There were no fireworks, there were no tempers, the boys didn't have at it and the most exciting moment was the victory burnout. The anticipation and excitement of what promised to be a knock 'em down, drag 'em out battle for $1,000,000 proved to be like a firecracker that fizzles out before it can explode. Not all races are going to be gems. There will always be some (Auto Club Speedway and Michigan Speedway for example) that should probably be known as the Sleepy's 500. But in a checkers or wreckers battle for $1,000,000, fans expect to see some tempers and some bent sheet metal.
Before the actual All Star race, the drivers not locked into the main event get one last chance to win and get in by finishing first or second in the Sprint Showdown. Out of the twenty or so cars that run this preliminary heat race, about ten have a legitimate shot to make it. The two Richard Petty Motorsports Fords of A.J. Allmendinger and Marcos Ambrose, as well as Paul Menard's #27 Chevy and Martin Truex, Jr's #56 NAPA Camry were the main contenders to make it into the show. But most of the race was dominated by the #6 of David Ragan and the "Blue Deuce" wheeled by Brad Keselowski. The race was fairly clean, save for a vicious wreck with Landon Cassill and Derrike Cope. The major issue with cars being able to challenge Ragan and Keselowski was the restarts. Having guys like Ragan, Keselowski and Menard up front, guys that don't spend all that much time leading races, they led the field to the restarts so slow that the cars behind them were ready to go and nearly ran them over and stacked up the entire field. That's how Truex and Jeff Burton had their chances taken away. They were stacked up on a restart and received heavy fender damage. Marcos Ambrose wheeled his DeWalt Ford like a pro and, for the second week in a row, had a legitimate shot at the victory. But the race wasn't quite long enough and the Tasmanian racer ran out of laps. But next week in the Coke 600, Ambrose and his #9 RPM team will definitely be one to watch. So David Ragan went on to win his first Cup race of any kind (albeit the least significant one of the season) and Keseloski finished runner up.
All that was left was to decide the fan vote. Names like A.J. Allmendinger, Brian Vickers and Joey Logano were tossed around as potential winners, but since the fan vote is nothing but a glorified popularity contest and Dale Jr was not locked into the field, the winner of the fan vote was..........
Wait for it...............
Wait for it...............
DALE EARNHARDT, JR!!!
The All Star race consisted of four segments this year. The first was a 50 lap segment with a mandatory four tire pit stop at lap 25. The next two segment were 20 laps with a ten minute intermission to adjust the cars after the third segment. The final segment was a ten lap, all or nothing, checkers or wreckers shootout for all the money. Kyle Busch led the field to the green flag and the All Star Race was on! This is gonna be great! The first 50 laps went just as expected, clean and uneventful. Greg Biffle managed to grab the lead from Busch and win the segment.
Going into the second segment, Busch and Biff had established themselves as favorites to win the whole thing, but Carl Edwards' #99 was lurking in the weeds. He would actually go on to win the next two segments in dominant fashion. Then it all came down to the final pit stop. The way the teams came off pit road would determine how they lined up for the final ten lap shootout. Edwards beat Busch off pit road and a new contender also emerged. David Reutimann had had a fast car all night long and was slowly working his way up from 18th starting spot. Now he would line up fifth for the final dash for cash.
On the final restart, Carl and Kyle managed to grab the lead, while Reutimann wheeled his Aaron's Dream Machine up to third, setting his sights on that million dollars. This team didn't get a whole lot of publicity during the race, even with Reutimann's car owner Michael Waltrip calling the race for Speed. But the whole #00 team deserves a pat on the back. David and his Rodney Childers led pit crew lost the handle on their car and worked their tails off to get it back during the ten minute break. Congrats to Beak and his Michael Waltrip Racing team! Job well done guys! Third was as high as D-Reut could climb and Busch could never run down Carl to make it interesting. So a ten lap shootout was turned into ten laps of single file, green flag racing. But the wackiest part of the night came after the checkered flag waved. As Carl slid his car through the infield grass, he hit a divot or something, hooking the front of his car, completely destroying it. But it did come to rest right at the start finish line and Carl did the celebratory back flip fans have come to expect.
So Carl Edwards is $1,000,000 richer and the only wrecker used all night was the one that towed his car to victory lane. I can't figure out why such an exciting, adrenaline pumping race could be such a snoozer. This race has always had one simple rule: Bring back the big check or bring back the steering wheel. With Nascar's moratorium on testing, teams may have just used this race as a glorified practice session for next weeks Coca Cola 600? I don't know. I do know that tons of fans, myself included, are extremely disappointed with how this race panned out. But with next week being the Coke 600, Nascar's longest race, there is bound to be some definite action. The 100th Indianapolis 500, the Coca Cola 600, Memorial Day weekend is also the ultimate race fans weekend! It's definitely gonna be exciting!
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