Kevin Harvick passed Jamie McMurray heading into turn three on the final lap just moments before a multi-car crash ended the Budweiser Shootout at Daytona. Harvick led McMurray to the caution and checkered flags to record his first Shootout win.

Harvick was running fourth when the white flag was displayed to the field and charged between Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin exiting turn two, taking second place on the high side. McMurray attempted to hold off Harvick and Johnson by taking the high line and then low line down the backstretch. When McMurray moved back to the inside, Harvick passed McMurray on the high side just as Jeff Gordon, Casey Mears, and Johnson got together and crashed in turn three, also collecting Hamlin. Harvick, the 2007 Daytona 500 winner, will collect $200,000 for his win.

Tony Stewart and Gordon managed to clear the wreck to finish third and fourth. A.J. Allmendinger rounded out the top 5.

The race featured a record number of lead changes (23) amongst a record number of drivers (15). The final yellow flag also set a record for the most number of cautions (8).

The race started with a bang as David Ragan, Joey Logano, Scott Speed and Robby Gordon got together in turns three and four on lap five. Ragan appeared to have checked up in response to slower cars ahead of him and was tapped from behind by Gordon. None of the drivers would return to the race.

Rounding out the top ten were Kasey Kahne, Carl Edwards, Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch.

Jimmie Johnson capped the top of the speed charts during today's two Budweiser Shootout practice sessions at Daytona International Speedway.  His speed of 192.620 mph was just a tick faster than A.J. Allmendinger, who clocked a 192.542 mph.  Defending race champion Dale Earnhardt Jr. was third-fastest at 192.304 mph.  Kyle Busch topped the afternoon practice session with a speed of 191.453 mph.

Pole sitter Paul Menard ran into trouble minutes before the end of the second practice session, cutting a right rear tire and spinning out in turn 2.  Also involved was Scott Speed.  Both cars suffered minor damage and are expected to be repaired before tomorrow night's race.  Other drivers receiving cosmetic damage in separate incidents include Kasey Kahne, Reed Sorenson, and Kyle Busch.

One driver who will have to start at the rear of the field is Jeff Burton, after blowing a motor in the second practice session.

Top practice speeds:

Paul Menard and Elliott Sadler will lead 26 other drivers to the green flag for the 2009 Budweiser Shootout at Daytona this coming Saturday night. Menard drew the pole position Thursday night and will be driving a Yates Racing Ford.

Eligibility for the race was determined by selecting the top 6 finishers in the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship per vehicle manufacturer. Each manufacturer then selected a 7th wildcard entry. The race was formerly exclusive to the previous year's pole winners; that practice was retired since Anheuser-Busch no longer sponsors the Pole Award.

This year's race is divided into two segments: the first is 25 laps, followed by a 10-minute intermission where teams will be allowed to service the cars, followed by the final 50 laps. Laps run under the caution flag will be scored.

Here is how the field will line up after the draw for starting positions:

Goodyear and NASCAR might be working together to phase in a new tire during the 2010 racing season, according to this report by Dustin Long in The Virginian-Pilot.

The proposed tire would be both taller and wider than the current model, perhaps by about two inches.  The purpose is to improve the racing by providing more grip and also increase the tire's durability.

Goodyear representative Greg Stucker, director of racing tire sales, hopes the tire would be a better fit for the new car.

“The new car definitely seems to stress tires differently with the additional right-side weight, it’s harder on those right sides. We would like to go taller and wider to kind of open up the durability envelope of the tire, make the tire a little bit more forgiving and a little less sensitive to maybe guys missing the setup or maybe being more aggressive on their setups.’’

Personally, I have mixed feelings about it.  First, I like the idea of increasing the durability because I feel that tire failures have been a major distraction in Cup races for the past few years, especially at tracks like Indianapolis and Atlanta.  And addressing this problem by bringing a harder compound seems to raise its own issues.

On the other hand, the wider tire idea concerns me a bit.  I suspect the move is to help counteract the lost downforce from the new car.  While I'm not a fan of the racing since moving to the new car, I do believe that there has been too much grip in recent years.  It doesn't seem like the drivers are even on the edge anymore.

The wider tire will also bring corner speeds up a bit, especially on the intermediate tracks like Atlanta and Charlotte.  I'm not sure if that would encourage more passing or not.  I also suspect, with the larger contact patch, that aerodynamics will play a slightly larger role than currently.

When it comes to NASCAR tires, I have yet to see anything as exciting as the bias ply tire back in the 80s and early 90s.  I don't know if it was the tire, or the low-downforce bodies, but the drivers were really able to sling the cars around at times and let it all hang out on the edge, even on the fast tracks like Talladega.  And if they got a little bit out of shape, the tire was forgiving enough to allow the driver to bring the car back.

What do you guys think?  What would you like to see in a stock car racing tire?