Rookie winners added to Shootout

Kasey Kahne, Juan Pablo Montoya, Regan Smith and Joey Logano will join the field for the 2011 event under a new selection criteria that makes drivers who won the rookie title between 2001 and 2010 eligible. Until last year only the best rookie from the previous season was allowed to enter the non-points race.

Thirty drivers will therefore be able to make the field for the 12 February event, including the 12 who made the Chase in 2010, led by reigning champion Jimmie Johnson, former winners of points races at Daytona, past Cup champions and previous winners of the Shootout.

The event will again consist of 75 laps split into two segments, the first of 25 laps and the second of 50. It will be the first NASCAR race held on the new Daytona surface, which is expected to create more Talladega-style action given the increased grip of the brand new asphalt.

2010 title contender Kevin Harvick, the most successful at restrictor plate races last year, has won the event for the past two years.

2011 Budweiser Shootout eligible drivers

Driver              Main eligibility
Jimmie Johnson      2010 Chase contender
Denny Hamlin        2010 Chase contender
Kevin Harvick       2010 Chase contender
Carl Edwards        2010 Chase contender
Matt Kenseth        2010 Chase contender
Greg Biffle         2010 Chase contender
Tony Stewart        2010 Chase contender
Kyle Busch          2010 Chase contender
Jeff Gordon         2010 Chase contender
Clint Bowyer        2010 Chase contender
Kurt Busch          2010 Chase contender
Jeff Burton         2010 Chase contender
John Andretti       Daytona points race winner (1997)
Geoff Bodine        1986 Daytona 500 winner
Kevin Conway        2010 rookie of the year
Derrike Cope        1990 Daytona 500 winner
Dale Earnhardt Jr   2004 Daytona 500 winner
Bill Elliott        1985, '87 Daytona 500 winner
Kasey Kahne         2004 rookie of the year
Bobby Labonte       2000 series champion
Terry Labonte       1984, '96 series champion
Joey Logano         2009 rookie of the year
Sterling Marlin     1994, '95 Daytona 500 winner
Mark Martin         1999 Shootout winner
Jamie McMurray      2010 Daytona 500 winner
Juan Pablo Montoya  2007 rookie of the year
Ryan Newman         2008 Daytona 500 winner
Ken Schrader        1989, '90 Shootout winner
Regan Smith         2008 rookie of the year
Michael Waltrip     2001, '03 Daytona 500 winner