2012 Budweiser Shootout

2012 Budweiser Shootout

Race details[1][2][3]
Race 1 of 2 Exhibition Races in the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season
Date	February 18, 2012 (2012-02-18)
Location	Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, Florida
Course	Permanent racing facility 2.5 mi (4 km)
Distance	82 laps, 205 mi (329.915 km)
Weather	Temperatures up to 78.1 °F (25.6 °C); wind speeds up to 7.00 miles per hour (11.27 km/h)[4]
Average speed	124.096 miles per hour (199.713 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Martin Truex, Jr.	Michael Waltrip Racing
Most laps led
Driver	Greg Biffle	Roush Fenway Racing
Laps	17
Winner
No. 18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing
Television in the United States
Network	Fox
Announcers	Mike Joy, Larry McReynolds, Darrell Waltrip
Nielsen Ratings	4.2/8 (Final) 3.9/7 (Overnight) (7.467 million)[5]

The 2012 Budweiser Shootout was a stock car racing competition that took place on February 18, 2012. Held at the Daytona International Speedway, in Daytona Beach, Florida, the 82-lap race, was the first exhibition race of the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Kyle Busch of the Joe Gibbs Racing team won the race; Tony Stewart finished second and Marcos Ambrose came in third.

Pole position driver Martin Truex, Jr. was immediately passed by Jeff Gordon by the first turn, but Dale Earnhardt, Jr. led at the end of the first lap. On the 9th lap, an accident involving several cars prompted the first caution to be given. Sixteen laps later, the second caution was given, with Jamie McMurray leading. During the caution, all of the teams made a pit stop. On lap 62, Gordon reclaimed the lead. He maintained the lead until he was involved in an accident, causing the race's final caution. Tony Stewart took over the lead and held it until the final lap when Kyle Busch passed him to win the race.

There were five cautions and twenty-six lead changes among thirteen different drivers throughout the course of the race. It was Kyle Busch's first win of the 2012 season. 82,000 people attended the race, while 7.46 million watched it on television.

Report

Background

Daytona International Speedway, where the race was held.

Daytona International Speedway is one of six superspeedways to hold NASCAR races, the others being Michigan International Speedway, Auto Club Speedway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Pocono Raceway and Talladega Superspeedway.^[6] The standard track at Daytona International Speedway is a four-turn superspeedway that is 2.5 miles (4.0 km) long.^[7] The track's turns are banked at 31 degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked at 18 degrees.^[7]

A total of thirty-three drivers were eligible to compete in the race, including the first 25 positions in the 2011 Drivers' championship standings and the winners of the Daytona 500 and Coke Zero 400.^[8] The race was 75 laps long, with two segments of 25 and 50 laps. In between the segments there was a pit stop that lasted ten minutes. During the pit stop, teams were able to change tires, add fuel, and make normal chassis adjustments, but they were not allowed to change springs, shock absorbers or rear-ends. Also, all the work could be done in either the garage or on pit road. The caution laps, as well as the green flag laps were scored in the race.^[8][9] Unlike other races, the qualifying grid was determined by a blind draw.^[9] Kurt Busch was the race's defending champion.^[10]

Practice and qualifying

Martin Truex, Jr. picked the pole position for Michael Waltrip Racing.

Two practice sessions were held before the race, which was on Friday afternoon. The first session lasted 45 minutes, while the second was scheduled for 60 minutes, but was shortened to 10 minutes because of rain.^[2][11] Matt Kenseth was quickest with a time of 44.607 seconds in the first session, only five thousandths of a second faster than Jeff Burton. David Ragan with a quickest time of 44.966 seconds was third, ahead of Jamie McMurray, Ryan Newman, and Denny Hamlin. Brad Keselowski was seventh, still within a second of Kenseth's time.^[12] Near the end of the session, Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch collided, starting an accident that included three other cars; A.J. Allmendinger, Keselowski and Kyle Busch. Keselowski, Allmendinger, Kyle Busch and Kurt Busch were all forced to use their back-up cars.^[11] In the second and final practice session, McMurray was quickest with a fastest time of 45.524 seconds. Juan Pablo Montoya followed in second, ahead of Greg Biffle and Kasey Kahne. Marcos Ambrose was fifth quickest, with a time of 46.037. Hamlin, Michael Waltrip, Joey Logano, Kenseth, and Carl Edwards rounded out to the first ten positions.^[13]

For qualifying, the 25 drivers that appeared to race chose their starting positions by a draw. Martin Truex, Jr. chose the pole position, ahead of Kyle Busch, Keselowski, McMurray, and Ragan who rounded out the first five positions. Kurt Busch chose sixth place, while Biffle chose seventh, ahead of Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Allmendinger in eighth and ninth. Logano, Edwards, Burton, Newman, and Jeff Gordon chose the next five positions. Tony Stewart, who chose fifteenth, was followed by Hamlin, Clint Bowyer, Jimmie Johnson, Kahne, and Waltrip in the first 20 positions. Ambrose, Kevin Harvick, Kenseth, Paul Menard, and Montoya chose the last four positions in the race.^[3][14][15]

