The Budweiser Shootout

The Budweiser Shootout from Daytona

Right now for me, NASCAR has (un)officially started. Tonight, it is the running of the Budweiser Shootout underneath the lights at Daytona International Speedway.

The Shootout consists of all of the pole position winners from the 2004 NASCAR season, including all of the past Bud Shootout champions. There are two segments of this race -- the 1st segment consists of 20 laps, then the caution comes out for teams to look at their cars. After a 10-minute break, the cars will run another 50 laps (which will include a green-flag pit stop) to the checkered flag.

Being a Ryan Newman fan, Newman's looking damn good. His track record at restrictor-plate tracks like Daytona isn't very good, but Newman and his new Dodge Charger are flying. Currently, it is lap 43 out of 70 and Newman's in the lead draft, sitting in the 4th position.

More on this later.