While most of Florida seems focused on Kim Kardashian’s backside and the good fortune that Red Bull athlete Reggie Bush and the New Orleans Saints hope it will bring in Sunday’s NFL Super Bowl, NASCAR drivers also got their bums back in action as practice began on Thursday for the annual Budweiser Shootout at the Daytona International Speedway.
The 2010 season begins unofficially on Saturday with the Shootout that comes less than three months after the 2009 campaign ended in Miami with Jimmie Johnson taking his fourth consecutive title.
The invitation-only, exhibition race includes the 12 Chase qualifiers and Cup rookie of the year from 2009, as well as past winners of the Sprint Cup title and drivers who have triumphed at Daytona in regular season NASCAR races and previous Shootouts. Twenty-four of the 28 drivers eligible for the 75-lap race get on track Saturday. The action will be divided into 25- and 50-lap segments with a 10-minute pause between the two sprint races.
Brian Vickers starts third in the Shootout after he pulled the grid spot in NASCAR’s random draw to determine the grid.
It was exactly the slot he wanted: “When I was coming up here [to draw], I was thinking about what number I wanted, and you would assume one, but if you get one or two you have to stay and do media, so I just figured three was the next best thing.”
A few hours before drawing his grid spot, the No. 83 Red Bull Toyota driver ended the first day of his 2010 season on a high note, finishing sixth overall in the second practice. Luck was also in his corner in the first practice where he escaped unscathed as a crash unfolded right in front of him about 20 minutes into the 45-minute session. Vickers smoked all four tyres slamming on the brakes to avoid a wreck after Denny Hamlin got into the back of Mark Martin and put the veteran into the wall right at the front of an 11-car pack. Six of the 11 cars received damage, with five having to switch to backup cars.
'If you draw one or two you have to stay and do media, so I just figured three was the next best thing!' - Brian Vickers
Vickers’ team-mate for the race, Ken Schrader, was second quickest in the final session. He lines up in 14th position in the No. 82 Red Bull Toyota usually piloted by Scott Speed.
Speed is ineligible for the Shootout, so the team brought in the 54-year-old from Fenton, Missouri, who gets the nod due to back-to-back victories in the Daytona 500 beginning in 1989. Saturday will be his 19th Shootout appearance.
Getty Images/Red Bull Photofiles
While Speed will miss Saturday’s race, he won’t be sitting around doing nothing. The Californian gets behind the wheel in two Daytona 500 practice sessions before qualifying for the biggest stock car race of the season gets underway on Saturday afternoon. The track time may prove invaluable for Speed, as it amounts to a free test session for next weekend’s Daytona 500.
Because Speed didn’t finish in the top-35 in owner’s points last season, he is not guaranteed a grid spot for the first five races. So he must qualify Saturday or race his way onto the grid in one of two Duel races on February 11 to earn his way into the Daytona 500 field. Getting some added time on the track certainly can’t hurt his chances.
“The fact that we are not in [the top-35] isn’t as good as if we were in it,” he said. “But then again, that’s the deck we were given and I mean if we would have done a better job during the year to be in the top-35, it wouldn’t have been a problem. As things turned out we’re not, so we will have to do focus and do what we can for the first five races to make sure we are in there.”
The pair of NASCAR regulars return to action after spending some of their holiday time attending events in Austria, including a charity ski event at the famed Hahnenkamm downhill ski course to benefit the non-profit Wings for Life Foundation.
Vickers also enjoyed a snowmobile race that pitted 25 Red Bull athletes against each other on a specially designed course. “It was pretty intense actually, we had a lot of the Red Bull athletes and drivers from around the world, and we competed in a snowmobile race,” he said.
“A couple of Red Bull downhill skiers who used to race snowmobiles won, which was a bit of an unfair advantage – growing up racing snowmobiles – but I had a lot of fun. It was a pretty cool event and those snowmobiles really get on with it. They put some jumps in it and we were really travelling a good bit through there that’s for sure.”
Something that caught Speed’s attention during the short off-season was Twitter, the social networking site that’s gaining in popularity. Speed Tweeted throughout his trip to Europe and even recounted how fellow NASCAR driver Kyle Busch socked him in the balls in the middle of his Media Day interview at Daytona on Thursday.
Perhaps fans will be treated to some of Speed’s insights on the racing during Saturday’s Shootout, something he did during the practice sessions Thursday. And he’s having loads of fun doing it.
“I don’t expect any advantages to come from my Twitter, but it’s certainly a very entertaining way to communicate with my fans,” he said.
“I love it. I really enjoy my Twitter and it’s only a matter of time before I get into trouble for it, but Red Bull knows that and I kind of have a disclaimer with them because they realise they are the ones who gave me the page and gave me control over it. So, something is going to happen where I say something I shouldn’t, but so far we have been in the clear.”
For more, visit NASCAR.com, go to the home of Red Bull Racing Team. You can catch up with Brian on Facebook and, as well as Scott's Twitter page, you can visit his official site.
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