Paul Menard's new season with a new team is starting out on a refreshingly good note.Menard, who left the Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing team following 2008 to drive the No. 98 Ford at Yates Racing, drew the pole for Saturday night's Budweiser Shootout at Daytona during a made-for-TV draw "party" Thursday night just outside of the speedway.
The lineup -- one that is set completely at random for the 28 eligible drivers -- has left some drivers that don't fall into "favorites" category sitting at the front while others, including last-place starter and former Shootout winner Jeff Gordon, will have plenty of traffic to negotiate at the green flag.
After an interesting month of January for Elliott Sadler that saw him nearly fired and then re-hired, the driver of the No. 19 Richard Petty Motorsports Dodge will start alongside Menard with teammate Reed Sorenson third.
Scott Speed rolls off in his first ever Sprint Cup restrictor-plate race from the fourth. Speed, the former F1-turned-stock car driver, is eligible for the race thanks to the owner points earned by the No. 84 car driven mostly by A.J. Allmendinger in 2008. NASCAR changed the Shootout eligibility requirements to include the top six teams from each manufacturer in addition to a wild-card from each make.
Denny Hamlin, Tony Stewart, Brian Vickers, Bobby Labonte, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kyle Busch will round out the grid's Top-10 at the green flag Saturday night.
The 75-lap race -- up five laps from the race a year ago won by Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- is scheduled to take the green flag just after 8:10 p.m./EDT Saturday night on FOX.
