•
1979: The race debuted on Sunday, broadcast live on
CBS. Pole position qualifying for the
Daytona 500 would start Sunday at 10 am, followed by the
ARCA 200. The Busch Clash would be held after the ARCA race at 3 pm. •
1980: Heavy winds during
Daytona 500 pole qualifying delayed the proceedings and the ARCA 200 began 90 minutes later than scheduled. As 3 pm approached, the ARCA race was red flagged and halted so that the Busch Clash could be held as scheduled and be shown on live television. After the Clash was finished, the ARCA race resumed. •
1981: Morning rain washed out
Daytona 500 pole qualifying, which was rescheduled for the following day. After the track dried Sunday, the ARCA race began at 2:30 pm. The Busch Clash, scheduled for 3 pm, was held following the delayed ARCA race. •
1983: Rain washed out all scheduled activities for Sunday. The Busch Clash was rescheduled and run the following day, Monday. •
1984:
Ricky Rudd was spun off the track at turn four at a very high speed, resulting in a
blowover, then a series of violent flips. Ricky suffered a concussion, and his eyes were so swollen that he had to tape them open so he could race in that Thursday's
UNO Twin 125 and subsequent races (a practice prohibited since a 2013 rule change regarding concussion protocol, which Rudd would probably have been forced to miss three races at minimum). Rudd missed the inside wall during his wreck; during the second Twin 125, Randy Lajoie was not as fortunate. Combined with the previous year's Daytona 500 crashes, the apron was paved over in Turn 4 before the Firecracker 400 that July for drivers to save their cars in similar incidents. •
1985: Track officials reorganized the schedule for track activities for the weekend.
Daytona 500 pole qualifying was moved from Sunday to Saturday, and the Busch Clash was moved from 3 pm to 12 pm on Sunday. The ARCA 200 was then held after the Busch Clash rather than before. •
1992: For one year,
Daytona 500 pole qualifying and the Busch Clash swapped days. The Busch Clash was held Saturday, and qualifying was held Sunday. This move was made at the request of
CBS, who wanted the additional time on Sunday for their coverage of the
1992 Winter Olympics. •
1995: Morning rain delayed the start by 30 minutes. •
2001:
FOX broadcasts the race for the first time. It also marked the first race televised on
Fox. The start time was shifted to 2 pm on Sundays. •
2002:
TNT broadcast the race for the first time. •
2003: The race was run at night for the first time. •
2004: A crash at the final lap resulted in controversy. A 2003 incident at
Loudon involving
Dale Jarrett and
Casey Mears had resulted in the banning of
racing back to the caution. In this case, NASCAR did not wave the caution at the end of the race despite a crash involving
Ryan Newman and
Jamie McMurray, and allow the race to run to the finish, creating a potentially dangerous situation. Ironically, Dale Jarrett won the race. •
2005: The ARCA race was stopped for 45 minutes because of repairs to the catchfencing, and was stopped 15 laps short in order to prepare for the Budweiser Shootout. •
2006: The event was postponed for the second time because of rain, moving from Saturday night to Sunday afternoon. This was also the first shootout to feature the green-white-checkered finish.
Denny Hamlin became the first rookie to win the event in 2006 in his #11 car. •
2007:
Tony Stewart won the race for the third time driving his No. 20 car. It was the second win in a row for
Joe Gibbs Racing because Denny Hamlin won in 2006. •
2008:
Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the race for the second time, and won in his first start with
Hendrick Motorsports. He also made the record of leading the most laps, 47, during the shootout. •
2009:
Kevin Harvick, won the race for the first time on a last-lap pass reminiscent of his
2007 Daytona 500 last-lap pass on Mark Martin. This time however Harvick passed Jamie McMurray in Turn 3 for the win as an accident would occur behind Harvick, also the same scenario happened in the 500 for Harvick. •
2010: All Daytona 500 qualifying weekend activity was moved to Saturday, as not to conflict with
Super Bowl XLIV. Daytona 500 qualifying started at 12 noon, then the ARCA Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 at 4:30 pm, and the Budweiser Shootout was held at 8 pm.
