Fireworks at NASCAR's 2011 Bud Shoot Out

NASCAR's last ditch attempt to slow the Sprint Cup cars down from the blistering 203 miles per hour they reached in Bud Shoot Out practice amounted to nothing more than a grain of sand placed in the way of a raging river Saturday night.

Until the big caution that saw Regan Smith close down on Carl Edwards subsequently wrecking Dale Earnhardt Jr. and several others, the average speed of the race was over 195 miles per hour and cars were ticking off speeds over 206 miles per hour.

Two by two cars joined together in drafts and traded the lead spot a record number of times. Jeff Burton looked to be the strongest, but towards the end fell back with his team mate Clint Bowyer.

A bad decision by Denny Hamlin on the final lap by attempting a pass below the yellow line cost him the win and gave Kurt Busch his first restrictor plate victory. Hamlin was black flagged for his illegal pass and penalized with a 12^th place finish. Jamie McMurray who pushed Kurt Busch to the win was second, and a rejuvenated Ryan Newman finished third.

The first race of the 2011 season seemed to show that NASCAR has listened to the complaints of fans with faster racing and more competitive dicing on the track. The cars looked sharp with their new front ends and the new pavement at Daytona left nothing to be desired, but now they need to look at what might help the two by two drafting that dominated the race.

The key might be as Dale Jr. said. They need a bigger restrictor plate. The drivers have too much control with the small diameter and faster cars would prevent the two by two drafting because of the greater power.

We will have to see what the powers of NASCAR choose to do before the Daytona 500 next weekend. The only other mistake they made so far is the rule change for the drivers who qualified for Saturday's Bud Shoot Out. Predictably the cars of Derrick Cope who has not raced a regular season for quite a while, and Kevin Conway, who seems to be able to purchase a ride with his male enhancing sponsorship proved to be nothing more than speed bumps in a race that should have only been all stars.