The Bud Goof-Up: NASCAR misses point of Shootout

The season opening Bud Shootout had become a bit of a bloated affair of late, one that was clearly in need of a good tweaking. Great minds devoted themselves to the problem and as unlikely as it seemed, found a way to bloat the event still further, making it even more unwieldy. In fact, when I read the press release announcing the changes I thought it must be a joke some hacker had foisted on the NASCAR media to see if any of us were stupid enough to bite. As it turned out, the press release was official. It seems that the folks in charge of things simply made changes so stupid, they bite.

Perhaps a little background is in order here. The all-star event for pole-winners of the previous Cup season was introduced in February, 1979, back when the earth was still cooling, a six-pack of Bud cost under five bucks and Dale Earnhardt, Sr. was starting his first full year on the schedule. All of nine drivers participated in the 20-lap event with Buddy Baker edging Darrrell Waltrip by a car length to take the big prize in what was then known as the Busch Clash (“big” is relative term here — Baker won $50,000 for his victory).

Following the basic American instinct that “more is better” the following year’s Clash was extended to 50 laps and won by sophomore sensation Dale Earnhardt, who was en route to his first title that season. However, in ’81 only seven drivers made the show and it was shortened back to 20 laps.

In 1998 the event was renamed the Bud Shooutout and lengthened to 25 laps, a still manageable sum. A companion event was added prior to the Shootout to allow drivers who hadn’t won a pole the previous year to make the field, a practice that continued through 2001. After that, NASCAR once again began tweaking the rules making previous Shootout winners automatically eligible (to get Earnhardt, who was never noted as a particularly motivated qualifier, into the show as the sport’s biggest star). The race also swelled to 70 laps.

In its original format, the Clash was actually quite exciting. The race typically lasted less than 20 minutes and, with no points on the line, drivers let it all hang out from the drop of the green. As the race increased in length, however, the level of excitement and competition suffered. Rather than pare the event back to a more manageable size to up the adrenaline level, the 2009 Shootout will be lengthened to 75 laps. That’s 25 laps in the first segment, followed by a 10-minute break that will allow FOX to introduce a lengthy stream of new commercials that fans will have come to loathe through repeated replays by the time Darrell “The Wall of Noise” Waltrip and his crew sign off. That first segment will be followed by a second 50-lapper — the stated justification is the longer second segment allows the pit crews to be a part of the action.

Well, gosh, color me underwhelmed.

The reaction to the format drew immediate disdain from the fans, media and even the drivers. Dale Earnhardt, Jr., whose career had been nearly synonymous with Anheuser-Busch products until this year, quickly threw Bud under the bus.

“What the heck? They don’t get it, you know what I mean?” Earnhardt opined. “They’ve messed up the Winston, the All-Star Race, and they’re messing up the Shootout. They ought to line us up and make us run 10 laps.

“They want us to run around there for 25 laps first, like a 25-lap segment … that would be cool. But then 10 laps to go, all or nothing. That’s what the fans want. That’s what the drivers want. That last segment being 50 laps, I mean we’re all just going to sit there for 30. I just don’t get it. They don’t get it. I don’t know what the focus group is they’re talking to to get these kind of formats.”

Think Mr. Popularity was done? Think again:

“It’s frustrating because I want to like those races. I don’t want to dread these races and right now I’m dreading running them because the formats aren’t fun. I just hate the format. It’s not exciting. It’s not fun. It’s 50 laps at the end, right? That’s too long. What for? This is a shootout. We’re going to stroke the first 30 laps.”

Ouch. OK Junior, don’t mince words, tell us how you really feel.

Fans dislike the new basis for gaining entry into the event even more than they do the format. As it stands for 2009, the top six teams in owners’ (not driver’s) points for each of the four manufacturers — Ford, Chevy, Dodge and Toyota — make the Shootout, irrespective of where that individual driver finished in the points, how many teams field each manufacturers’ entries or even if the “All Stars” have won a race in the last three years.

I think I’m preaching to the choir here when I say the days of “Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday” are long gone for the car makers. With NASCAR’s Car of Horror, all four makes look identical save for some decals — and none of them much look like any sort of street car sold outside the Third World. I’ve noticed a steady decrease in fans of any one make, leading to such odd sights as ‘Dale Jr. 88’ stickers on Ford F-150s, Jeff Gordon ‘24’ stickers on Honda Accords and Ryan Newman stickers on Suburbans (and Kyle Busch stickers on barroom urinals, but I digress.)

Nor are fans enamored of team owners in most cases. They don’t come to see the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 car, they come to see Tony Stewart. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. went from the No. 8 Bud car out of the DEI stable, to the No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard car for Hendrick Motorsports and his fans changed their attire from red to green quicker than a traffic light. Fans in general choose drivers to pull for, thus it would seem obvious that driver points rather than owner points should be the criteria for setting the field.

A look at who is currently in and out of the 2009 Shootout is instructive. Joey Logano, who will only run a handful of Cup races this season, is in because he is inheriting the No. 20 ride from Stewart. Stewart on the other hand, a fan favorite and one of the drivers actually willing to let it all hang out in a non-points race, is out despite having won two titles because he’ll be driving for a new team. Ryan Newman, who won this year’s Daytona 500, will be on the sidelines while David Stremme, of all people, is in as Newman’s heir. All five Roush Fords will make the cutoff while all three DEI cars will miss the event.

Toyota fields the smallest number of entrants in the Cup ranks and Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin will make the field, as they richly deserve to. But, as it stands now, so will AJ Allmendinger (if he keeps his current ride) and David Reutimann. MWR team owner Michael Waltrip — branded as “the worst driver in NASCAR, bar none, period” by a fellow competitor on nationwide TV — could even decide to take over the car owner points from Reutimann’s No. 44 car and would thus earn entry into the Shootout despite the fact he’s running like a leprous three-legged lamb with arthritis.

About the only thing that hasn’t changed for the event is the title and that could use a change as well. A “Shootout” implies a sense of immediacy and action that is over quickly. This is anything but.

I guess they need to find a new name for the event in light of that and I know what I’d call it: I’d call it off and let it die a dignified death.

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