NASCAR tweeks Bud Shootout qualifying criteria; Dale Jr will be eligible
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Brian Czobat
Autostock
By Kyle Ocker
Sprint Cup Series beat reporter
For the second consecutive year in a row, NASCAR has changed the way drivers will become eligible for the first technical race of the season, the Budweiser Shootout.
Starting with the upcoming shootout, the chase field from the previous season, former NASCAR champions, former Budweiser Shootout race winners, former winners of the Daytona 500 and Coke Zero 400, and the previous year’s Raybestos Rookie of the Year winner will be eligible for entry. A driver also has to have competed in a Sprint Cup Series events within the last two years to enter.
“As NASCAR evolves, we tailor the Budweiser Shootout’s qualifying criteria to provide fans with a lineup that showcases NASCAR’s best drivers on the high banks of Daytona,” Daytona International Speedway President Robin Braig said. “The new criteria put a premium on race winners at NASCAR’s most storied track – Daytona International Speedway – and we’re looking forward to kicking off the new season with an electric night of racing.”
The format of the race will remain the same as last year.
Drivers that are now eligible for the shootout are John Andretti, Greg Biffle, Geoff Bodine, Jeff Burton, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Derrike Cope, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Carl Edwards, Bill Elliott, Jeff Gordon, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne, Matt Kenseth, Bobby Labonte, Terry Labonte, Joey Logano, Sterling Marlin, Mark Martin, Jamie McMurray, Juan Pablo Montoya, Ryan Newman, Ken Schrader, Tony Stewart, Brian Vickers and Michael Waltrip.
Of course NASCAR had to come up with some crazy way to decide who could qualify. They had to make sure Jr. could participate. I don’t know if he would have been eligible under the rules from last year, but in my opinion – humble as it may be – he doesn’t deserve to be. I think the Shootout should be for the top drivers – the ones that go out there and perform every week. And he’s just not one of them.
Under the former qualification rules for the shootout, Dale Earnhardt Jr. would not have been eligible. However, there also would have been just three Dodges and five or six Fords. So once could possibly use that as a reason for a change. However, one can’t deny that it looks awful fishy.