By Staff
One of the most hyped and anticipated events of the NASCAR season is Saturday night at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte.
The 24th Sprint Cup All-Star Race, this sport's version of an all star game, will be run with all the pageantry, glitz, and glamour that even the best promoter could imagine.
There will be fireworks, elaborate introductions, a great race, and, something new this year, the Pennzoil Victory Challenge.
What in the world is a Victory Challenge, you ask. It is a burnout competition, yep, a burnout competition.
The official description of this far-fetched display is a competition to prove who is best at celebrating a victory.
Before the race Saturday night, Greg Biffle, Clint Bowyer, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, and Jimmie Johnson will each lay down their best burnout, turn two donuts, and drive into a designated area, a so called Victory Lane.
These guys will be judged on "style points" and elapsed time.
I don't know about you, but this is one part of the festivities that I refuse to watch.
I think Humpy Wheeler, the President of Lowe's Motor Speedway and the best promoter in the sport, is really reaching on this one. How in the world can you give style points for a burnout?
Heck you can't even see the car because all smoke. I have always thought the burnout and donuts after victories were way over-rated anyway.
This is just a way for Pennzoil to pay big bucks to have their name on some lame competition. There, I'm done.
Now, back to the race.
This is a non-points event with only 24 drivers and $1 million to the winner. Those three things add up to wild racing.
Drivers can be eligible to participate in the All-Star race five different ways. Drivers or car owners with race wins in the current or preceding year qualify along with past Cup champions.
Drivers who have who this race in the last 10 years also qualify. The 21 drivers who qualify by one of these three criteria are locked into the race. The last three spots will be filled before the race Saturday.
The winner and the runner-up of the 40-lap qualifying race, the Sprint Showdown, will move on to the main event.
The 24th driver will be determined by a fan vote.
The All-Star race will be 100 laps, broken down into four 25-lap segments. There will be mandatory pit stops thrown in during the race and all restarts will be double file.
This race most always lives up to expectations and hopefully this year will be no different.
This race is also the time when many cars sport special, or "one-off," paint schemes.
This trend was started by Dale Earnhardt and his masterful marketing skills back in the early 1990s.
No less than 10 teams will be unveiling new paint schemes for their cars.
From Dale Earnhardt, Jr driving a National Guard "Citizen Soldier" themed car patterned after Buddy Baker's old Grey Ghost to Kevin Harvick driving a Pennzoil Platinum paint scheme.
To some, seeing the new paint schemes under the lights at Charlotte is as big as the race itself.
Enjoy the race and my pick to win the big show is Matt Kenseth.