NASCAR IS BACK ~ DAYTONA Budweiser Shootout/Duels ~ (Begins) Saturday Feb 12, 2011 FOX 8PM

Various | 02/2/11 | Me, Jack, Jr and Rocky

[WestCoastGal]

WELCOME BACK RACE FANS ~ WE'RE BACK ~ DAYTONA SPEEDWEEKS WHICH BEGINS THE 2011 NASCAR SEASON

The 33rd annual BUDWEISER SHOOTOUT
Saturday, February 12th - 8pm on Fox begins our race season with this non-points event.




The field will include:
• The 12 drivers that qualified for the 2010 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup

• Past NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champions
• Past Budweiser Shootout champions
• Past Daytona 500 and Coke Zero 400 Powered By Coca-Cola champions
• NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Rookie of the Year drivers from 2001-2010 (New this year)

The race distance will continue to be 75 laps (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.

Starting positions will be determined by a draw at the annual Budweiser Shootout Draw Party on Thursday night, Feb. 10, on the SPEED stage in the Midway, outside Turn 4. Televised on SPEED.
The Budweiser Shootout is scheduled for 8:00PM ET. Last years winner was Kevin Harvick.


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Qualifying for the Daytona 500 is scheduled for Sunday Feb. 13th on Fox 1PM ET which determines the front row starting positions for the 500. Last year front row ~ Martin #5 and Earnhardt Jr. #88






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The Gatorade Duels (60 laps each) will be held on Thursday February 17, 2011 2PM ET on SPEED - lineup is based on qualifying speeds -- odd number qualifiers will race in Duel #1 for the inside line in the 500 and even # Duel #2 for the outside line in the 500. (confused yet?) Last years winners Johnson, Duel #1 and Kahne, Duel #2.
Those not in the top 35 are qualified in as follows:
This leaves eight spots open to other drivers which are assigned like this: The top two drivers in each Gatorade Duel that are not already guaranteed a starting spot get into the Daytona 500.

The next three spots go to the fastest three qualifiers based on the single-car time trials from Sunday.

The final spot is guaranteed for a previous Sprint Cup Champion who was unable to qualify any other way. If there is no unqualified past champion then the 43rd spot goes to the next fastest qualifier based on speed from the single-car session.

The Duels are two 150-mile qualifying races that determine the starting lineup for the Daytona 500 from positions 5 through 43.

[WestCoastGal]

Warning there are rule changes this year. France is scrapping the long time point scoring system of NASCAR for a simpler version that will be easily understood by fans (I guess he thinks we are stupid) and NASCAR teams alike (if the teams didn't understand the old points system we are in trouble). Brian France has also made changes to spice up the qualifying process by creating a buzz around practice. The new qualifying process will invert the top 35 drivers according to their practice speeds (fastest in practice go last). If practice and qualifying rained out they start by points. The most interesting change will be to the NASCAR Chase itself. In an effort to place more importance on winning, the final two Chase spots will go to drivers that won the most races in the first 26 races of the season. The driver will have to place in the top 20 after 26 races or they will not qualify. This will be interesting, as there is a slight possibility someone who didn't really do well competitively, but remained above P20 and won a rain called race or one on fuel, that will be embarrassing. I call it the Jamie McMurray rule. and in his case a Chase berth would have been warranted. Other tweaks of the scoring system will be bonus points. Three points for a win, one point for leading a lap and one point for leading the most laps. Tire rules will force crew chiefs to plan their practice and qualifying strategies. The teams will be allocated five sets of tires for practice and qualifying instead of six. Once qualifying is in the books the teams will have to return four sets to Goodyear to receive their race package of tires. They make keep one set from qualifying. The new fuel can to be used this season will solve a few problems. The cans will assure less fumes for the pit crew and NASCAR officials on pit road. The second is a safety issue that the can will solve is the elimination of the catch can man. This will result in a safer pit road with less congestion and less confusion for drivers entering and exiting their pit boxes. Watch for pit crew errors until they get used to this though. Good Luck!

[Roccus]

POLE!!!

[TexasCajun]

Woo-Hoo!

[Roccus]

Looks like your rolling black-outs are over

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2667589/posts

[Libloather]

NASCAR scraps points system for simpler version

[MtnClimber]

Woo Hoo! Banana Slug Racing Team looking forward to fitting secret slug juice sprayers under our back bumper.

[DJlaysitup]

GO DADDY !!!!!

[WestCoastGal]

Thanks we shall see what happens tomorrow.

Ice and snow predicted.

[Roccus]

....as long as you’re not BLOCKING!!!!

};^)

[WestCoastGal]

Ping for the Daytona Budweiser Shootout, Qualifying and Duel races known as Speed Weeks.

500 thread will be a stand alone thread.

[Conan the Librarian]

I second that emotion!

WhooooHOOOO!

[umgud]

I’m ready...... going thru the DT’s. Liking all the new changes too.

[McGruff]

I'm ready for some racin.

[tubebender]

Bump for some Racin...

[SouthTexas]

Great looking thread!

Home now and the heat is running!

Off to SA in the morning. How’s that for brilliant planning? LOL

[WestCoastGal]

Why thanks - it only took 15 posts to say the thread looked good, I thought I messed up.;p

Be careful tomorrow.

[NormsRevenge]

Engaging Warp OverDrive.. Let ‘em Roar!!

Thanks for this and to come!!

[SouthTexas]

Going to the northside first, then to the middle, and finally to the southwest side.

Who knows, you may end up with a stranded traveler on your doorstep. ;)

[nascarnation]

awesome
a trip to Daytona would be quite pleasant considering our currrent state of ice encapsulation

[WestCoastGal]

Thx :) Just praying the weather will be good in Daytona and here so I can watch considering I took days off.