NASCAR 2011 Racing Season Kickoff: Budweiser Shootout

Racin’ with Russ:

It’s been a long, cold winter and more importantly, a long dry spell without your favorite NASCAR drivers zipping around racetracks across America.

It seems like just the other day Carl Edwards was back flipping off his door sill after his latest win at the season finale at Homestead, while Jimmie Johnson was celebrating his fifth (I know, amazing!) Cup title.

We now embark on the next chapter of taxi-cab racing with a bunch of new rules, sponsors, drivers, paint schemes and even a change of scheduling.

This weekend, we get to take a look at these changes in one of the wildest shows of the year—the big dollar Budweiser Shootout.

Since 1979 when Buddy Baker won the inaugural event and took home $50,000, this has been a no-holds barred event with a basic, "bring home the steering wheel or trophy" attitude, using what is sometimes known as a "throwaway" car.

Since that first race, the rules, eligibility, monetary awards and format have changed many times. The current format involves 25 and 50 lap segments with a 10-minute break in between. It starts with a blind draw to see who-starts-where the night before the big race.

A lot of hype is played upon this part, but as long as this race is and as big as Daytona Speedway is, it’s rather irrelevant.

Eligibility? This is the biggest topic changing almost every year to accommodate more and more drivers and creating a larger field every year.

There are many writers and fans that don’t agree with this idea.

What was once limited to those drivers who had won a pole the season before is now open with the following conditions:

* The 12 drivers who qualified for the 2010 Chase
* Past Sprint Cup champions
* Past Budweiser Shootout champions
* Past Daytona points race winners
* Sprint Cup rookie of the year drivers from 2001-2010

What used to be limited to be a shootout among some of the very best is now open to such back markers as last year’s Rookie of the Year Kevin Conway and retired driver Sterling Marlin.

The rest of those drivers eligible for this year’s run include:

No. 48-Jimmie Johnson, No. 11-Denny Hamlin, No. 29-Kevin Harvick, No. 99-Carl Edwards, No. 24-Jeff Gordon, No. 14-Tony Stewart, No. 16-Greg Biffle, No. 17-Matt Kenseth, No. 18-Kyle Busch, No. 33-Clint Bowyer, No. 22-Kurt Busch, No. 31-Jeff Burton, No. 09-Bill Elliott, No. 1-Jamie McMurray, No. 4-Kasey Kahne, No. 5-Mark Martin, No. 15-Michael Waltrip , No. 20-Joey Logano , No. 39-Ryan Newman , No. 42-Juan Pablo Montoya, No. 47-Bobby Labonte, No. 78-Regan Smith, No. 88-Dale Earnhardt Jr. and No. 97-Kevin Conway.

Question marks as of this writing include: John Andretti, Derrike Cope, Ken Schrader, Geoff Bodine, Terry Labonte and Sterling Marlin.

The top money award for the winner has risen to in excess of $200,000 out of the $1 million-plus purse, so you know the gloves are off from the drop of the green.

Winners? For the past two years, Kevin Harvick has managed to grab the top spot, and Tony Stewart has notched three trophies, but I’m going to tap Carl Edwards as this year’s victor, carrying the Ford momentum over from last year’s two final race wins.

From Rumorville - Kenseth baby watch! NASCAR Cup driver Matt Kenseth is about to welcome their second child into the world over the next few weeks.

With such a busy schedule coming up, Roush-Fenway has contacted Kenny Wallace as the "fill-in" guy should the occasion arise for Kenseth to leave the track in a hurry.

—An explosion at the Joe Gibbs race shops damaged some equipment and engines but no personnel were injured. Apparently, one engine blew up in a big way while one of their dynamometers created a small fire and damaged the adjacent equipment as well. None of the rest of the huge 235,000 sq ft facility was affected.

—Quite a few fan-friendly improvements are in the works at Martinsville Speedway. Besides the addition of a new public address system including 50 speakers, fans will like the wider seats along with additional bathroom and concession facilities.

That’s it for this week. Next week’s RWR will review the Budweiser Shootout and preview this year’s Daytona 500 along with more racing news from around the globe.