If Friday's final practice for the Budweiser Shootout is any indication of what is to come Saturday night, you will not want to miss this race.

For just over an hour, the twenty-eight drivers tested each other on the high banks of Daytona racing side-by-side, three and four wide. Bouncing around the track and into each other on a number of occasions, the stars of NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series showed tomorrow's 187.5-mile race will be full of excitement.

Jimmie Johnson moved up one spot on the leader board from the earlier practice session, running the fastest time of the session. Richard Petty Motorsports' AJ Allmendinger showed his strength once again, putting his No. 44 Valvoline Dodge second fastest on the speed charts. Defending race winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. was third fastest in the final session, while Kasey Kahne and Tony Stewart rounded out the top-5.

While it is always important to be fast in practice, practice at Daytona is much more than speed. Drivers took turns out front, in the rear and in the middle of the pack, trying to figure out how well their car works in various situations. If Friday's practice sessions are any indication of how Saturday's race will play out, expect intense competition lap after lap, with little give and a lot of take.

Jeff Burton brought out the red flag when the engine under his No. 31 Caterpillar hood let go early on in the session.

"We just broke an engine," Burton explained from the garage area. "Our guys were real aggressive with our engine package here for the Shootout which is what they are supposed to be doing. I am proud of them for throwing caution to the wind and coming out here to try win this race. The engine we are going to put in is a real good engine. It is not like that one, but that was the special stuff, but that is all right."

Team owner Richard Childress went through the garage checking the engines on the RCR cars of Kevin Harvick and Casey Mears. The No. 07 team worked on increasing the oil pressure before sending Mears back out on the track.

Rookie of the Year contender Joey Logano fought the steering wheel and learned how to handle the car on the high banks of Daytona throughout much of the second session. Making his first start in a Cup car at Daytona this weekend, Logano was thrown to the wolves with a number of tense moments.

"I think personally I gained a lot of experience out there and learned a lot. The things I expected that I would learn I feel like I did," Logano explained. "A couple of times I felt like a pinball out there but I think it was just kind of everyone. A lot of things happening out there and just got to work on our race car a little bit."

The first major incident of the weekend happened when Budweiser Shootout pole sitter Paul Menard blew a right rear tire going into Turn 1 on the the outside of Casey Mears. Trying to hold it together, Menard did all he could but could not keep the car under him. Menard lost control of the No. 98 Ford Fusion right in front of Red Bull Racing's Scott Speed, who had nowhere to go but into the left front of Menard. While the No. 98 slid with his right rear against the wall, Speed's No. 82 slid down the track and onto the apron.

Speed was able to drive his damaged ride back to the garage with most of the damage to the right front headlight area and a broken splitter. The wrecker crew took their time loading Menard's wrecked No. 98 onto the bed, ensuring they did not do any further damage to the car.

"I'm not sure if we ran over something or the tire just let loose, but going into [Turn] one the tire went down and it shot in the corner and went sideways," a dejected Menard explained. "We'll look at it and find out what happened."

Fortunately for Menard, the team will be able to make repairs and will not go to a back-up car, thus allowing him to keep his pole position starting spot.

"It was definitely good that we got most of practice in, and it's good we got my first wreck under my belt here at Daytona," Speed said. "The guy in front of me started spinning out and slowing down, and I had nowhere to go, so I started doing the same. I couldn't really see much, honestly."

Kasey Kahne also scraped the wall during the final session, while Kyle Busch received some damage to his right rear quarter panel when the field checked up ahead of him.

The twenty-eight drivers scheduled to start tomorrow night's Budweiser Shootout will get two more chances to hit the track before the race during Saturday's two opening practice sessions for Daytona 500 qualifying.

The start of the Budweiser Shootout is scheduled for 8:10pm E.T and can be seen on Fox. Be sure to check back to HardcoreRaceFans.com for all of the latest news and results LIVE from the Daytona International Speedway.