previous season. It was a nice reward system, really, and created a sense of accomplishment if a driver could go out and an unexpectedly score a pole on Friday a race weekend. But with the competing beer companies involved, such a process wasn’t so rosy anymore — leading to the changes. Now NASCAR has made changes two years in a row and tossed continuity to the curb, albeit forced this time around. But if we’ve learned anything about NASCAR fans, keeping something the way it is — or most importantly the way it was — is nearly always the way to go, with narrow exceptions here and there. A move back to an era where the pole winners competed in the season-opening race would be ideal, but the idea to make the Shootout more of a race that features the all-stars of days past at Daytona seems like the right track to be heading down under the circumstances. Regardless, NASCAR needs to take this plan and just hold on to it. Make more changes certainly isn’t the way to go for next season’s race thanks to this race’s purpose and format already being confusing to an average viewer flipping through the channels on Feb. 6. Fortunately, the 2010 version will feature most if not all of the sport’s biggest names and will still be worth watching once the green flag drops. After all, its hard to not get excited about NASCAR racing at Daytona with a checkered flag on the line. ? Permalink ?|? Email this ?|? Linking?Blogs ?|? Comments

All Sports Events & News