The All-Star Race, What a Mess
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[/media-credit]Why it is that NASCAR feels it has to tweak the All-Star race. Consider this. The All-Star Game, the mid-summer classic plays nine innings and all rules apply. The NBA All-Star event follows the rules and the NFL late season All-Star game still plays four quarters and follows the rules. Yet, NASCAR, who lusts after those stick and ball sports thinks they have to mess with the format. What they did on Saturday night was really screw up the formula. They once again made it so that those smarter than you and me could manipulate the race. Sure, strategy is part of sports, but this went to the extreme.
First they gave a real advantage to the winner of the pit crew competition held earlier in the week. The winner of that “competition” got their choice of pit stalls. Back in the day, the pit crew competition was held at North Carolina Speedway, now Rockingham Speedway, on a real race track with the driver of the car in the driver’s seat. Nowadays, it’s in some area in Uptown Charlotte with any number of people behind the wheel. No longer do drivers drive off after service. The cars are pushed to the so-called finish line with girlfriends and notables, in some case, behind the wheel. Strike One.
Then, someone decided that a reward would be given to each driver who won four of the five segments of the race. Each would be allowed to pit first through fourth on the final segment. In past races, the field was inverted, but not this time. The rich get richer. Jimmie Johnson first and followed by Matt Kenseth and Brad Keselowski moved to the back and stroked around because they knew that in the end, they would have an advantage.
Only Dale Earnhardt, Jr. didn’t have the luxury, winning the fourth segment. Truth is that it robbed the fans on TV and at the track of seeing the five-time champ, the current Daytona 500 champ, and a rising star, were robbed of seeing these stars race.
Sure, it was the correct strategy, given the rules that must have been formulated by someone who didn’t understand what would happen. As it turned out, the format ruined the racing. Sure, it’s just an All-Star race, but to fans, it looked like a fix. I’m sure if they had run 90 laps, Jimmie Johnson would have won, but all the format changes just added to the misery.
The racing was good back in the pack, but the real fast cars, somewhat like baseball’s Prince Fielder or Albert Pujols sitting out the middle innings, were sitting in the back waiting for the final ten laps or the ninth inning in baseball terms. It was just a little joke on those that raced in that last segment. The real power was at the back of the field, waiting for the end.
Crazy! Do baseball, football, and basketball players take steroids to beef up for the All-Star game? And yet we see trick engines and apparently no rules.
Fans love the All-Star race, but those making decisions need to look at what we are doing—racing—and let it be straight up. Saw a tweet from Steven Wallace. He said the race was perfect. No wrecks and no passing. That’s an exaggeration, but true in some ways.
My response was that our drivers have become too good to make mistakes or that they are too good to settle because some are just too good. Either way, that’s sad.
The “Pass In the Grass” and the close competition at the end of these races is only a memory. It’s all about finding a loophole in the rules and exploiting it, as usual. But this time, NASCAR, or whoever changed the format, made it easy. I guess I’m in the minority.
Johnson takes it to the bank
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[/media-credit]Charlotte NC – The sheriff’s back in town and he goes by the name of Jimmie Johnson, ‘old five-time.’ Sheriff Johnson ran down the Beast of the Southeast to conquer the ‘D’ Shaped Oval and pocket his one million dollar paycheck for his third All-Star win.
Last week’s Darlington winner celebrated in style after another flawless performance by the No. 48 Lowe’s team at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He took his boss, Rick Hendrick, for a ride sitting inside the driver’s side window, down the front stretch, to celebrate another milestone. Johnson joins only two other drivers as a three-time winner in the All-Star event, the late Dale Earnhardt Sr. and his teammate Jeff Gordon.
Johnson and Crew Chief Chad Knaus dominated at this facility when it was appropriately named Lowe’s Motor Speedway, so it was no surprise to find Johnson leading after the first 20-lap caution free segment in the 28th All Star Race event. The team had a great strategy to keep Johnson out of trouble while waiting for the final 10-lap shootout for all the marbles. His marbles added up to a total bank roll of $1,071,340.
