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Budweiser Shootout

2012 Format



• 75 laps broken into two segments (25-lap Segment 1 and 50-lap Segment 2).
• Between segments will be a 10-minute break where crews will be allowed to perform routine pit-stop changes.
• Both green- and yellow-flag laps count.
• 2012 is the fourth season that the race distance is 75 laps and the 11th different format utilized in the 34 years of the Budweiser Shootout.
• Starting positions will be set by a blind draw.

2012 Eligibility



• Drivers who finished in the top 25 in 2011 driver points.
• Past Budweiser Shootout winners, who competed in at least one Cup event in the 2011 season.
• Past Daytona Cup points race winners, who competed in at least one Cup event in the 2011 season.
• 33 drivers are eligible for the 2012 Shootout; the record for the most entries in the Shootout is 28 in 2009. There were 24 drivers in each of the past two Shootouts.

* Entry List

By the Numbers



• Three drivers eligible for the 2012 Shootout are making their first start: Marcos Ambrose, Trevor Bayne and Brad Keselowski. Five drivers won the Shootout in their first start: Buddy Baker, Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, Dale Jarrett and Denny Hamlin.
• 12 of the 33 eligible drivers for 2012 won at least one of the 33 Shootouts.
• Kevin Harvick, with two wins, is the only repeat winner in the past eight Shootouts.
• Only two of the past nine Shootouts were won from a starting position better than 14th.
• Kurt Busch won last year's Shootout by 0.058 seconds over Jamie McMurray, the closest MOV ever in a Shootout.
• Last year, Kurt Busch, the only Dodge driver in the field, scored the first Shootout win for the manufacturer
• There were 28 lead changes in last year's Shootout, the most ever in the event.
• More than $17,900,000 has been awarded to drivers competing in the 33 Shootouts (since 1979).
• Tony Stewart is the only driver to win more than $1 million in career Shootout winnings; his average finish of 5.08 in 12 starts is the best among all active drivers. Dale Earnhardt Jr. ranks second in career Shootout winnings with close to $975,000.
• The most money won in a single Shootout event is $215,000, by Tony Stewart in 2007 and Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 2008.
• Jeff Gordon is making his 19th consecutive Shootout start (1994-2012). Mark Martin has the most consecutive Shootout starts(20); Martin competed in every Shootout between 1989 and 2008.
• Mark Martin and Bill Elliott each have competed in 23 Shootouts, most of all drivers. Martin leads all drivers with 17 top-10s; Elliott leads all drivers with 22 lead-lap finishes.
• The final lead change took place with two laps to go or less in nine of the past 14 Shootouts including the last four; five of the 14 ended with a last-lap pass.
• The race winner led only the final lap in seven of the 33 Shootouts, most recently by Kevin Harvick in 2009.
• Dale Earnhardt Jr. led 47 laps in his 2008 Shootout win, the most laps ever led by a Shootout winner. Earnhardt has led 117 career laps in the Shootout, the most of all drivers.
• There were 14 leaders in the 2009 Shootout, the only race with double-digit leaders.
• The driver winning the Shootout went on to win the 500 in the same season five times: Bobby Allison (1982), Bill Elliott (1987), Dale Jarrett (1996), Jeff Gordon (1997) and Jarrett (2000).
• Dale Earnhardt won six of his 12 Shootouts and had 11 top-fives, both tops among all drivers; he had a 2.75 average finish.
• Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s win in 2008 is his only top-10 finish in his past five Shootout starts.
• Carl Edwards has only one top-10 finish in his five Shootout starts; his best finish of seventh came in 2009.
• Jamie McMurray has two second-place finishes and a third-place finish in his past three Shootout starts; he was passed on the last lap by Kurt Busch last season.
• Jeff Gordon has not finished worst than sixth in his past four Shootout starts; he has two Shootout wins but both came in his first four starts.
• 2012 is the fourth consecutive year that Kasey Kahne has competed in the Shootout in a different make.
• Kevin Harvick finished in the top 10 in all but one of his six Shootout starts; his average finish of 6.57 ranks second among all active drivers.
• Michael Waltrip has failed to finish in his past three Shootout appearances.
• Ryan Newman's third-place finish in last years Shootout ended a four-race streak of finishes of 17th or worse.