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NASCAR Preview: Budweiser Shootoutby Brett Baldeck ~ February 5th, 2007. Filed under: Racing Wire. |
In less than a week, NASCAR will return to Daytona for 2007 Speedweeks and prepare for the upcoming Daytona 500. But before the Nextel Cup Series can be let loose to practice for the big race, some drivers will be focusing on the Budweiser Shootout.
The Bud Shootout is a non-points race held a week before the Daytona 500. Bud Pole Winners from the past season, and past winners of the Bud Shootout, are invited to take part in a 70 lap shootout. The winner of the race has bragging rights, and gets a pretty nice chuck of cash as well.
As we saw in the 2006 Bud Shootout, anyone can win. Last year we saw rookie Denny Hamlin come from no where to take the win, which helped him gain popularity and momentum for the rest of the 2006 season. Personally, I love the Bud Shootout. Since it is a non-points race, drivers can push their cars to the limits. The racing is always good and it is also held under the lights of Daytona International Speedway. It also gives us a nice preview of what the Daytona 500 might be like.
Now, qualifying for this event is also like no other. Instead of drivers going out on the track one by one to see who is fastest, the field is determined by playing a game. A computer shuffles the starting positions on a screen and the driver who has good reflexes presses a button when they think they are near the starting position they want. The difficult thing is sometimes the drivers go for the first starting spot, but if your too slow at hitting the button you may start last. This year the Bud Shootout drawing show can be seen on SPEED Channel.
Now for my predictions of what will happen in this years Budweiser Shootout. Expect the excitement to be the same, but the bumping to be less until the last few laps. You may remember as a result of last years Bud Shootout, NASCAR made some changes about bump drafting. Hopefully this year the race will be run under the lights and the rain will stay away, unlike last years event. I think that Denny Hamlin will take the win again this year. He obviously knows his way to the front since he is the defending winner. You can catch the Budweiser Shootout this Saturday beginning at 8:00 PM Eastern Time On FOX.
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Brett Baldeck
Owner - RacingWire
www.geocities.com/nascar_zone24
