Kurt Busch won NASCAR's Budweiser Shootout on Saturday night after Denny Hamlin was penalised at Daytona.
No. 22 Dodge driver takes victory after Hamlin penalised
Kurt Busch won NASCAR's Budweiser Shootout on Saturday night after Denny Hamlin was penalised as the leaders approached the chequered flag at Daytona.
Hamlin drew a black flag after passing below the yellow out-of-bounds line, with Busch winning the exhibition race after getting a push Jamie McMurray.
Although Hamlin was inches ahead at the line, the penalty demoted him to 12th place. McMurray, winner of last year's Daytona 500, finished second narrowly ahead of Ryan Newman.
Newman had led the race coming off the final corner, only to have Hamlin slingshot past him in the dogleg of the 2.5-mile superspeedway.
Five-time defending Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson finished fourth ahead of Greg Biffle.
The 75-lap race was the first on a newly-resurfaced track and featured plenty of two-car drafting, with speeds of up to 206mph recorded and a record 28 lead changes taking place.
Unbelievable
"What an unbelievable experience, this two-car draft," Busch said. "I had no idea what to expect going in. I was just going to take it one lap at a time and see how it played out.
"(McMurray) was the man tonight. He stayed with us. He stayed true. I can't thank him enough for doing that tonight. I hope it was the show the fans wanted to see."
The victory was Busch's first at Daytona and also his first on a restrictor-plate racetrack - the No. 22 Penske Dodge driver not having a team-mate in the race.
Hamlin said he had to drop below the yellow line in order to prevent a collision with Newman.
"That yellow line is there to protect us and the fans in the stands, and I just chose to take the safer route," he said.
"A win in the Shootout is not worth sending the 39 (Newman) through the grandstands."
Polesitter Dale Earnhardt Jr. was the victim of a multicar crash on the backstretch on lap 28, when contact from Regan Smith's No. 78 Chevrolet turned Carl Edwards' No. 99 Ford into Earnhardt's No. 88 Chevy and spun it into the outside wall.
The chain-reaction crash also collected Joey Logano, Juan Pablo Montoya and Kevin Conway.
Johnson also sustained right-side damage in the incident but brought his car to pit road for repairs and remained on the lead lap.
Pairs
Jeff Burton led 13 of 25 laps in the first segment of the race as cars drafted in pairs around the track - the method sending them to the front only to fall back when they separated to get air to the engine of the pushing car.
At the completion of the 25-lap opening segment, there was a 10-minute break to service and adjust cars on pit road.
On Sunday, drivers will run in single-car qualifying to establish the front row for next weekend's Daytona 500.
The qualifying session will also determine the starting order for the two 150-mile Duel races, held on Thursday, which will set the remainder of the 43-car field for the 500, which takes place next Sunday.
