The Budweiser Shootout Needs a Reload

Sorry for the delay in getting this column written, but it’s taken me this long to get my head around the perplexing way NASCAR has elected to determine driver eligibility for this year’s Budweiser Shootout.

You see, there was a time not too long ago when NASCAR fans looked at the Budweiser Shootout, or if you prefer to date yourself, the Busch Clash, the way someone at a restaurant would view an appetizer: You want something light, simple and nothing too complicated. Basically something that wets the palate but isn’t going to ruin your appetite.

For years the Budweiser Shootout did this exceedingly well. It was a short 20-50 lap race featuring some of the sports bigger names that got everyone excited for the following week’s main course, the Daytona 500.

However in recent years, NASCAR has turned the Budweiser Shootout into an appetizer that no one wants to order. Sort of like generic nachos or bland, deep-fried mozzarella sticks.

They’ve done so through a set of convoluted rules and a qualification process that has oversaturated the race to the point that no one can discern the Shootout from a NASCAR race held in August.

(On a side note, I promise you no one makes better homemade nachos than yours truly. I’m not going to give out my recipe, which I’ve cultivated on my own, but I will say it involves a 5-pound bag of cheese, two different kinds of chips and multiple layers of goodness.)

For example, this year a driver qualifies for the Budweiser Shootout if they A) qualified for the 2010 Chase for the Sprint Cup, B) are a past Sprint Cup champion, C) a former winner of the Daytona 500 or Coke Zero 400, or D) a Rookie of the Year winner from 2001-2010.

If you can decipher all that, it means 30 drivers are eligible, opposed to the usual 17-20 drivers who generally take the green flag.

As for the “luminaries” who are eligible for the February 12 race, they include Sterling Marlin, who hasn’t started a race since 2009 and hasn’t scored a top-10 finish since 2006; John Andretti, a two-time Sprint Cup winner who last went to victory lane 12 years ago; Derrike Cope, perhaps the flukiest Daytona 500 victor in history; Regan Smith, who has never finished better than 12th in 95 career Cup starts; and Ken Schrader, whose winless streak dates back to George Bush’s first term in office. And I’m not talking about George W.; I’m referring to the original George Bush, the one who was once Ronald Reagan’s Vice-President.

And of course I would be remiss if I didn’t mention another eligible driver; last year’s Rookie of the Year recipient Kevin Conway. He of the stellar 32.6 average finish during his history making (in the bad way) rookie campaign, and a driver who in 34 races in 2010 registered just one measly finish inside the top-20.

Add it all together and a race that once featured some of the sports biggest names in a non-points duel, now features those same big names only joined by a collection of veterans past their respective primes and a couple of guys who never had primes to begin with.

All the while Brian Vickers and David Reutimann, two drivers who have been to victory lane in the last two years, are sitting on the sideline helmet in hand wishing they had the chance to compete.

This brings me to my next point. If NASCAR is intent on going the route of watering down the Budweiser Shootout and opening up the race to include more participants – as is their right to do – there’s a way of doing so while at the same time making it different enough so that it maintains the appeal of years past.

The funny thing is there’s a simple solution to this whole madness. And one that doesn’t involve canceling the Shootout as some have suggested.

It’s an idea that would surely get fans excited and return some of the shine that has eroded away from a once-great appetizer of a race to kickoff the coming season and get the public excited for the following week’s Daytona 500.

My plan opens up the race to any driver who started a race the preceding year. Instead of having everyone on the track at once as we do now, we would divide the drivers up into two heats. We could do so either through some sort of qualifying system or incorporating a random draw much the like the one that is used now to set the lineup for the Shootout.

Each of two heat races would be 20 laps, with only green-flag laps counting. At the conclusion of each heat, we take the top-10 drivers from each and advance them to the feature. This would then give us 20 deserving drivers competing for the win in a 50-lap feature.

Not only is this a similar format that is used with great success on countless short tracks throughout the country, but it also harkens back to the roots of NASCAR. In addition, this is a format that fits with what this race is supposed to be: 20 deserving drivers under the lights on a Saturday night, racing for nothing but the big check that goes to the winner.

No points on the line, just pride. The end result would see fans enjoying the tasty appetizer they once loved so much.

Now if you’ll excuse me, after all this talk about food I’ve gotten a bit hungry. Not to mention thirsty.




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