By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(February 11, 2011)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.—Kevin Harvick will try to win his third straight Budweiser Shootout from the 18th starting position Saturday night—but that’s not such a bad thing.

It doesn’t seem to matter where Harvick starts the 75-lap exhibition race at Daytona International Speedway. Last year he won from the second position. Two years ago he claimed his first Shootout win from 27th on the grid.

LISTEN: THE FINAL LAP BUDWEISER SHOOTOUT PREVIEW SHOW

“That’ll be all right,” Harvick said after unwrapping the No. 18 placard from the Budweiser bottle he chose in the blind qualifying draw Friday night.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., who won the 2003 and 2008 Shootouts, drew the pole for Saturday’s race.

“You knew it, didn’t you?” draw party show host Kenny Wallace asked Earnhardt after the selection.

“I did,” Earnhardt said. “We’re good.”

Three-time Shootout winner Tony Stewart starts from the outside of the front row after drawing the No. 2 position. Carl Edwards and Denny Hamlin will line up third and fourth, respectively.

The race will be run in segments of 25 and 50 laps, with a 10-minute break between. Green-flag and caution laps count toward the total.

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Friday’s practice for the Shootout raised expectations for a wild show. With cars drafting in two-car hookups, as they had during testing in January, Joey Logano posted a top lap speed of 203.087 mph. Kyle Busch, who was pushing Logano, ran 203.082 mph, as 10 of the 24 drivers reached 200 mph or faster.

NASCAR reserved judgment on whether to reduce the size of the carburetor restrictor plates on the cars and thereby reduce horsepower. The Cup cars are fitted with plates with 29/32-inch openings, the same size used for testing in January.

“We’ll continue to monitor speeds on Saturday and see where things go from there,” NASCAR spokesperson Kerry Tharp said.

It’s an eclectic field for the 33rd running of the race that originated as the Busch Clash. Originally, the event was an exhibition for pole winners from the previous season, but when Coors Light took over sponsorship of NASCAR’s Sprint Cup pole award from Budweiser, it created a conflict that necessitated a change in eligibility requirements for the Shootout.

NASCAR is still feeling its way through that process, and changes to the eligibility rules this year dramatically altered the composition of the field. All 12 Chase drivers from 2010 qualified, along with past Sprint Cup champions, past Budweiser Shootout winners, past winners of points races at Daytona, and Cup rookies of the year for the past 10 years.

That last provision punched the tickets of Kasey Kahne, Juan Pablo Montoya and Joey Logano, who otherwise wouldn’t have made the field. It also gave entry to Regan Smith and Kevin Conway, neither of whom has won a race in any of NASCAR’s top three series.

STARTING LINEUP

START CAR DRIVER SPONSOR MAKE

1 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. National Guard / AMP Energy Chevy
2 14 Tony Stewart Mobil 1 / Office Depot Chevy
3 99 Carl Edwards Scotts ez Seed Ford
4 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Express Toyota
5 4 Kasey Kahne Red Bull Toyota
6 47 Bobby Labonte Reese Towpower / Highland Toyota
7 33 Clint Bowyer Cheerios / Hamburger Helper Chevy
8 39 Ryan Newman Wix Filters Chevy
9 64 Derrike Cope Sta – Bil Toyota
10 15 Michael Waltrip NAPA Auto Parts Toyota
11 16 Greg Biffle 3M Ford
12 24 Jeff Gordon Drive to End Hunger Chevy
13 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Target Chevy
14 1 Jamie McMurray Bass Pro Shops / Tracker Boats Chevy
15 31 Jeff Burton Caterpillar Chevy
16 97 Kevin Conway Extenze Toyota
17 22 Kurt Busch Shell / Pennzoil Dodge
18 29 Kevin Harvick Budweiser Chevy
19 17 Matt Kenseth Crown Royal Black Ford
20 5 Mark Martin GoDaddy.com Chevy
21 18 Kyle Busch M & M’s Toyota
22 20 Joey Logano Home Depot Toyota
23 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe’s / Kobalt Tools Chevy
24 78 Regan Smith Furniture Row Racing Chevy