Poor Patrick Carpentier. You can’t help but like the guy. And now, after winning the pole at New Hampshire earlier this year, he’s not going to qualify for next February’s Budweiser Shootout.

Neither will Joe Nemechek (Talladega), nor Paul Menard (Daytona). Heck, the Shootout may be Carpentier’s least worry considering GEM’s signing of Reed Sorenson.

It would have been a nice gesture for those guys to be in Sprint Cup’s pre-season showdown. But let’s face it, they’re not the type that’s typically showcased at these sort of events. Geoffrey Bodine comes to mind. Having won the 1992 Busch Clash, he’s the most recent preseason exhibition race winner to celebrate without having the clout of perceived all-stars.

Bodine did, however, have 11 of his 18 career victories at the time of his Clash win. And yes, Denny Hamlin did win the Shootout as a rookie in 2006 — a rookie who happened to earn half of his four victories that same year. The rest of the winner’s list in the 16 years since Bodine includes names like Earnhardt, Gordon, Stewart, Jarrett, Johnson, to name a few. All champions.

Put simply, it’s the all-star race before the season.

Most recently, drivers qualified by winning a pole the previous season or having won the event in the past. That’s gone, thankfully. Laying down a fast lap under shady skies on any given Friday doesn’t make one an all-star. And winning the event three years ago with another team doesn’t make one an all-star today.

Now it’s the top six in owner points from each manufacturer. Diluted? Two cars from Michael Waltrip Racing are set to qualify as of now: David Reutimann and Michael Waltrip. It should be noted that both of those drivers are ahead of Nemechek and Carpentier in driver standings. Joey Logano is qualified and he hasn’t driven a race yet. So? As previously mentioned, Hamlin won the event as a rookie.

What this new format does is actually place meaning on the owner standings, whereas before – to the common fan – those points were meaningless.

What it also does is put cars into the Shootout that have proven to be successful on a consistent basis, whereas before one fast lap punched the ticket.

• Josh Pate, NASCAR.COM

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.

Thank you NASCAR, you have now screwed up the first race of the season.

Yes I know, the Budweiser Shootout is just an exhibition and the season truly begins with the “Super Bowl of NASCAR,” the Daytona 500. But the first racing action a fan gets is the Budweiser Shootout, and I, along with millions of other fans, love that race.

The premise was simple — win a pole, get in the show. All the pole winners from the previous season, along with past winners of the Shootout, battled it out under the lights in Daytona, trying to get the season started off on the right foot.

Now, NASCAR has taken a great event, ruined it and it turned it into a joke.

Claiming they want to “add more drama by making it about the manufacturers” translates to Coors Light now sponsors the pole award and Budweiser will have none of that. Nice to see two of the sport’s sponsors can get along for the good of the fans.

Forget the fact that drivers looked forward to the Shootout because they EARNED their way in, now guys 32nd in points can make it simply because Dodge and Toyota don’t have enough good drivers in their stable.

When Carl Edwards won his first pole in Atlanta in 2005, one of the first things he said was he was excited because it meant a berth in the Shootout. Well, so much for that. Winning a pole has just lost a ton of its luster. Sure, drivers will still try to get that P1 position in qualifying, but it doesn’t have as much meaning with the new rules.

All four manufacturers will have six drivers in the new Shootout field, never mind the fact that Dodge barely has six drivers qualify for a race on a weekly basis, or Toyota is still struggling to keep six cars in the top 35, even with the addition of Joe Gibbs Racing.

If the season were to end today, guys like David Reutimann, Michael Waltrip, Juan Montoya and Travis Kvapil would qualify – so much for the best of the best.

NASCAR has made some good changes: the new car, the Chase, go-or-go-home qualifying at once, all good things to improve the sport. Well, they dropped the ball big time on this one.

The Shootout was a great way to start the season, now my February just got a little longer because I won’t be watching.

• Bill Kimm, NASCAR.COM

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.