Race

The race, the first exhibition race of the season, began at 8:10 EST and was televised live in the United States by Fox.^[1] Tim McNeil, of the First Methodist Church, began pre-race ceremonies by giving the invocation. Country music group Little Big Town performed the national anthem, and Petty 1st Class Officer William Kimberl, Petty 1st Class Officer Andres Reyes and Petty Officer 2nd Class Aaron Schwartz gave the command for drivers to start their engines. During the pace laps, Kyle Busch, Keselowski, Kurt Busch and Allmendinger all had to move to the rear of the grid because of them changing their cars.^[16]

McMurray accelerated faster than Truex, Jr. off the line, getting ahead of him by the first turn. By the conclusion of the first lap Earnhardt, Jr. had taken the lead. Three laps later, McMurray reclaimed the lead. One lap later, Logano passed McMurray for the lead. On lap 6, Truex, Jr. briefly reclaimed the lead, before being passed by Harvick. One lap later, a multi-car collision occurred between turns 1 and 2 involving Waltrip, Menard, Martin, Ragan, Kenseth and Montoya, causing the first caution of the race and the pace car came out. The race restarted on lap 9 with Earnhardt, Jr. in the lead, ahead by Harvick and Truex, Jr. On the seventeenth lap, McMurray passed Harvick to move up into the first position. One lap later, Truex, Jr. became the leader, but after leading one lap, Kurt Busch took over the lead position. On the 21st lap, McMurray managed to move back into second position. Two laps later, McMurray passed Truex, Jr. to reclaim the lead; Edwards moved into second.^[16]

Kyle Busch won the race after passing Stewart on the final lap.

On lap 25, the second caution was given as a break during the race. Also on the same lap, Gordon passed Edwards for the second position. Just after the caution, all the teams pitted. After ten minutes the racers returned to the track for the restart. McMurray led on the restart, ahead of Gordon, Edwards, Johnson and Biffle. On the same lap, Gordon became the new leader. One lap later, Edwards passed Kyle Busch for the second position. On lap 28, Biffle, with assistance from Edwards, passed Gordon to become the new leader. Three laps later, the third caution was given because of Truex, Jr. spinning sideways. During the caution, most of the leaders elected to make pit stops. Earnhardt, Jr. led the field back up to speed at the restart. On lap 38, McMurray reclaimed the lead, while Truex, Jr. reclaimed the lead two laps later, after having assistance from Earnhardt, Jr.^[16]

By the 47th lap, Harvick moved into the lead position, while Kyle Busch, collided with the wall, but escaped with minor damage. Kyle Busch passed McMurray to reclaim the lead one lap later; Gordon took over the first position by the start of lap 50. One lap later, McMurray regained the lead, with assistance from Harvick. On lap 54, the fourth caution came out when Ambrose made contact with Logano, causing a multi-car collision that collected Earnhardt, Jr., Kenseth and Truex, Jr. Most of the leaders made pit stops during the caution. On lap 55, Harvick and Logano drove to their garages to retire from the race. Biffle stayed out and led at the lap 61 restart. Gordon reclaimed the lead with Johnson moving into second position. Ten laps later, Kyle Busch became the leader, but after two laps, Stewart claimed the lead. On lap 74, Gordon hit the wall and his car rolled over, prompting the fifth and final caution. The race restarted on lap 81 with Stewart leading, ahead of Ambrose, Bowyer and Keselowski. On the same lap, Ambrose clinched the lead, with assistance from Keselowski. On the final lap, Stewart reclaimed the lead, after having assistance from Kyle Busch. On the same lap, Kyle Busch regained the lead and held it to win the race, ahead of Stewart. Ambrose finished third, Keselowski fourth and Hamlin fifth.^[16][17]

Post-race

Kyle Busch appeared in victory lane to start celebrating his first win of the season in front of 82,000 who attended the race.^[18] Busch also earned $198,550 in race winnings.^[18] Following his celebration he said, "I don't know how many times I spun out and didn't spin out, Amazing race. It was fun to drive when I wasn't getting turned around."^[19] He also commented, "Stab and steer, stab and steer, That's what you do. And some brakes. There are brakes involved, too. I thought I was clear ... and I tried going down slowly, and Jimmie just must have been there a little bit, turned me sideways and got me on the apron -- scared everybody half to death, including me."^[20]

Stewart, who finished second in the race, said, "I actually had fun racing at Daytona again, which I haven't had for a while. I don't know what the consensus is from everybody else, but I had more fun as a driver tonight than what we've had in the past."^[21] Ragan who was involved in the largest accident of the race, "Everybody was real racy and I just got into the back of Menard, You get a good run, and you're pushing a little bit, and I guess he was pushing whoever was in front of him. And when you've got the meat in between the sandwich, you usually get wrecked."^[20] 7.46 million people watched the race on television.^[5]

Results

Qualifying

Race results

References