Harvick Wins the Shootout!

2009 Budweiser Shootout winner Kevin Harvick celebrates.(Photo taken from Motorsport.com)

The Sweet:

-Kevin Harvick wins:

-Stewart Haas racing starts out on the right foot:

I am probably most excited to see how Stewart Haas does this season. If Saturday night and Qualifying on Sunday are any indication then they should do just fine this season. In past years the shootout has been for all the pole winners from the last year. This year they shook things up and made it a race for the top 6 drivers in each car manufacture and then 4 wild card positions. Tony made it into the shootout in one of those wild card positions. He ended up finishing 3rd which is pretty great for a first time out. Ryan Newman was 5 fastest in practice and Tony was 11th fastest so it's looking good for them in the 500. We will see on Thursday during the Gatorade Duels where they will start on Sunday.

-The Martins taking over the front row for the 500:

Martin Truex Jr. is this year's pole sitter for the Daytona 500. I don't have much for this Most of the time Martin has a few good races and then is pretty middle of the road the rest of the season so time will tell if his team has improved over last season or not.

Mark Martin is the outside pole sitter for Sunday and I cannot be happier for him. It was his first time out in his new ride and he proved right off the bat that he has a mission this year. I can't wait to see how he does drafting and all that but I'm thinking we will be seeing a lot of him up front!

The Sour:

-Joey Lagano and Scott Speed (rookies):

It was a horrible weekend to be a rookie. Both of the rookie of the year contenders got to be in the Shootout this year sadly it was short lived. By lap 5 they both found themselves torn up and watching the race from the garage. I was disappointed that these guys didn't get to stick around a little longer but hopefully they have learned a few things and will get more of an opportunity to in the duels on Saturday.

-Dale Jr. early exit:

Jr. looked good all night and even lead a few laps but towards the end he got pushed to the back and when your back there you have a pretty good shot at getting caught up in other people's problems which is just what happened. So last year's winner got to set out the last few laps. But he looked really good out there and should have a good showing in Daytona this year.

-Greg Biffle:

Poor Greg Biffle got a piece of every single wreck there was on Saturday night. He didn't have much of a chance to really race because he spent most of the night on the defensive or spinning through the infield. Hopefully he will have some better luck this week!

Ok that's all I have from the Budweiser Shootout. Don't forget to check out my video blog it has some extra stuff in it this week!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66IfDgUZe...

Next event is the Gatorade duels which are on Thursday at 1:00. The Gatorade Duels are two races that set the field for Sunday's Daytona 500! So make sure to watch it, Tivo it, or tune in here for any major news that might take place! Have a great week!