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?

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is set to kick off its 10-month season this coming Saturday night with the Budweiser Shootout all-star event at Daytona International Speedway.  The 75-lap race under the lights will be the first for NASCAR in Speedweeks 2009, which culminates with the 51st running of the Daytona 500 on Sunday, February 15.

The race will feature 28 drivers and be split into two segments, one of 25 laps and the second of 50 laps.  Starting positions will be determined by a draw on Thursday, February 5.

The Budweiser Shootout has been an exciting part of Datyona Speedweeks since its inception in 1979, then under the title of "Busch Clash".  The race was originally comprised of the previous year's pole winners.

Here's a track we haven't heard much about in a long time: Texas World Speedway. The high-banked two-mile oval hasn't hosted a Cup race in well over two decades, but with NASCAR's ban on testing at tour tracks this season, the place is sure to be busy.

Greg Biffle claims to have topped out at 218mph at the track in a recent test, with a lap average of 195mph.

"[It was] very fast," Biffle said. "A little bit bumpy, which is to be expected of a race track that the pavement is that old, but just a very fast place. It's kind of a fun race track, but our cars today are probably pretty dang fast for a race track like that."

Biffle said his Thursday afternoon speeds in College Station on Jan. 15 were the "fastest I've been in a race car before -- 218 miles an hour. That's getting her done, if you want to say -- 195 mile an hour average, so it was a pretty fast place."

Who knew the new car could even go that fast? Full story at NASCAR.com.

Ford Racing has announced that its new FR9 engine will likely be ready for NASCAR racing in the second half of 2009.  Ford, which partners with Jack Roush and Doug Yates to develop the engines for NASCAR's top series, says the engine was designed from a "clean sheet of paper", with no carryover parts from previous models.

“With the exception of a few cylinder head changes through the years, we’ve had the same engine since 1991 and have been able to squeeze out every ounce of power and speed possible,” [said] Yates. “What’s got me so excited is we’ve won races and championships with an engine many consider old, and this new piece is definitely a notch above, so we’ve got a lot to look forward to for years to come.”

There are three key differences between FR9 and the current engine. First, the cooling system has been re-worked and will allow teams to optimize the amount of tape they can put on the front grille and improve downforce. Second, the valve train has been improved, and, third, the production and assembly of FR9 will be much easier than today’s model.

Just when FR9 is ready for competition remains to be seen, but a tentative target date is the second-half of the 2009 season.

“We’re not going to rush this engine into competition until we’re 100 percent sure it’s going to meet our strict standards,” said Yates. “We don’t feel a need to rush because our current engine is still strong and that gives us the luxury to take our time and make sure we do FR9 right. I know we’ve got a winner here, and I can’t wait to see it on the track.”

See the full press release at FordRacing.com.

Here's some good news:  David Poole is reporting in the Charlotte Observer that NASCAR is not on board with Bruton Smith's idea of implementing a local TV blackout of races that don't sell out.  Smith owns several race tracks on the NASCAR circuit, two of which rarely sell out both of their Cup races: Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, NC and Atlanta Motor Speedway.

NASCAR executive Paul Brooks put a damper on the idea:

"TV partners, advertisers, ratings, team and event sponsors would all be negatively impacted. However, the most significant issue is the negative effect this move would have for our fans.

"We need to continue to find ways to bring our fans even more television, Internet, radio and new-media coverage and continue to remind fans that the ultimate NASCAR experience will always be sitting in the grandstands watching that race live."

It's nice to see NASCAR take this approach.  In the past they were vigilantly focused foremost on the fan base and making coverage of their events readily available.  I think this is the number one reason they took off in the past few decades and this decision seems to fall in line with that same philosophy.