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The Fans Are Brilliant And Other Notes From The 2008 All-Star Race
By: Gregg A. Shultz- RaceFanVote.com
It’s never been done before, but the fans picked the winner. Two other times a driver
transferred from the Open to go on to win the All-Star event, but the fan’s vote never has
until now.
Most were surprised that Kasey Kahne wasn’t in the race considering that in 2006 it seemed
like every other race was won by Kahne (6 wins for the season), but he went all of 2007
winless as well as so far this season. He’s not a past winner of the event nor a past
champion, so he was out.
In a post (open) race interview after learning that he was voted in after finishing 5th in the
qualifier he said pretty casually, “That’s cool, thanks to the fans. I was going to head home
and drink a few Buds and watch the All-Star race, but now I guess I’ll hang around”. Little
did he know.
Granted it’s a non-points event, but it’s the All-Star Race. It’s a great moral booster for a
semi-struggling Gillett-Evernham Team who has 5 top tens this season and sits 14th in
points.
After coming from last place, slowly working his way through the field and last segment pit
strategy of gas and a round-down on the track bar and then winning the event, Kahne
showed some emotion that we’ve never seen from him. He dedicated the win to his
grandfather who passed away last January which besides just the win was probably another
thing that he was waiting to do. Kasey seemed as if the weight of the world had been lifted
off of his shoulders as this was his first trip to victory lane since he’s had his new sponsor
Budweiser on the car. Beer and other beverage sponsored cars always make a big deal of
promoting their supporter’s products by spraying mass quantities of it around the crew and
team members. It’s been a while since a Bud was sprayed in victory lane.
Great job to the fans!
Another spin on the All-Star race is that there are a lot of callers that phone into the radio
shows offering the qualifying format as a solution to regular race qualifying. A lot of fans
want to see only the top 20 drivers in owner’s points locked in and then a ‘hooligan’ race for
the rest. (12 transfer with one open position for past champion if needed)
The obvious problem with this is if you damage your car in the qualifier, you will no be very
competitive in the main event. For a struggling team it’s a big expense to load up and come
run a 25 or 50 lap qualifying race possibly to tear up their equipment and get sent home
anyway. The benefit, however is that it is seat time in race conditions for a lot of the cars
that don’t get time otherwise. It would also be a good test & tune for the teams to try new
things in race conditions and not putting all of their focus in a qualifying set-up.
Critics of this say that Cup is the top level and hooligan races are for the Saturday night
short tracks. When you hear some of the tricks that teams try to make a good qualifying
run you start to wonder if you are seeing the fastest 43 ‘race’ cars on the track or the best
qualifying cars instead. Little League or not, that’s probably what the fans want to see, the
fastest race cars.
Vote on the top ten happenings above and submit your comments on qualifying below.
If you are planning a visit to a team’s shop, here are some links that will take you directly to
their website for information on shop tours, fan clubs and other information.
By: Gregg A. Shultz- RaceFanVote.com
It’s never been done before, but the fans picked the winner. Two other times a driver
transferred from the Open to go on to win the All-Star event, but the fan’s vote never has
until now.
Most were surprised that Kasey Kahne wasn’t in the race considering that in 2006 it seemed
like every other race was won by Kahne (6 wins for the season), but he went all of 2007
winless as well as so far this season. He’s not a past winner of the event nor a past
champion, so he was out.
In a post (open) race interview after learning that he was voted in after finishing 5th in the
qualifier he said pretty casually, “That’s cool, thanks to the fans. I was going to head home
and drink a few Buds and watch the All-Star race, but now I guess I’ll hang around”. Little
did he know.
Granted it’s a non-points event, but it’s the All-Star Race. It’s a great moral booster for a
semi-struggling Gillett-Evernham Team who has 5 top tens this season and sits 14th in
points.
After coming from last place, slowly working his way through the field and last segment pit
strategy of gas and a round-down on the track bar and then winning the event, Kahne
showed some emotion that we’ve never seen from him. He dedicated the win to his
grandfather who passed away last January which besides just the win was probably another
thing that he was waiting to do. Kasey seemed as if the weight of the world had been lifted
off of his shoulders as this was his first trip to victory lane since he’s had his new sponsor
Budweiser on the car. Beer and other beverage sponsored cars always make a big deal of
promoting their supporter’s products by spraying mass quantities of it around the crew and
team members. It’s been a while since a Bud was sprayed in victory lane.
Great job to the fans!
Another spin on the All-Star race is that there are a lot of callers that phone into the radio
shows offering the qualifying format as a solution to regular race qualifying. A lot of fans
want to see only the top 20 drivers in owner’s points locked in and then a ‘hooligan’ race for
the rest. (12 transfer with one open position for past champion if needed)
The obvious problem with this is if you damage your car in the qualifier, you will no be very
competitive in the main event. For a struggling team it’s a big expense to load up and come
run a 25 or 50 lap qualifying race possibly to tear up their equipment and get sent home
anyway. The benefit, however is that it is seat time in race conditions for a lot of the cars
that don’t get time otherwise. It would also be a good test & tune for the teams to try new
things in race conditions and not putting all of their focus in a qualifying set-up.
Critics of this say that Cup is the top level and hooligan races are for the Saturday night
short tracks. When you hear some of the tricks that teams try to make a good qualifying
run you start to wonder if you are seeing the fastest 43 ‘race’ cars on the track or the best
qualifying cars instead. Little League or not, that’s probably what the fans want to see, the
fastest race cars.
Vote on the top ten happenings above and submit your comments on qualifying below.
If you are planning a visit to a team’s shop, here are some links that will take you directly to
their website for information on shop tours, fan clubs and other information.
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| Submit your comments about the story or the topic. Please no rude or defamatory comments. Addressing other poster's comments will be edited if deemed to be insulting or rude. |
I would like to see that type of qualifying
for the races and shorten the main event
50 or a 100 laps. I think it would be a lot
more exciting and fair for te faster race
cars.
Tim in Chicago
for the races and shorten the main event
50 or a 100 laps. I think it would be a lot
more exciting and fair for te faster race
cars.
Tim in Chicago
| Dale Earnhardt, Inc. Mooresville, NC |
| Michael Waltrip Racing Cornelius, NC |
| Richard Childress Racing Welcome, NC |
| Penske Racing South Mooresville, NC |
| Joe Gibbs Racing Huntersville, NC |
| Gillett-Evernham Mooresville, NC |
| Robby Gordon Charlotte, NC |
| Hendrick Motorsports Charlotte, NC |
| Roush-Fenway Racing Concord, NC |
| Wood Bros./JTG Concord, NC |
| Bill Davis Racing High Point, NC |
| Robert Yates Racing Mooresville, NC |
| Chip Ganassi Racing Concord, NC |
| Petty Enterprises Mooresville, NC |
| Red Bull Racing Mooresville, NC |
| Hall of Fame Racing Charlotte, NC |
| Haas CNC Racing Kannapolis, NC |
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