New for '09 - Saturday Night Special @ Bristol

This headline should make you turn your head:

"Legendary Racers Waltrip, Pearson, Johnson, Gant Among drivers competing in Saturday Night Special at Bristol Motor Speedway March 21"


And it's true. We'll get to see those legendary drivers back on the track and at Bristol! It's a 50-lap charity event pairing the drivers mentioned above with "celebrity partners" and competing in late model stock cars. The winning team will have a $25,000 donation given to the charity of their choice.

The first Saturday Night Special will be held on Saturday, March 21st at Bristol Motor Speedway.

You'll find more details and pictures at: http://www.bristolmotorspeedway.com/news/speedway_news_releases/543508.html

Bud Shootout Starting Line-up

The Budweiser Shoot Out - Saturday, February 7th
Daytona International Speedway at 8pm on FOX

The starting line-up was determined from a random draw at the Daytona International Speedway on Thursday night.

1. Paul Menard
   
2. Elliott Sadler
   
3. Reed Sorenson (Thursday was his 23rd birthday)
   
4. Scott Speed
   
5. Denny Hamlin
6. Tony Stewart
   
7. Brian Vickers
   
8. Bobby Labonte
   
9. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
   
10. Kyle Busch
    
11. Carl Edwards
    
12. Kurt Busch
    
13. Robby Gordon
    
14. Kasey Kahne
15. Jamie McMurray
    
16. David Ragan
    
17. Michael Waltrip
    
18. A.J. Allmendinger
    
19. Joey Logano
    
20. David Stremme
    
21. Jimmie Johnson
    
22. David Reutimann
    
23. Jeff Burton
    
24. Casey Mears
    
25. Matt Kenseth
    
26. Greg Biffle
    
27. Kevin Harvick
    
28. Jeff Gordon

The name remains the same, but the format has changed this year. The top 6 drivers from each of the 4 manufacturers based on owner points make it into the race plus each manufacturer gets a "wild card" which can either be a past Champion or another car based on owners points. The race distance will increase from 70 laps to 75 laps with 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 in which teams will be permitted to work on cars and will be allowed to perform functions they would normally do during a regular pit stop.

One of the first blogs I posted here was about the Bud Shootout Changes for this year.
http://sherivegas.blogspot.com/2009/01/changes-for-09-budweiser-shootout.html

Menard was among the last drivers to make his selection. This will be his first appearance in the annual season opener. Jeff Gordon will roll off the starting grid last.

Daytona 500 - Pace Car

Did you catch this one? The 2010 Chevy Camaro is the Official Pace Car of this year's Daytona 500?

This isn't meant to be an advertisement for Chevy, but I'm not about to hesitate to show our American automakers some love.

This photo is from camaro5.com