The 1st checkered flag in 2010 belongs to Kevin Harvick after a wild finish under the lights Saturday night at Daytona!

Credit: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images for NASCAR

“It’s a lot of fun to win,” Harvick said. “I know we started the last year the same way. Tonight we led a bunch of laps, ran at the front all night. To go out and have that car start cold, never have a lap on the racetrack, to have it run like it ran, says a lot for the preparation of the team. It’s a lot about the details. Good pit stops all night. What else do you say?”

One might say that ‘The Big One’ was reserved for the race’s conclusion. While challenging Harvick for the lead, Greg Biffle cut a tire sending him into the wall and collecting 7 others including his Roush-Fenway Racing teammates Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth.

Harvick led five times for a total of 21 laps after taking the lead for the first time on lap 52. He became just the 4th driver to win back-to-back Budweiser Shootouts. He was sick from the flu earlier in the week and sat out on practice sessions for the shootout. His crew chief, Gil Martin, pulled the 2nd-place starting spot at the draw party held on Thursday night.

Polesitter Carl Edwards led every lap in the first segment, but couldn’t hang on to the lead after lap 43. After getting caught in Biffle’s crash, Edwards had to settle for a 17th place finish.

Kasey Kahne finished 2nd. “I thought it was some pretty exciting racing. I was on edge from the time it went green,” Kahne said. “I felt it was on from the time the green flag came out tonight.”

Jamie McMurray finished 3rd. “We had a great night. It’s a wonderful way to start my relationship back with Chip Ganassi and Earnhardt Ganassi Racing,” McMurray said referring to his first official outing driving the #1, replacing Martin Truex Jr. “You never know when you start out if you’re going to like the setups that they give you or the cars, if you’re going to have to work on all of that. We unloaded pretty much with the setup that they built at the shop, and didn’t change anything all night long. Pretty much the way we unloaded the car. We got caught up in that wreck. It kind of worked out to benefit us because the backup car drove a lot better than what the primary car did. Kevin explained to me after practice that they chose the third best car for the Shootout. Our backup car was the second best car. So it wasn’t surprising to him. But feels great to be back.”

Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin also posted top-5 finishes.

For the (unofficial) race results, click here.

There were 5 cautions for 14 laps and 12 lead changes among 5 drivers.

We can safely say, the Budweiser Shootout is a taste of what we can expect next weekend.