Kevin Harvick won the race for the second time in a row, becoming the first driver to win it consecutively since
Tony Stewart. •
2011: After the track was repaved in the off-season, teams found tandem drafting to become prevalent at the restrictive plate tracks during the preseason. During the final laps, the lead pack of four cars ran single file, with
Ryan Newman in the lead, followed by
Denny Hamlin, then
Kurt Busch, and then
Jamie McMurray. Coming out of Turn 4 on the final lap, Busch and McMurray pulled to the outside, while
Denny Hamlin pulled to the inside. Hamlin exceeds track limits in passing Newman for the win, with Busch and McMurray passing Newman legally. Upon as review, Hamlin was dropped to the last car on the lead lap, in 13th, for exceeding track limits and all other drivers on the lead lap gained a position, giving Busch the win. •
2012:
Kyle Busch won the race after passing
Tony Stewart at the finish line. It was the closest finish in Bud Shootout history. The race itself, being the first Sprint Cup event under a new rules package designed to break up the controversial two-car tandem drafting of the previous year, was marked by three multi-car crashes during the race caused by drivers getting into the left-rear quarter panel of another car. The first crash happened in the first 25 lap segment when
Paul Menard got into
David Ragan in turn 2, starting an eight car crash. The drivers involved were:
Kasey Kahne,
Denny Hamlin,
Matt Kenseth,
Paul Menard,
Jeff Burton,
David Ragan,
Juan Pablo Montoya and
Michael Waltrip. The second one happened on lap 55, also in turn 2. This one started when
Marcos Ambrose turned
Joey Logano loose. Several other drivers were collected trying to avoid Logano, including Kenseth,
Martin Truex Jr.,
Dale Earnhardt Jr. and
Kevin Harvick. Harvick's brakes failed, and he ended up coasting down the apron with flames coming out from under his car, though they extinguished themselves before Harvick reached the garage. A third crash happened with two laps to go within regulation, when
Jeff Gordon got into the back of eventual winner Kyle Busch on turn 4. While Kyle retained control of his car, Gordon shot up the banking and collected
Jimmie Johnson,
Jamie McMurray and
Kurt Busch, and turned sideways on the driver's side door. Gordon was pushed down the track on his side for several hundred feet before his car barrel-rolled three times and came to a rest on his roof. •
2013:
Kevin Harvick won for the third time in the race. This was the first time the event was named the Sprint Unlimited. This race also marked the debut of the Sixth Generation car. •
2014: Denny Hamlin won his second Unlimited by overtaking
Brad Keselowski with drafting help from
Kyle Busch with two laps to go. The first race under a new rules package that included a slightly taller spoiler, there were numerous wrecks, including a frightening wreck on lap 35 when
Matt Kenseth was turned by
Joey Logano in the trioval, collecting
Kevin Harvick,
Kurt Busch,
Tony Stewart,
Danica Patrick,
Jeff Gordon,
Carl Edwards and
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., which saw Stenhouse's car first drive under Busch's rear wheels, lose its brakes and steering, before t-boning Patrick on the apron. The race also saw an incident during the break between the second and third segments in which the
Holden Commodore safety car suffered an electrical fire with the wiring harness used to control the safety car lights suffered a wiring short circuit. There were 16 lead changes among seven drivers. •
2015:
Matt Kenseth won the race with
Martin Truex Jr. challenging in the final laps.
Brad Keselowski crashed hard on the front straight at lap 25, and
Jamie McMurray caused the big one later in the race. After the race, defending series champion
Kevin Harvick and
Joey Logano were involved in an altercation after Logano's 22 sent Harvick's 4 into the turn four wall coming to the white flag. •
2016: Hamlin took command of the field and moved ahead of the No. 2 car. Eventually, Keselowski moved by him coming to the line and took the lead on lap 34. Hamlin shot ahead of Keselowski on the backstretch to take the lead back the next lap. Keselowski used a push from teammate
Joey Logano to retake the lead on lap 37. Just like his first stint in the lead, he picked up another piece of debris that covered his grill. The third caution of the race flew on lap 44 for a single-car spin on the backstretch. Going down the backstretch, Johnson made contact with Mears that sent him spinning through the grass. His car dug into the ground and ripped off the front fender. Keselowski opted to stay out while the rest of the field opted to pit, The race restarted with two laps to go in overtime, The field passed the overtime line and the race was official at that point. After a multi-car wreck in turn 1, Hamlin was declared the race winner. •
2017: The race was postponed from Saturday Night to Sunday Afternoon, the third rain postponement of the Clash. Kurt Busch lasted just shy of 20 laps as Jimmie Johnson got loose off of turn 4 and spun Busch. Denny Hamlin dominated and looked to be on his way to his fourth win in the event leading 48 laps. After leading at the white flag,
Brad Keselowski made a move to the inside that Hamlin left open, which led to Hamlin driving into Keselowski in a failed attempt to block him, ultimately ending their chances at winning. As the collision happened, Keselowski's teammate
Joey Logano was able to avoid the incident on the high side and ultimately won the event for the first time in his career over Kyle Busch and
Alex Bowman. Danica Patrick managed to finish 4th after running 10th at the white flag. •
2018: Unlike all the other years, except for 2006 and 2017, the race was held on Sunday Afternoon. The race saw only two caution flags, one for the end of the segment, and the other caused by
Jamie McMurray crashing in turn 4 after contact with
Kurt Busch on lap 34. He would ultimately be the only one not running at the end of the race. This was the first race where crew members only allow five men over the wall instead of six (catch can eliminated in refueling because of a new fuel can system), with the fastest pit stop going to
Kurt Busch at 16.9 seconds.
