The 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup season begins Saturday night with the Bud Shootout at Daytona International Speedway and then single-lap qualifying on Sunday for the Feb. 18 Daytona 500.

Series champion Jimmie Johnson hopes to earn his second checkered flag in the non-points race. The 2005 Shootout winner and driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet said the shootout is NASCAR�s version of baseball’s opening day. The 21-driver field will draw for starting positions on Friday night.

DRIVER JIMMIE JOHNSON QUOTES:

BUD SHOOTOUT: ‘This is NASCAR’s version of ‘Opening Day.’ The last time we raced was in Homestead and that seems like a long time ago. To get out there and start racing again in something as wild and fun as the Shootout is really cool. It�s one of the races everyone anticipates. We won this race in 2005. Winning this event is always a great way to start the season.’

2007 ATTITUDE: “We are excited. We aren’t resting on our laurels. We know we have a lot of work ahead of us. If you look at the history books you will see there aren�t a lot of back-to-back champions in our sport. But this team has overcome a lot of hurdles in the last few years and this will be just another challenge for us. I think we have learned a lot in the last few years. We seem to get stronger every year and I expect that to continue this season. We are very optimistic and can’t wait to see the green flag drop.”

OFFSEASON: “We had a great off-season. We celebrated our championship and did a lot of media work, appearances and took some vacation time. I’m ready to get back at it. The Shootout is a great place to start. This is going to be a fun season. There’s going to be a lot of issues to keep the fans interested.”

QUALIFYING: “It’s important to us. It decides where we will start the Twin 150s. You want to be up front ahead of any trouble that might develop. (Crew Chief) Chad (Knaus) puts a lot of work on our qualifying setups. The driver doesn’t play a great role in single lap qualifying, it’s more about all the hard work our race team at Hendrick Motorsports puts into the restrictor plate program.