Sprint All-Star Race News and Notes

Sprint All-Star Race preview
By Micah Roberts
VegasInsider.com

This is the time of the year where NASCAR gets an un-official travel break. It’s the All-Star week and all the teams get to take a break from the rigors of weekly travel and stay within the Charlotte area where most all of the teams and drivers live. Last weeks race at Darlington is only a few a hundred miles away from their own beds so by the time they hit Dover on May 31st, they’ll have had four weeks of sleeping in their own bed. Following the All-Star race this week in Charlotte is the year’s longest race of the season, The Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte as well. It doesn’t seem like big a deal, but every one of the drivers love the month of May just because it is somewhat of a break, even though they don’t have a week off.

The format for this year’s race has changed a bit. The first segment of the race will be 50 laps followed by separate 20 lap segments and then the final 10 lap dash for the checkers. Nineteen drivers are currently eligible and three others will be able to race their way in by way of the qualifying race held on Saturday called the Sprint Showdown. To initially be invited, a driver must have won a race in the previous year or this season up to this point. They may also get in by being a past Cup Champion or have won the All-Star race within the last 10 years. The top two drivers finishing in the Sprint Showdown will make the All-Star race and a fans poll will determine who makes the third and final entry into the All-Star race. Last season Kasey Kahne got the fans vote and then he went on to win the whole thing in shocking fashion. Not only did Kahne go from not winning the Sprint Showdown to winning the All-Star race, but he carried that momentum into the next week and won the Coca-Cola 600.

This years cast of Characters to win the All-Star race can likely found be glancing at the results from the three races run at Las Vegas, Atlanta and Texas. Like those three tracks, Charlotte is a high banked fast 1.5 mile “D” shaped oval. All of the four tracks have their own characteristics that make them unique, but the set-ups for each car remain relatively the same. If the driver did well on two of the three similar tracks, they’re likely to do well this week.

The only driver to finish in the top 10 in all three of the 1.5 mile high banked tracks this season is Jeff Gordon. He was 6th in Vegas, 2nd in Atlanta and 1st in Texas. If it weren’t for such a dominating performance by Kurt Busch in Atlanta, Gordon would be looking at having two of the three wins. He is a three-time winner of this race, the last coming in 2000, and is the driver to beat this week.

Seven other drivers have two top 10 finishes in the three races, and surprisingly one of them isn’t Kyle Busch, who won the Vegas race. Busch is the 9/2 favorite this week not only because he has won three races this season, but because the final 10 lap dash is right up his alley. Of all the drivers in the series, no one is better than Kyle on re-starts and letting it all hang out for 10 laps. He made quite a name for himself from the Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the same type of formats in Saturday night specials and has carried that same type of style into becoming NASCAR’s most controversial driver.

Another driver who only has one top 10 finish on the three similar tracks is Jimmie Johnson. He finished 2nd in the most recent race at Texas, but fared poorly in Vegas and Atlanta. He is a two- time winner of the All-Star race and since he’s been in the series, no one has won more at the track that sponsors both his car and the track, Lowe’s Home Improvement.

The hottest driver in the circuit right now may be Tony Stewart, who came into the season with so many question marks. The biggest question was how Stewart would do in the high banked 1.5 mile tracks that require an immense amount of horsepower. Stewart failed early on in Las Vegas, but rallied with a 7th in Atlanta and then came in 4th at Texas, an upward progression that shows Stewart’s team has figured things out. He hasn’t won a race yet this season, but has been so consistently good in all the races that he finds himself 2nd in points behind Gordon.

After dominating Atlanta, Kurt Busch struggled a bit with a disappointing 8th in Texas. There were high expectations for that Texas race, but they couldn’t get the right mix for the race and recreate the Atlanta magic. It’s likely that they’ll have things figured this week in Charlotte and we’ll see the Blue Deuce near the front again. Busch’s most memorable moment in the All-Star still remains with his brother Kyle racing like a bat out hell and wrecking Kurt while battling for position. It was perfect testament to just how important this race is. There are no Family ties when going for over $1 Million in prize money.

Greg Biffle finished 7th in Vegas and 3rd in Texas, but more importantly, it looks like the Roush racing organization has solved their engine issues. It’s likely that we’ll soon see a Roush car in the winners circle on these types of tracks, maybe this week, or next in the Coca-Cola.

Mark Martin is a two-time winner of the All-Star race and also a two-time winner this season. It’s the first time since 1999 that Martin has had multiple wins in a season and he’s still got 25 races to improve on it and tackle his career best of seven wins from 1998. So far, so good for Martin who has just signed on to run another full season with Hendrick Motorsports. Thus far, every Hendrick driver that is serious about driving and not selling gear has won a race.

Top 5 Finish Prediction:

1) #18 Kyle Busch (9/2)
2) #16 Greg Biffle (12/1)
3) #24 Jeff Gordon (6/1)
4) #48 Jimmie Johnson (5/1)
5) #2 Kurt Busch (10/1)