NASCAR Season starts this Saturday February 6th with the Budweiser Shootout

Jimmie Johnson Blog by Gary Heinlein IMD jjchevy.com

The NASCAR Season starts this Saturday February 6th with the Budweiser Shootout at Daytona. The Budweiser Shootout is a pre-season, non-points event that features some of the sport's top drivers and top performers. Eligibility is based on the 12 drivers who competed in the 2009 Chase for the Sprint Cup title, plus past Cup Series champions and previous Budweiser Shootout winners. The reigning Rookie of the Year in Cup is also eligible.

The Budweiser Shootout will be run in two segments, just as it has since 2003. The first part of the race will be 25 laps and the second part will be a 50-lap sprint for the win. That's 187.5 miles on the track's high-banked, 2.5-mile layout. During the break between the first and second segments is a 10-minute "pit stop" which gives crews the opportunity to make adjustments to their cars. The adjustments are those that they would normally do on routine pit stop during a regular Sprint Cup race.

Anheuser-Busch and its Budweiser brand has sponsored the race at Daytona International Speedway since 1979. Called the Busch Clash until 1998, the name was changed to the Bud Shootout and then renamed the Budweiser Shootout for the 2001season. The event just underwent the most significant changes in its format and eligibility since its inception in 1979. Throughout the 31 years of this event, there have been 18 different winners.

The following weekend, February 14th, the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (points season) kicks off with the 52nd running of the Daytona 500. All of us here at Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet in San Diego are all ready to root Jimmie onto a fifth consecutive Sprint Cup Championship.