DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- The Budweiser Shootout may be a non-points event. But that doesn't mean it's insignificant.

In fact, the Shootout, which starts Saturday at 8 p.m. ET, could be the confidence boost one of its 19 competitors need to prod them to victory in the Feb. 16 Daytona 500. Or, even better, it could help convince one of them to get their mind ready for racing and winning the title. That's what it did last season for Tony Stewart, who has won the last two Budweiser Shootouts.

	The cars hit the track Friday for practice for Saturday's Budweiser Shootout at Daytona.

After winning last season's Shootout, Stewart won the IROC event and finished high in his Gatorade 125 qualifying race. All of that made him the favorite to win the Daytona 500, but his engine blew on the second lap and he pulled out before making three full circuits.

"My confidence of how we ran here last year (before the Daytona 500) is probably what carried me through (the disappointment)," Stewart said. "We had an awesome week."

And he had an awesome year -- a championship season.

This year's Shootout, whose field is comprised of all of last season's pole winners and former winners of the event, will feature many changes. For the long-time watcher, the fact that the event is at night will be the biggest difference. The race was long run on the Sunday before the big day, but as night racing gains popularity, NASCAR and track operators continue to look for primetime TV opportunities.

In addition to the time and day switch, there will be a format change, too.

The race will still be 70 laps, but there will be a 10-minute break after the first 20 laps, when teams will be allowed to work on their cars and change setups, if necessary.

There are a few reasons for the new format. For one thing, almost every car on the track will have a different chassis. The Pontiacs, Chevrolets and Fords have all made changes to their body designs. And though Dodge has stayed the same, NASCAR has issued slight changes in each car so that all four are quite similar.

Working with a new chassis shape, and adjusting to the quicker speeds that running under the cool of night usually causes, gives crews several challenges for the first competitive event of the year.

In an effort to make certain that the race is thrilling, Winston Cup Director John Darby decided this would be a good move.

"The biggest alteration (from last year) will be the track temperature and the change in setup used, because of the racing being at night instead of on a hot sunny afternoon," he said. "Beyond that it'll be pretty much the same. The teams will take a portion of what they used in July (in the Pepsi 400) at Daytona -- a small portion, obviously, because it was much warmer then -- and try to mix that with some of their weather parameters they may have encountered during NASCAR Preseason Thunder testing when it was chilly. They'll put that in the mix and try to hit their targets.

"The break after 20 laps will give teams -- especially with this being a night race -- a chance, if they've missed their setups a little bit, to come in and correct that and finish out the race where they need to be."

When the drivers finish the race, however, there will be yet another change.

Last year, in an effort to break up the tight bunches that using restrictor plates causes at superspeedways, NASCAR reduced the capacity of the fuel tanks in the cars from 22 gallons to about 13. The result was that, as drivers trickled onto the pits almost twice as often -- and at differing times since they were getting different fuel mileage -- the activity on the track was a little less frenetic.

Stewart and many others said they appreciated that "breather." Although the racing, when all of the cars had finished pitting, was still bumper-to-bumper, side-by-side, drivers did get breaks to relax during the race.

NASCAR has mandated those smaller fuel cells be used at each superspeedway race, including the Budweiser Shootout and this week's qualifying races. The smaller fuel cells will force drivers to come in for at least one pit stop during the final 50-lap segment, meaning pit crews will be important in deciding the outcome.

"I don't mind that so much," said Matt Kenseth, whose crew is generally regarded as the quickest on the circuit.

Kevin Harvick, who is participating in only his second Speedweeks as a Winston Cup driver, will race in the Shootout for the first time. He said he understood the importance of hitting the setup and having a fast pit stop, but he also said he didn't know what it would be like racing in this exhibition event.

In fact, when asked how much he knew about the event, Harvick replied: "Not much really. I know you get to drink free beer if you win."

You see. It's not insignificant at all.

Rupen Fofaria is a beat writer for The Raleigh News & Observer and a regular contributor to ESPN.com.