NASCAR announced Friday a revision to the 2009 Budweiser Shootout format that provides each manufacturer with a "wild card" entry, increasing the size of the field from 24 to 28 cars, highlighting the manufacturers' involvement in NASCAR, and featuring more drivers for fans to support.

The 31st annual season-opening event at Daytona International Speedway will be held on Saturday night, Feb. 7. As was announced last August, the lineup will consist of the top six teams from each manufacturer, based on the final 2008 car owner points. Eligibility is based on owners competing in this event with the same manufacturer as 2008. The new wrinkle calls for each manufacturer to be able to enter a seventh car, or "wild card" entry, based on the following criteria:

• Any owner outside of the top six in year end 2008 owner points whose driver is a past Cup Series champion that attempted to qualify for all 36 of the 2008 events (only one position will be filled per manufacturer and will be based on the most recent past champion per manufacturer).

• If an owner/manufacturer does not have a past champion driver, the next highest eligible owner outside the top six in year end 2008 owner points from each manufacturer will be eligible to compete in the event.

As previously announced, the race distance will be increased from 70 laps to 75 (187.5 miles) on the 2.5-mile tri-oval. The race will have two segments of 25 and 50 laps. Both green- and yellow-flag laps will count.

Between segments, there will be a 10-minute pit stop at which time teams will pit and may elect to change tires, add fuel and make normal chassis adjustments. Crews will be permitted to work on cars and will be allowed to perform functions they would do on a normal pit stop in a regular Cup event. All work must be performed on pit road or in the garage. Changing of springs, shock absorbers or rear-ends will not be permitted.

Starting positions will again be determined by a blind draw, at the annual Budweiser Shootout Draw Party on Thursday night, Feb. 5, on the SPEED stage outside Turn 4.

The Budweiser Shootout -- a non-points event for Cup Series competitors -- was first held in 1979, and originally known as the Busch Clash. Dale Earnhardt Jr. won last year's event.

The lineup
The following is a list of cars eligible for the 2009 Budweiser Shootout. The list is based on 2008 owner points and specifies 2008 team affiliations. Since some of these car numbers may be inactive in 2009, the actual starting field may include cars ranked lower than those in this list. NASCAR also may allow the transfer of owner points from inactive cars on this list to cars not otherwise eligible for the Shootout.

That would me the lineups

Ford- Edwards, Kenseth, Biffle, Ragan, McMurray, Kvapil, Bobby Labonte

Chevy-Johnson, Gordon, Earnhardt, Harvick, Mears, Burton, Tony Stewart

Dodge- Kahne, Sadler, Sorenson, Busch, Stremme, Allmendinger, and now Sam Hornish

Toyota-Hamlin, Logano, Busch, Reutimann, Waltrip, Vickers, and the 22 but the 22 won't run w/o sponsorship so Robby should be next in line.

Am I correct?

Views: 26

Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Jayski is not the only "source" reporting that Robby will run the race in a Dodge. Scene Daily, Fox Sports, among other sources are reporting the same. David Poole even mentions it at ThatsRacin:

http://www.thatsracin.com/242/story/21754.html

Ironically, there are other sources reporting that he will be the wildcard Toyota in... So who really knows?
No parker, No parker,No parker, He grew at Parker racing, They have a house on the strip, and one in Havsue, He can't miss parker. Does any one really known what Parker is besides a reallllllyyyyyy fun place to party. Who can remember thunder alley, Butler Valley, the Goat Trail, ITS PARKER.
Maybe he'll run a Dodge with Toyota as his primary and associate sponsors :-P

Big fat Toyota logos all over the car...
With all the confusion this new rule has caused, I think I will wait until the official entry list is posted for the Shootout. I have read three articles on NASCAR.com (plus heard about all the reports about who's in and what they are driving) and some say Robby will be running a Dodge, some say Toyota like this article from Duane Cross on NASCAR.com:

Bud Shootout: Who's in? Read between the lines
By Duane Cross
January 16, 2009
04:56 PM EST
Here's the skinny on the 2009 Budweiser Shootout (tentatively, of course; this is just an educated guess until the behind-closed-doors maneuvering is complete and the official entry list is filed):

Tony Stewart is in. What, you thought owner/driver Smoke -- in a Chevrolet, no less -- would not be in the first "race" of the year? He'll drive the No. 14 Chevy, formerly the No. 70. (listen)

Bobby Labonte is in. The car owner points for Yates Racing's No. 38 Ford will be moved to Hall of Fame Racing's No. 96, which was a Toyota in 2008. What, you thought "alliance" was something different than "merger"?

