I love NASCAR, and I'll watch it regardless of who they put on the track, but I have to say that having viewed the entry list for the Bud Shootout, it has lost the identity it once had. It used to be where the pole winners from the previous season would race each other, so you had an elite field of the fastest drivers out there.

Now you get this entry list:
2011 Top 25 Driver Points
Tony Stewart
Carl Edwards
Kevin Harvick
Matt Kenseth
Brad Keselowski
Jimmie Johnson
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Jeff Gordon
Denny Hamlin
Ryan Newman
Kurt Busch
Kyle Busch
Clint Bowyer
Kasey Kahne
AJ Allmendinger
Greg Biffle
Paul Menard
Martin Truex Jr.
Marcos Ambrose
Jeff Burton
Juan Pablo Montoya
Mark Martin
David Ragan
Joey Logano
Brian Vickers
Others (criteria in parentheses)
Bill Elliott (Daytona 500, Coke Zero 400, Shootout)
Geoff Bodine (Daytona 500, Shootout)
Derrike Cope (Daytona 500)
Michael Waltrip (Daytona 500, Coke Zero 400)
Jamie McMurray (Daytona 500, Coke Zero 400)
Trevor Bayne (Daytona 500)
Terry Labonte (Shootout)
Ken Schrader (Shootout)

So basically, it's another race at Daytona, and not what it once was. All kinds of people are in it, including some who haven't sniffed a pole in years, and others who just aren't very competitive and did little to distinguish themselves in 2011.

It's not the biggest deal. Hell, I'll be happy just to see racing after a winter without it. But you might as well call it something other than the Bud Shootout ... maybe the Daytona 250.

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