2009 Budweiser Shootout

2009 Sprint Cup Series
Chase for the Sprint Cup

Non-points races in italics.

The 2009 Budweiser Shootout was a special non-points race that officially openend the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season on Saturday night, February 7 of that year at the 2.5 miles (4.0 km) Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. The race was btelecast by Fox, with radio broadcasting being done by Motor Racing Network (over-the-air) and Sirius XM Radio. Kevin Harvick won the race in a very similar finish to that of the 2007 Daytona 500, which was also won by Harvick.

Format Change

From Pole Winners to Manufacturers

In previous years, the InBev sponsorship of the pole position for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series allowed previous winners of the pole position in time trials of all races not cancelled due to weather to compete in a race. When Molson Coors took over title sponsorship of these events, the company was forced to make a change for the 2009 event.

The new format, announced in August of 2008 by the Belgium brewer and sponsor of the race, will reward manufacturers of the automobiles in the top stock car series in the United States – Chevrolet, Dodge, Ford and Toyota – to place the top six teams for each of their brands based on the final 2008 Owners Points standings.

On January 16, 2009, it was announced that each manufacturer would receive a "wild card" entry to be awarded to the most recent Sprint Cup champion that had attempted to qualify for every race in the preceding year. If no driver qualifies for the wild card, it is awarded to the next car in owner's points for each manufacturer.

The results:

Position Car No. Driver Team Manufacturer
1 29 Kevin Harvick Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
2 26 Jamie McMurray Roush Fenway Racing Ford
3 14 Tony Stewart Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet
4 24 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
5 44 A.J. Allmendinger Richard Petty Motorsports Dodge
6 9 Kasey Kahne Richard Petty Motorsports Dodge
7 99 Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Racing Ford
8 17 Matt Kenseth Roush Fenway Racing Ford
9 2 Kurt Busch Penske Championship Racing Dodge
10 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
11 83 Brian Vickers Red Bull Racing Team Toyota
12 98 Paul Menard Yates Racing Ford
13 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
14 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
15 07 Casey Mears Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
16 12 David Stremme Penske Championship Racing Dodge
17 16 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford
18 88 Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
19 96 Bobby Labonte Hall of Fame Racing Ford
20 00 David Reutimann Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota
21 19 Elliott Sadler Richard Petty Motorsports Dodge
22 55 Michael Waltrip Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota
23 43 Reed Sorenson Richard Petty Motorsports Dodge
24 31 Jeff Burton Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
25 82 Scott Speed Red Bull Racing Team Toyota
26 6 David Ragan Roush Fenway Racing Ford
27 7 Robby Gordon Robby Gordon Motorsports Dodge
28 20 Joey Logano Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Race Format Change

Also altered for the 2009 race was be the number of laps being run. The first segment, previously 20 laps (50 miles (80 km)) became a 25-lap (62.5 miles (100.6 km)) segment. The second segment of 50 laps (125 miles (201 km)) and other elements (such as the blind draw invert for the pole position) remained unchanged.