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Kurt Busch celebrates in victory lane after winning the Budweiser Shootout NASCAR auto race at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla., Saturday.
AP PHOTO
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The official start of the 2011 NASCAR Cup season was all about couples.
Two cars here, two cars there, individually bunched.
The usual restrictor plate madness of 30-car packs gave way to a more streamlined order during the Bud Shootout on Saturday night, but still provided a wild finish at Daytona International Speedway. Kurt Busch made a late charge to win, edging out Jamie McMurray. Ryan Newman, who led for much of the late stretch, finished third.
Denny Hamlin made a late run on Newman but went below the yellow line on the inside apron and was penalized, making him the last car on the lead lap.
It was Busch’s first victory in a restrictor-plate race.
NASCAR decided not to tweak the restrictor plates to reduce speeds. NASCAR officials usually try to restrict speeds at Daytona or Talladega when speeds go past 200 m.p.h. The move was intended to keep drivers from teaming up in order to reach speeds in excess of 200 m.p.h.
But cars still approached those speeds.
“The tactics as far as working the draft and what you choose to do to improve (your position) is a little dumbed-down from what it used to be,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. said. “There’s a lot less choices to make. You’re pushing a guy and you push him into the lead if you can. There’s not a lot of art to it.”
Agreed, said Kyle Busch:
“I think it would be a better race to see us all grouped up rather than the two-car deals.”
Earnhardt Jr., the pole setter, was involved in a wreck in the second segment of the race, when Carl Edwards ran up on him, taking Earnhardt’s 88 Chevy out of the race.
“It was pretty wild,” Edwards said. “I’ll be tuned in watching the rest of it, that’s for sure. I just wish we could have raced a little longer. I appreciate all the fans coming out here. I think this race and next week’s race is gonna be wild. I think the fans are gonna get what they pay for.”
Earnhardt wasn’t so enthused.
“”I would love to be racing the other way,” he said. “It’s more of a challenge because it’s one on 43. Big ol 30-car pack, believe it or not I’d rather do that….The cars are stuck to the track like glue.”
Saturday’s race also marked the NASCAR’s official competitive opening of the new racing surface at Daytona and a new fueling system, that features a bulkier configuration of the new gas cans. The modification will eliminate the catch-can man in the pits, and will reduce the number of team members allowed to go over the wall from seven to six.
But the new surface at Daytona International Speedway — a 2.5-mile tri-oval — was definitely the main attention getter, once you got past the drivers. Saturday night marked the first official start for NASCAR’s main circuit. The track, repaved for the first time since 1978, now features 50,000 tons of fresh asphalt.
The repave was necessary after last year’s opening day dud in Daytona. The Daytona 500 was delayed twice — for a total of 2.5 hours — to allow workers to fix a pothole between the first and second turns at the track.