Drop Of The Green
Paul Menard drew the pole position in Thursday night's lottery. Menard lead them to the green flag and the first two laps.
It didn't take long for the drivers to make a big mess. Lap 4 saw a six car incident which included both of the 2009 rookies Joey Logano and Scott Speed.
Carl Edwards. Jamie McMurray and Jimmie Johnson lead at the 25 lap break as teams were given ten minutes to prepare for the 50 lap finale.
Unstable Cars
The cars were moving around a lot on the track. The cars seemed to be loose and were a handful to drive. This made caution flags inevitable and we saw a lot of them. The yellow flag flew a record eight times during the 75 lap race. Only thirteen of the twenty-eight starters made it to the checkered flag.
Will next Sunday's Daytona 500 be as big a mess?
Overdrive Finish
The final green-white-checkers "overdrive" finish was a flurry of action. It seemed that one last caution was all but guaranteed. It came in turn three of the final lap just after Kevin Harvick drafted past the leaders on the outside.
The field was frozen and Kevin Harvick scored the 2009 Budweiser Shootout victory.
The Top Five:
- Kevin Harvick
- Jamie McMurray
- Tony Stewart
- Jeff Gordon
- A.J. Allmendinger
Next Up
Qualifying for the 50th Daytona 500 is Sunday. That will lock in the front row and set the starting lineups for Thursday's Gatorade Duel qualifying races. Now that the preliminary show is done all eyes turn to next Sunday's Great American Race, the 2009 Daytona 500.
