NASCAR Champion Not Eligible To Race At Daytona

Due to a rules change NASCAR made earlier this year, recently crowned 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion Brad Keselowski will not be eligible for the first Cup race in 2013 at Daytona International Speedway.

I am not referring to the Daytona 500 which of course Keselowski is eligible to qualify for.  But on the weekend before the 500, NASCAR runs its annual Shootout event at Daytona.

NASCAR decided this season that the field for the Daytona Shootout in 2013 would consist of 2012 Coors Light Pole winners and past Shootout winners who have attempted to qualify for at least one race during the 2012 season. The rules for the 2013 annual non-points race mirror those from 1979-2008, and put greater emphasis and meaning for each weekend’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series pole qualifying session.

Keselowski has yet to win the Daytona Shootout and did not qualify for the pole at any of the Sprint Cup Series races held in 2012 and thus is not eligible to race in the upcoming Shootout event.

Twenty-two drivers are eligible.  Here is the complete list: Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards, Kasey Kahne, Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon, AJ Allmendinger, Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony Stewart, Bill Elliott, Terry Labonte, Marcos Ambrose, Joey Logano, Juan Pablo Montoya, Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr., Aric Almirola, Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Ken Schrader and Matt Kenseth.