The 2012 Budweiser Shootout was the first exhibition stock car race of
the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. It was held on February 18, 2012,
before a crowd of 82,000 in Daytona Beach, Florida, at the Daytona
International Speedway, one of six superspeedways to hold NASCAR races.
The 82-lap race was won by Kyle Busch (pictured) of the Joe Gibbs Racing
team. It was Busch's first victory in the event; Tony Stewart finished
second and Marcos Ambrose came in third. The race saw twenty-six lead
changes, shared among thirteen drivers. Before the first turn, pole
position driver Martin Truex, Jr. was passed by Jeff Gordon, and at the
end of the first lap, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. led. On the ninth lap, a
multiple-car accident prompted the first caution flag. Sixteen laps
later the second caution was issued, with Jamie McMurray leading. During
the caution period, all teams made pit stops. On lap 62 Gordon reclaimed
the lead and held it until his car hit the wall and rolled over,
prompting the fifth and final caution. Stewart took the lead, but in the
final lap, Busch passed him to win. The race attracted 7.46 million
television viewers.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Budweiser_Shootout>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1766:
A mutiny by captive Malagasy began at sea on the slave ship
Meermin, leading to the ship's destruction on Cape Agulhas in present-
day South Africa and the recapture of the instigators.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meermin_slave_mutiny>
1878:
Competition between two merchants in Lincoln County, New Mexico
Territory, US, turned into a range war when a member of one faction was
murdered by the other.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_County_War>
1943:
Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's propaganda minister, delivered the
"total war speech" to motivate the German people when the tide of World
War II was turning against Germany.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sportpalast_speech>
1977:
NASA's first Space Shuttle, Enterprise, made its first "flight"
atop a Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Enterprise>
2010:
Rebels attacked the presidential palace in Niamey, Niger, and
replaced President Mamadou Tandja with a ruling junta, the Supreme
Council for the Restoration of Democracy.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Nigerien_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
quoit:
1. A flat disc of metal or stone thrown at a target in the game of quoits.
2. A ring of rubber or rope similarly used in the game of deck-quoits.
3. The flat stone covering a cromlech.
4. The discus used in ancient sports.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/quoit>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream
together is reality.
--Yoko Ono
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Yoko_Ono>