All-Star Weekend
By Micah Roberts
VegasInsider.com
I often carelessly throw around that a certain race or track is my favorite and you have to be thinking if reading weekly, "Wait a minute, he just said he loves Martinsville or Talladega the most, or that the road courses are his favorite form of racing...what gives?"
Yes, it's true, I really do like them all, but I think I get a little more jazzed for the annual All-Star Race just because of the pageantry and the fact that every eligible driver gets a little pumped for the opportunity to win $1 million if they take the checkers.
I absolutely love the baseball All-Star game for some of the same reasons I like the NASCAR event. It's an honor for the players and drivers alike. It's the best of the best competing and showcasing what makes them superstars.
But what separates NASCAR above all is the dangling cash at stake. Really? $1 million just for winning a non-points race that has no effect of the season? That's some serious cheese which adds to the greatness of the event and elevates it to the top All-Star event in all of sports.
How about the NBA, NHL or NFL All-Star events? They don't play any defense and sometimes and the game looks nothing like the regular season and a win or loss doesn't matter to any of the participants. In NASCAR, the participants all want to be there. Most of them are at home, sleeping in their owns beds in Charlotte for the next two weeks with no travel. It's a nice break for them. With no points at stake, they give the fans a show and elevate their game in a dash for cash more so than they do for any other race. We've seen teammates wreck each other for $1 million and we've seen brothers take each other out. It's racing the way it ought to be and I love it.
This year's format is a little different from years past, but eligibility is the same. There are 11 drivers that get automatic invites from winning in the current and preceding season. Tony Stewart gets an invite for being a past Sprint Cup champion and three other drivers are eligible for winning past All-Star events. There are four other drivers invited that have to race their way in to the All-Star race during Friday's qualifying Sprint Showdown which is a 50-lap dash with two stages. There are 30 drivers and one invite will be given to the winner of the first two 20-lap segments and then another to the final 10-lap dash.
Among the 27 drivers remaining, fans can vote one of them in -- good bet it'll be Danica Patrick -- which will give the All-Star race a total of 19 drivers.
The All-Star race has two 50-lap segments and then a 13-lap dash for the cash where only green flag laps count. Prior to the final 13-lap dash, a random draw will decide whether the top nine, 10 or 11 cars must enter pit road for a mandatory four-tire pit stop. Pit road will be closed for all others cars which will makes the cars up front racing on older tires while the cars with fresh tires will start further back.
It's a nice wrinkle that should provide some intense moments with differing strategies. Is it better to be up front with only 13 laps to go and worn tires, or is there enough time for the fresh tires to make up the difference? My money would be on fresh tires at Charlotte with 13 laps to go, but we'll have to see.
Even though the format is much different from a normal race and there is more randomness involved because of the draw, it's still a fun race to wager on. You can get a head start on who should offer the best value just by looking at the four races on 1.5-mile tracks this season. Jimmie Johnson won at Atlanta, Brad Keselowski won at Las Vegas and Kyle Busch won on the last two at Texas and Kansas. Busch is the only driver to finish in the top-five of all four races which is why is deserves to be the favorite this week. Busch also has the top All-Star Race Loop data that NASCAR keeps, even though he's never won the race. Johnson is a four-time winner and there is no better money racer.
All five the Joe Gibbs Racing drivers -- including Martin Truex Jr. -- should have somewhat of an edge, but with the format in the final 13 laps being kind of weird, that edge is taken away a little bit. I like the value Matt Kenseth will provide this week. He finally won a race last week at Dover after experiencing all kinds of back luck this season. His first top-five of the season came two weeks ago at Kansas.
The spot where there might be the best chance of hitting a nice score is with Friday's Sprint Showdown.
Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson should be considered the favorites, but Ryan Blaney is going to be strong and should find himself winning one of the segments and maybe the race itself. There are far less quality cars in this event than the All-Star race.
Good luck and enjoy the weekend of racing!
Be sure to keep a mental note of what happened in both races because it'll make you one step ahead for wagering on the Coca-Cola 600 next week at Charlotte. Same conditions at night and you'll see some kind of sign with several drivers that they'll be capable or not for the longest race of the season.
Sprint Showdown Top-5 Finish Prediction
1) #21 Ryan Blaney (10/1)
2) #24 Chase Elliott (4/1)
3) #42 Kyle Larson (9/2)
4) #3 Austin Dillon (5/1)
5) #17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (14/1)
All-Star Race Top-5 Finish Prediction
1) #20 Matt Kenseth (10/1)
2) #22 Joey Logano (10/1)
3) #18 Kyle Busch (5/1)
4) #19 Carl Edwards (8/1)
5) #48 Jimmie Johnson (7/1)