Johnson’s win is a culmination of an amazing week, kicked off by Hendrick Motorsports 200th win. The momentum continued for the Lowe’s No. 48 team when they earned top honors in the Pit Crew Challenge and the ability to choose their pit box location. Johnson’s All-Star win is the seventh win for HMS in this event.
“I was doing all I could to get by, but it wasn’t meant to be, “said Brad Keselowski, driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge. Keselowski finished second but was still smiling after the fireworks given the outcome of the race. Matt Kenseth, the third place finisher was cutting jokes with Keselowski as they discussed the race format, side skirting on the cars and the strategic run that placed their cars in the rear of the field while the final segment was decided. Kenseth credited that time as a possible savior on his engine package, his teammates were not as fortunate.
Reigning All Star Race Champion Carl Edwards exited stage left when his No. 99 Fastenal Ford Fusion broke down. The machine ignited a fire underneath. “It’s insane back there in traffic,” said Edwards. “I don’t know what the front of the race is like, but where I’m at its insane.
Edwards took a different approach and while he was saddened to leave the race early, Edwards was pleased to join the commentators in the television booth. “You might have lost a driver out of this race,” Edwards commented after exiting the race on lap 27. “But you gained a fan,” he said.
Lap 67 saw a similar display of despair for Edwards, Roush Fenway Racing teammate. Greg Biffle, driver of the No. 16 3M machine went up in smoke and had to quickly evacuate his flaming ride. The car put down a trail of fluid stretching from turn four to the backstretch.
The four 20-lap segments paid $50,000 to win and gave the driver an early entry to pit lane in preparation for the 10-lap shootout. Johnson took the caution free first segment. The second segment was banked by Kenseth in his Fifth Third themed race car. The third segment went to Keselowski by a bumper over Kasey Kahne who started the race in a backup car after a qualifying accident on Friday. The Sprint Showdown winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. secured his spot with a takedown in the fourth segment.
Rounding out the top five in the final shootout were fourth place Kyle Busch, the polesitter, and Earnhardt. Kevin Harvick, Marcos Ambrose, Kurt Busch, Kahne and Ryan Newman rounded out the top ten. Twenty-one cars finished the race. Fan vote in Bobby Labonte ended up in 19th.
Unofficial Race Results : Sprint All-Star Race
Sprint All-Star Race – May 19, 2012 – Exhibition
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Make | Speed | Time | Bnd |
| 1 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | 0 | 90 | Running |
| 2 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Dodge | 0 | 90 | Running |
| 3 | 17 | Matt Kenseth | Ford | 0 | 90 | Running |
| 4 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 0 | 90 | Running |
| 5 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Chevrolet | 0 | 90 | Running |
| 6 | 29 | Kevin Harvick | Chevrolet | 0 | 90 | Running |
| 7 | 9 | Marcos Ambrose | Ford | 0 | 90 | Running |
| 8 | 51 | Kurt Busch | Chevrolet | 0 | 90 | Running |
| 9 | 5 | Kasey Kahne | Chevrolet | 0 | 90 | Running |
| 10 | 39 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | 0 | 90 | Running |
| 11 | 22 | AJ Allmendinger | Dodge | 0 | 90 | Running |
| 12 | 78 | Regan Smith | Chevrolet | 0 | 90 | Running |
| 13 | 24 | Jeff Gordon | Chevrolet | 0 | 90 | Running |
| 14 | 15 | Clint Bowyer | Toyota | 0 | 90 | Running |
| 15 | 21 | Trevor Bayne | Ford | 0 | 90 | Running |
| 16 | 27 | Paul Menard | Chevrolet | 0 | 90 | Running |
| 17 | 14 | Tony Stewart | Chevrolet | 0 | 90 | Running |
| 18 | 34 | David Ragan | Ford | 0 | 90 | Running |
| 19 | 47 | Bobby Labonte | Toyota | 0 | 90 | Running |
| 20 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 0 | 90 | Running |
| 21 | 55 | Mark Martin | Toyota | 0 | 90 | Running |
| 22 | 16 | Greg Biffle | Ford | 0 | 67 | Out of Race |
| 23 | 99 | Carl Edwards | Ford | 0 | 25 | Out of Race |