Brad Keselowski would win his first Clash race as a big wreck happened on the last lap where
Kyle Larson turns
Jimmie Johnson into the outside wall on the back straightaway collecting
Kyle Busch,
Chase Elliott,
Kasey Kahne, and
Martin Truex Jr. •
2019: For the first time in the race's history, it was truncated due to rain.
Paul Menard drew the pole and led 51 laps all through the rain-plagued race, breaking the record held by Dale Earnhardt Jr. for most laps led in the event. Rain red-flagged the race three times, first on lap 10, and a second time on lap 45. Racing was very tame as Menard led the entire 20 car field single file in the high groove. With more rain on the horizon, drivers were starting to make their moves. On lap 56
Jimmie Johnson got a run on Menard and in an attempt to get the lead by side-drafting, made contact with Menard. The ensuing contact triggered the "Big One" that involved 17 of the 20 cars in the field when Menard spun back across the track. As the field with Johnson now out in front circled the track under caution, rain began to fall once again. After being brought down pit road with 59 of the scheduled 75 laps completed and red-flagged for a third time, NASCAR called the race over, with Johnson taking home his second Clash triumph with controversy. Only eight of the 17 cars involved continued and were scored as having finished the race, resulting in only 11 of the 20 starters finishing the race. The race would ultimately be Johnson's last NASCAR-sanctioned victory. •
2020: Three multiple-car crashes in the final ten laps and overtime was the last straw. With ten laps remaining,
Joey Logano makes a block on Kyle Busch, causing a six-car incident in Turn 4. The race restarts with three laps remaining. William Byron and Ryan Newman make contact on the restart before the race is officially restarted, and a ten-car incident occurs. The race is extended to overtime. On the ensuing restart in the green-white-checkered finish, on Lap 78, another 11-car incident occurs in Turn 3, leading to a 7:27 red flag. On Lap 84, Turn 4 is the site of another crash with Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson, with Erik Jones also involved. Only six cars make the restart on Lap 87, which lets the one lapped car of Denny Hamlin, badly damaged, to push Erik Jones in the final two-lap restart. •
2021: On March 4, 2020, NASCAR, infuriated with the five massive incidents in the past 150 laps (from 2018 to 2020), with plans for the seventh-generation cars to debut in 2021, and to alleviate an issue with nearby
Super Bowl LV in nearby Tampa that is scheduled for February 7 (the date the Clash would normally run), makes three drastic changes. The Busch Clash is moved to Tuesday night of Daytona 500 week (February 9) on the road course, and intended to be run with the current sixth-generation car as the last race before the new seventh-generation car would debut at Daytona the next night during qualifying. However, two weeks after the announcement, the season is suspended ten weeks because of a lockdown. When the season restarted, development of the new car was delayed where it would not debut until the 2022 season. All original plans of date, course, and chassis were kept when the season restarted in May 2020. In December 2020, NASCAR cancelled for the 2021 season the Fontana round by extending the Daytona race meeting into having the first two rounds of all three national series races at Daytona, one on the oval and one on the road course. As only five rounds featured pole qualifying in 2020 (Daytona, Fontana, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Charlotte 1), the format added all former Daytona winners, and stage winners. The race was scheduled for 200 kilometers (35 laps), contrasting to the previous years of a 300 kilometer format (75 laps on the oval), half the distance of the ensuing Cup race on the road course two weeks later, split into 15 and 20 lap segments. At the finish, Kyle Busch won in the final quarter mile of the race when Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney crashed in the final chicane before pit entrance. •
2026: The race was originally scheduled to be held on February 1, 2026, but was postponed twice due to winter weather. ==Race notes==