The Daytona Shootout is an annual race held as a part of NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series. It takes place down at the Daytona international Speedway, a 2.5 mile long, asphalt covered oval race course where some of the greatest stock car races in history have been held. The Daytona Shootout itself draws fans that buy up Daytona Shootout tickets and great numbers, filling the racecourse to its 168,000 seat capacity with ease.

Held every February, in the weekend before NASCAR's greatest race -- the Daytona 500 -- the Shootout as a race is more formally known as the Budweiser Shootout at Daytona. Regardless of the name, NASCAR's top racers and teens show up to compete for top prize money and to test out their cars for the following week's Daytona 500 showcase, which is widely considered to be the Super Bowl of stock car racing in the United States. Sales of Daytona Shootout tickets are outstanding.

Relatively speaking, at least as a race is run on a 2.5 mile oval, the 75 total laps run over the course of the race are fast, hot and furious. This sort of race makes little allowance for car or driver shortcomings and there is no place to hide out on that big, wide oval. What really makes this race unique is that it is held in two stages; the first is a short 25 lap jaunt followed by a 10 minute intermission. This really gets the crowds juiced, and anxious to buy Daytona Shootout tickets for the next year.

The second segment consists of 50 laps which will require that each car make one pit stop for fuel, a condition which will tend to bunch up the teams and which will lead to some serious flat-out racing over the last five laps. Speeds can be very high on what NASCAR calls a superspeedway-like atmosphere. This is true for the Daytona oval. There are no points for the winner but the purse is very large, which means that most of the greatest teams and best drivers show up after being invited, a condition which prompts fans to buy up large blocks of Daytona Shootout tickets with regularity.

Run as an invitation-only event, the field consists of 28 cars; six cars from each of the major auto manufacturers that participate in the series and for wild-card entry invites. Additionally, the field’s starting lineup is placed in order by random draw, which is yet another attractive point for fans and which also helps contribute to excellent sales of Daytona Shootout tickets.

The race was first run in 1979 and has grown in interest and popularity since, with sales of Daytona Shootout tickets maintaining their popularity among NASCAR fans. Legendary driver Buddy Baker won the first race, and top Chevy driver Kevin Harvick took last year's honors along with a $200,000 prize. Average speeds last year were superlative; with restrictor plates in effect the field still clocked nearly 169 mph.

For 2010, the top teams in NASCAR all expect an invite and all are expecting to field excellent cars and talented drivers to back up their play. With sales of Daytona Shootout tickets doing well, it's sure to be an exciting weekend of racing down at the Daytona international Speedway in sunny Florida.