Robby Gordon is in. Apparently there was more room at the Toyota Inn for the Dodge defector rather than for Scott Speed's then-No. 84/now-No. 82, which actually was a Toyota in 2008.

Sam Hornish Jr. is in. Benefiting from Gordon's manufacturer switch as well as the contraction of a few cars, ol' Sammy gets to take the green flag in Penske Racing's No. 77 Dodge.

And the Gillett Evernham's No. 10 makes the cut, though no driver has been officially named to fill the seat. (A.J. Allmendinger remains the choice du jour.)

As previously reported, the Shootout format has changed for 2009: The top six teams in owner points from each manufacturer earn berths in the season-opening exhibition race at Daytona. (complete list)

On Friday, two caveats:

• Any owner outside of the top six in year-end owner points whose driver is a past Cup Series champion that attempted to qualify for all 36 races (only one position will be filled per manufacturer and will be based on the most recent past champion per manufacturer).

• If an owner/manufacturer does not have a past champion driver, the next highest eligible owner outside the top six in year-end owner points from each manufacturer will be eligible to compete in the event.

So using the best information available, the lineup looks something like:

Let's call the two newly-instituted caveats the "Tony Stewart Amendment." (Hey, other drivers have been undeservingly thrown under the bus ...)

• 2003: Matt Kenseth clinches the Cup Series championship on, like, Memorial Day. Voilà: The Chase is born.

• 2005-06: Fan faves Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. fail to make the Chase in 2005; Stewart follows in '06. Voilà: The Chase field expands from 10 to 12.

Now Sprint ahead to August 2008: No longer the sponsor of the Coors Light pole award for Cup Series qualifying, Anheuser-Busch influenced changes to the criteria for entry into the Budweiser Shootout. And now, realizing the five-month-old criteria is already out of date (read: economic recession continues to kick Detroit's tailpipe), an Olive Garden branch -- NASCAR's new official branch of goodwill -- is extended to the struggling manufacturers to allow one additional driver per make into the Shootout.

The cynics among us would point to Dec. 19, when General Motors renewed its sponsorship of Daytona International Speedway and the Daytona 500 -- coincidentally the same day President George W. Bush announced the $17.4 billion automobile industry bailout. Certainly no one from Chevrolet asked that its biggest Speedweeks storyline -- Smoke returning in a Bowtie -- be somehow guaranteed a spot in the season's first event ...

In NASCAR's eyes, the automakers and the fans win before the first checkered flag of the season. I guess that's one way of looking at it ... unless you're Scott Speed and just got thrown under the bus.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.
Good find. I couldve seen him in the 2009 "Up Yours GEM" Charger though...
All Black Car, with "Head Strong" on the hood and "I'll Take You On" both sides and "I Did It My Way" on the rear spoiler
Nascar is officially pro-wrestling's first cousin. Whats next a change to the chase allowing all past champions that ran a full schedule in, so smoke won't be discluded. RG and even POS got no favors from nascar when they started their own teams, and here comes smoke and they bend over backwards like he is doing something special.
From Jayski:

Robby to run a Dodge in Shootout: Sirius Speedway spoke to NASCAR representative Ramsey Poston today, and he confirmed that Robby Gordon is approved to run the Budweiser Shootout in a Dodge, before converting to Toyota for the remainder of Speedweek 2009. Gordon ran Dodges last season, but will campaign a Toyota in 2009. Both manufacturers have apparently signed-off on the arrangement. It is difficult to imagine why Dodge would approve of the deal, since it bumps Penske Racing’s Sam Hornish --a full-time Dodge driver in 2009 -- out of the race. The ruling also raises some potentially explosive scenearios. For instance, Chip Ganassi’s #42 car finished 25th in owners points last year, running as a Dodge. Based on Gordon's eligibility, Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing could presumably build a Dodge and put Juan Pablo Montoya into the Shootout, bumping AJ Allmendinger.
Want to bet NASCAR does an adjustment to this rule
Duane Cross, in an article on NASCAR.com, says Robby will drive a Toyota in the shootout:

Robby Gordon is in. Apparently there was more room at the Toyota Inn for the Dodge defector rather than for Scott Speed's then-No. 84/now-No. 82, which actually was a Toyota in 2008.

I really think we're going to need to wait for the official entry list before we really know for sure. Too much speculating going on right now...
We will just have to get Robby to answer this question himself, I am getting mixed signals as well.
I'm just glad nothing about this race looks silly/absurd with wacky NASCAR rule changes. Its important for these races to have an air of integrity, and you can always count on NASCAR to deliver!

RSS

© 2024   Created by TOG.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service