February 12 2011 Last updated at 10:18 PM ET
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Call it "Dancing with the Cars.'' Saturday night's Budweiser Shootout exhibition was a 200-mph tango of two-car drafts on the newly-paved, super-fast Daytona International Speedway.
In a photo finish, Kurt Busch won a predictably wild NASCAR opener on the new $20 million racing surface, pushed to the front by defending Daytona 500 winner Jamie McMurray a few feet before the finish line. Denny Hamlin took the checkered flag first, but was subsequently black-flagged for dropping below the yellow line on the track trying to pass Ryan Newman at the finish line.
NASCAR ruled the finish Busch, McMurray and Newman. Five-time defending Sprint Cup Series champ Jimmie Johnson and Greg Biffle rounded out the top five.
"What an unbelievable experience,'' Busch said.
The race had set a record for lead changes (24) with 12 laps to go -- there ended up being 28. The two-car drafts were easily reaching speeds of 206 mph -- nearly 15 mph faster than last year's pole-winning speed for the Daytona 500.
Picking a dancing partner was nearly as important as having the fastest car. And "two-car breakaway" described the entire field. In an intense version of speed dating, Newman was pushed by Hamlin up until the final few feet while just alongside McMurray pushed Busch's No. 22 Pennzoil Dodge to Busch and Dodge's first Shootout victory.
"I went to the inside of Ryan Newman and I saw quickly a dart down to the bottom so I moved my car down to the bottom to avoid contact,'' Hamlin said. "I thought it was a great three-wide finish, but obviously, I used some pavement that we shouldn't have.''
Only 14 cars were still in the 75-lap exhibition with 24 laps remaining thanks to a handful of accidents caused when the two-car draft was just out of sync, a case of two left feet.
"There's plenty of film tonight for the highlight reels that's pretty much what we're filling up right now, SportsCenter,'' Kyle Busch said after his dancing, er, drafting partner, veteran Mark Martin, hit him from behind too hard and crashed them both out midway through the race.
Clint Bowyer won the first 25-lap segment thanks to a boost from this Richard Childress Racing teammate Jeff Burton one lap before the mandatory caution period. The average speed of the 25-lapper -- which didn't have any caution laps -- was 196.587 mph -- five mph faster than last year's pole-winning speed.
Polesitter Dale Earnhardt Jr. told his team on the radio only a few laps into the event that the racing was "ridiculous."
During the 25-lap mandatory caution period Carl Edwards declared, "This is crazy, man.
"I'll tell you what I have to have more trust than I've ever had. ... My hands are just white-knuckled,'' Edwards said.
And then three laps after the race resumed, Edwards got into the back of Earnhardt's Chevrolet, starting a six-car accident that eliminated them both along with Joey Logano, Juan Pablo Montoya, Regan Smith and Kevin Conway, who were collected in the melee.
"We were learning the art of doing it and starting getting good at it, but I think towards the end of the race it's going to get crazy,'' Logano said.
"It depends on what end of the deal you're on. When you're out there it's a lot of fun, when you're in here (the garage), it sucks.
"NASCAR will make the call whatever they want to do with it. Either way, it's entertaining, I can tell you that much. It was a lot of fun. I just wasn't sure what was going to happen next.''
Both Newman and McMurray said they enjoyed the racing, acknowledging it was a new experience for sure. They also predicted a similarly wild outing in Thursday's Gatorade Duels -- a pair of 150-lap qualifying races that will set the majority of the field for the Feb. 20 Daytona 500.
"It's going to be crazy,'' Newman said, but cautioned that the increasingly high speeds weren't really an issue as of yet.
"From 195 to 206 miles per hour, you can't feel it,'' Newman said. "But as long as we're keeping the car on the race track, that's what matters. If were doing 212 and the cars were safe and on the ground, then that's fine with me.''
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