Background , the race track where the race was held.
Daytona International Speedway is one of six
superspeedways to hold
NASCAR races, the others being
Michigan International Speedway,
Auto Club Speedway,
Indianapolis Motor Speedway,
Pocono Raceway and
Talladega Superspeedway. The standard track at Daytona International Speedway is a four-turn superspeedway that is long. The track's turns are banked at 31
degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked at 18 degrees. but only nineteen drivers participated in the race. Notable drivers not invited to the race were
Brad Keselowski and
Clint Bowyer, the
2012 champion and champion runner up, who didn't collect any pole positions in 2012. In yellow are previous Daytona Shootout winners without pole wins in the 2012 season. Unlike other races, the race format was chosen by a fan poll, and was 75 laps long, with three segments of 30, 25, and 20 laps. Which was chosen over a format that would have seen a 35, 30, and a 10 lap segments and a 40, 20, and 15 lap segments. Fans also voted to mandate drivers to perform a 4-tire pitstop after the first segment over a 2-tire stop or no mandatory pitstop. Fans also voted for no cars to be eliminated following the second segment over 2, 4, and 6 cars being eliminated (though 7 cars were out due to crashes or mechanical issues before that point.) Fans also voted for the firesuit miss Sprint Cup appeared in victory lane in.
Practice and qualifying Two practice sessions were held before the race, which was on February 15, 2013. The first session lasted 45 minutes, while the second lasted 60 minutes.
Kevin Harvick was quickest with a time of 45.601 seconds in the first session, less than two-hundredths of a second faster than
Aric Almirola.
Greg Biffle with a quickest time of 45.660 seconds was third, ahead of
Kasey Kahne,
Martin Truex Jr., and
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Juan Pablo Montoya was seventh, still within a second of Harvick's time. Also in the first session, five cars were involved in an accident after
Matt Kenseth and
Kurt Busch collided. In the second and final practice session,
Denny Hamlin was quickest with a fastest time of 45.906 seconds.
Joey Logano followed in second, ahead of Biffle and Harvick. Almirola was fifth quickest, with a time of 46.027. Montoya, Kahne,
Marcos Ambrose, Kyle Busch, and
Terry Labonte rounded out to the first ten positions. ==Results==