As if there wasn't enough confusion out there this off-season, this year's Budweiser Shootout will be dramatically different from any year prior. The annual pre-season exhibition race is no longer a battle between last season's pole winners; instead the Shootout will be a showdown amongst the manufacturers.

For the first time in the race's thirty-one years, the Budweiser Shootout will feature the top-six teams from each manufacturer. Those top teams are ranked according to the 2008 owner points and only if the team remained with the same manufacturer heading into 2009.

Friday, NASCAR announced four "Wild Card" teams would be added to the Shootout's line-up, based on the following criteria:

-        Any owner outside of the top six in year end 2008 owners' points whose driver is a past NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion that attempted to qualify for all of the 2008 events (only one position will be filled per manufacturer and will be based on the most recent past champion per manufacturer).

-        If an owner/manufacturer does not have a past champion driver, the next highest eligible owner outside the top six in year end 2008 owners' points from each manufacturer will be eligible to compete in the event.

As of now the line-up for the February 7, 2009 event looks like this:

 Chevrolet:
        48 - Jimmie Johnson
        29 - Kevin Harvick
        07 - Casey Mears (taking over for Clint Bowyer in 2009)
        31 - Jeff Burton
        24 - Jeff Gordon
        88 - Dale  Earnhardt Jr.
        WILD CARD
        14 - Tony Stewart (past champion)

Dodge:
         9 - Kasey Kahne
         2 - Kurt Busch
        12 - David Stremme (taking over the ride in 2009)
        43 - Reed Sorenson
        19 - Elliott Sadler
         7 - Robby Gordon
        WILD CARD
        10 - AJ Allmendinger (based on 2008 owner points)

Ford:
        99 - Carl Edwards
        16 - Greg Biffle
        17 - Matt Kenseth
          6 - David Ragan
        26 - Jamie McMurray
        28 - Travis Kvapil
        WILD CARD
        38 - It is likely that Bobby Labonte will inherit the points from the 38 and join the field in the No. 96 car.

Toyota:
        11 - Denny Hamlin
        20 - Joey Logano (taking over for Stewart in 2009)
        18 - Kyle Busch
        83 - Brian Vickers
        00 - David Reutimann (was No. 44 in 2008)
        55 - Michael Waltrip
        WILD CARD
        22 - This spot is will most likely go to Scott Speed in the No. 82 Red Bull Toyota after Bill Davis Racing was sold to Triad Racing Technologies during the off-season.

The season-opening event will also be lengthened this year from 70 laps to 75 laps, making it a 187.5-mile race. The race will be broken up into two segments, with a break after the first 25 laps. Yellow flag laps will count during both segments. During the break, there will be a ten-minute pit stop, allowing teams to change tires, add fuel and make normal chassis adjustments, but nothing they could not do during a normal pit stop.

One thing that will remain the same for this year's Budweiser Shootout will be how the line-up is determined. Drivers eligible for the event will pull their starting position from a blind draw during the annual Budweiser Shootout Draw Party, Thursday, February 5th aired Live on SPEED from the SPEED stage outside Turn 4 of the Daytona International Speedway.

A great way to kick-start the season, the Budweiser Shootout has showcased some of the most competitive and intense racing since its first event in 1979. The first race of the year, teams in the show have a chance to get their feet wet on the season prior to showing up for real one week later. With this year's ban on testing, perhaps never before in the event's history has the Budweiser Shootout been such an unknown and such a true test of who got the job done during the winter.