2010 Budweiser Shootout Field
By Sheri Vegas on Feb 4, 2010 in Motorsports, Nascar Sprint Cup, Racing
24 cars will line-up on the starting grid for Saturday night’s exhibition race at Daytona International Speedway with Carl Edwards leading the field to the green!
Photo Credit: Geoff Burke/Getty Images for NASCAR
Edwards pulled the number one starting spot in a blind draw Thursday night outside the Daytona International Speedway in front of a large crowd. It has become a highly anticipated event during the Speed Weeks festivities.
“It’s the first race of the season and it will be nice to be up front,” said Edwards. “It’s been a while since I’ve been on a pole. I know I didn’t earn this one. It’s all luck, but it still feels good.”
Edwards hasn’t won a pole for a cup event since the Bristol night race in 2008.
28 drivers were eligible for this year’s exhibition race, but 24 showed up to race. The criteria for eligibility has changed for this year’s shootout and is as follows:
1) Last season’s Chase for the Sprint Cup contenders
2) Past Budweiser Shootout winners
3) Past Daytona 500 and Coke Zero 400 race winners (the two Sprint Cup events at Daytona International Speedway per season)
4) A past Sprint Cup Series champion
5) Last season’s Rookie of the Year
Even though the format has been tweaked again this year, the race will continue to be a 75-lap event. There will be two segments with the first lasting 25 laps with a 10-minute pit stop before the final 50 lap shoot out.
The line-up will be:
| 1. Carl Edwards | 2. Kevin Harvick |
| 3. Brian Vickers | 4. Ryan Newman |
| 5. Greg Biffle | 6. Mark Martin |
| 7.Jeff Burton | 8. Matt Kenseth |
| 9. Jamie McMurray | 10. John Andretti |
| 11. Dale Earnhardt Jr. | 12. Bobby Labonte |
| 13. Tony Stewart | 14. Ken Schrader |
| 15. Michael Waltrip | 16. Jimmie Johnson |
| 17. Kyle Busch | 18. Derrike Cope |
| 19. Kasey Kahne | 20. Juan Pablo Montoya |
| 21. Joey Logano | 22. Kurt Busch |
| 23. Jeff Gordon | 24. Denny Hamlin |
Thursday’s Budweiser Shootout practice sessions were crash filled. Towards the end of the first practice session, Denny Hamlin bumped into Martin which set up a chain reaction that also collected Jamie McMurray and Clint Bowyer, subbing in the #29 for Kevin Harvick.
Soon after Happy Hour was underway, Juan Pablo Montoya was forced to check up behind Kurt Busch sending the #2 into the wall.
There’s good news for the drivers and crews. As long as they’ve practiced in their back-up cars, they’ll still be able to start in the position pulled during the shootout draw. update 2/6: Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin and Mark Martin will have to start the race from the back because they weren’t able to practice in their back-up cars.
Catch the Budweiser Shootout this Saturday night at 8 on FOX.
