Nascar Returns with Bud Shootout Tonight
It was a quiet off-season on the track as testing was banned at Nascar sanctioned tracks in an attempt to save money during these difficult economic times. It seems pointless to not let teams test at sanctioned tracks, but still let them test at non-sanctioned tracks. Teams will still test, but since they are on tracks that they are not going to race on with tires they are not going to use they are probably not saving much money, but getting information that is less helpful than in year’s past. I do not want to talk about the economy or the inane testing policies at this time though. I want to talk about the return to racing which begins tonight with the Budweiser Shootout at Daytona. It is an exhibition race and the rules have becoming increasingly convoluted this year, but it is still racing. If you are interested in reading the rules for entry in the Bud Shootout or really any other rules or Nascar news I would recommend reading Jayski. I am still relatively new to Nascar as this is my third year watching Nascar. If you are reluctant to watch Nascar I can certainly relate. I never imagined I would watch Nascar, but now I am hooked. It is really exciting. The Bud shootout is a shorter race so if you are not sure if you are willing to commit to watching racing on a regular basis this is a good test to see if it is something that might interest you. Try to keep an open mind.
There are some things that annoy me about Nascar, but for the most part I have learned to appreciate what makes it great while trying to ignore its many faults. A good example of something annoying that Nascar did is the change of the format for the Bud Shootout. It used to be that anyone who won the pole in qualifying was automatically entered in the Bud Shootout for the next year. Budweiser sponsored the pole award and the shootout. Well last year Nascar sold the rights to the pole award to Coors, but kept Bud as the sponsor of the Shootout. This caused them to change the eligibility for the Shootout to the top six drivers from each of the four manufacturers, which ruins the whole point of the race. The race was a short race between all of the fastest qualifiers from the previous year. Sure Daytona qualifying has little or nothing to do with the driver anyway due to the restrictor plates, but the new format makes even less sense. The Shootout is tonight at eight pm on Fox.
Daytona 500 qualifying is tomorrow on Fox at 1:00 PM. Qualifying for the Daytona 500 is different from the qualifying for any other race. Only the top two qualifying positions are locked in after qualifying and for the most part it is used to determine the order of the field for the two races on Thursday known as the Duels. The Duels or Duel 150’s are two shorter races which determine the starting order for the Daytona 500 for the spots other than the top 2. Really it is about as complicated as the tax laws are so I would not worry too much about all of these details at first. Just watch the races and enjoy them. The qualifying for the Daytona 500 is pretty boring as the restrictor plates make it so all the drivers are driving at full throttle during qualifying. The duels are exciting though particularly for those who are trying to make the field and are not locked in already. If you want more details about qualifying for the Daytona 500, the duels, the shootout or any other races I would again recommend Jayski. I will not even start about the top 35 rule for those who are locked into the race automatically or who makes the race if qualifying is rained out although all of that stuff is available in great detail on Jayski’s site. Nascar seems to make even the simplest things extremely complicated and it can be frustrating at times, but ultimately if you do not take it too seriously it is a good time. Even if you do let it bother you it is still worth it in the end. This is an especially difficult year for Nascar as the current economic conditions have hit Nascar harder than many sports. Nascar teams require millions of dollars in sponsor money in order to be competitive and unfortunately many of the teams are having trouble getting sponsorships this year. Hopefully most of the teams can make it through this difficult year and the economy will rebound somewhat next year.
The Daytona 500 will be Sunday February 15th on Fox and it should be great as always. Unlike most sports Nascar’s biggest race is the first one of the year. The restrictor plate racing is unlike anything else you will see. It may be a bit of a gimmick in that it artificially provides close racing and thus close finishes, but artificial or not it is still exciting as it usually is not decided until the final lap. There are three other restrictor plate races during the year out of a total of 36 races so success in the Daytona 500 does not really predict success the rest of the year. Ryan Newman won the 500 last year, but his team was not too successful the rest of the year. I predict Newman’s new teammate and car owner Tony Stewart will win his first Daytona 500, but will miss out on the Chase for the Sprint Cup. It may seem unrealistic to win your first race as a driver/owner, but I would not put it past Stewart. It will be funny if he does win as expectations will go sky high for his team as everyone tries to project the rest of the season based on the results of the 500. Last year people were talking about how Newman and his teammate Kurt Busch would do great after the 500, but the rest of the schedule is so much different than the 500. Of the first few races the best example of a track where success will predict a strong season is the third race in Las Vegas.
Everyone is picking Carl Edwards to win the championship this year and I tend to agree with that pick, although there may be a few surprises. Some drivers other than Edwards and three time defending champion Jimmie Johnson, who were great at times last year are Kyle Busch and Greg Biffle. Matt Kenseth and Jeff Gordon struggled last year, but may bounce back. David Ragan and Brian Vickers improved greatly last year and figure to get even better this year. It will also be interesting to see how some of the new mergers will work out. Martin Truex and Juan Pablo Montoya did not live up to expectations last year, but with their teams combining can they live up to their potential or will the new Earnhardt Ganassi Racing struggle as much together as they did apart last year? Scott Speed and Joey Logano figure to be better by miles than any of the rookies from last year and it will be interesting to see who wins the rookie of the year. You would think it would be Logano as he is the Lebron James of Nascar, the most hyped rookie in years, thus the nickname sliced bread. Speed is a confident young driver as well, who impressed last year in the Nascar Truck Series and the Arca Series as well. So there are plenty of storylines to follow other than who will win the Daytona 500 and the championship.
If you watch the Daytona 500 from start to finish and have no interest after that than maybe Nascar is not for you, but most likely you will be hooked as I was after the first race and once you pick a favorite driver there will be no turning back. Try to stick with your favorite driver though at least for the first year. If your initial choice is an obvious error such as you picked Kyle Busch only to realize you find him obnoxious or you picked someone who lost his ride and left the series by all means pick someone new, but ultimately it is more enjoyable if you pick a favorite and stick with him. When I first started watching I picked a rookie driver as my favorite driver. It seemed that it would be more enjoyable if you followed a driver from the beginning of his Nascar career. He is still my favorite driver although I also have other drivers I cheer for if he does not win.
There are many websites which will help you keep up with what is going on in the Nascar world other than Jayski, which is also a great place to read Nascar rumors, they include but are not limited to ESPN, Sports Illustrated, the Frontstretch, and Fox Sports. On some of these sites the comments and message boards tend to skew negative. Some of the fans and columnists love to lament how Nascar is not what it used to be. It may be true in some areas, but there were times years ago where the winner would be the only car on the lead lap. Although it is dominated by a few super teams it is more competitive than it used to be years ago. Also the television coverage is far superior although a few of the announcers are annoying. I won’t mention any names as they are more than capable of promoting themselves, one in particular more than the others. Some of the announcers are more cheerleaders than announcers, but as is the case with the comments and message boards you will eventually learn where you fall in comparison to the cheerleaders and the Debbie or Donnie downers of the world. I am somewhere in between. I am aware of the faults of the sport, but the positives outweigh the negatives. I picked the winner of the Daytona 500, Tony Stewart, and the 2009 champion, Carl Edwards, but I forgot to pick the Bud Shootout winner. I think Jeff Gordon will be out to prove that last year is a fluke and will win the Shootout tonight. It probably would have made sense to reverse my picks in the Shootout and the 500, but enough with the talking let’s go racing.
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=6e69faed-4476-4410-8b42-5e15ac72fa8a "Nascar Returns with Bud Shootout Tonight")
Stumble Upon
Del.icio.us
Buzz
