NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race Race Preview

Lowe's Motor Speedway -- 05/17/08

Author: Becca Gladden

Published: Sunday May 18 2008 2:43am

It's an ongoing dilemma for drivers and crew chiefs in the waning laps of a race: Which will pay bigger dividends - fresh tires or clean airΔ

The circumstances are different enough each week that what works in one situation my not be as effective in the next.

But in Saturday night's Sprint Cup All-Star Challenge, Crew Chief Kenny Francis' call for a no-tire pit stop proved to be the right decision for Kasey Kahne and the No. 9 team, leading them not only to sweet victory, but an even
sweeter million-dollar paycheck.

It appeared the fates were favoring Kasey from the start Saturday night. After leading the series with six Cup victories in 2006, Kahne failed to win a single race in either of the next two seasons and, as a result, did not have a guaranteed spot in this year's All-Star Challenge. He could only make the field by finishing in one of the two transfer spots in the preliminary Sprint Showdown race, or by being voted into the All-Star race by the fans.

That latter prospect seemed a bit improbable for Kasey or anyone else, since many felt that Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s endorsement of Elliott Sadler would make him unbeatable in the fan vote category.

Even if Sadler had won the fan vote, however, he wouldn’t have been able to compete in the main event, since he was taken out on lap 7 of the Showdown by eventual race winner A.J. Allmendinger.

Allmendinger and Sam Hornish, who both had successful open-wheel careers before moving to NASCAR, finished 1-2 in the Showdown to qualify for the Challenge. Kahne, who finished 5th, joked that he was about to head home to drink a cold Bud and watch the All-Star race on TV before he was informed that the fans had voted him in.

The main event consisted of four 25-lap segments that were surprisingly run caution free, aside from the mandatory yellow flags to end each segment.

Polesitter Kyle Busch dominated the first segment, starting on the pole and leading all 25 laps. Many of the leaders took two tires on the first stop. Aside from Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Greg Biffle, Matt Kenseth, Ryan Newman, and Carl Edwards appeared to have strong cars in the early going.

The second segment started just like the first, with Kyle in the lead and no one looking as if they could compete with him. Partway through the segment, Busch's engine started to fail and he went backwards through the field, eventually passed by Carl Edwards. When the field pitted for the second time, the 18's engine problem was diagnosed as terminal, and Busch headed for the garage.

Greg Biffle looked especially strong in the third segment, running up front and extending his lead to two seconds once his nose was in clean air. That segment ended with the top 5 consisting of Biffle, Earnhardt Jr, Kenseth, Newman, and Mark Martin. Kasey Kahne was 7th.

After the third segment pit stop, the field was brought to green by Jimmie Johnson, followed by Kasey Kahne and Denny Hamlin, who had all opted for fuel-only pit stops to gain track position. Greg Biffle in 4th was the first driver to take two tires and Earnhardt Jr., further back in the field, had taken four.

Hamlin and Johnson briefly battled for the lead, with Kahne running 3rd, but like his teammate Kyle Busch, Hamlin suffered a terminal engine failure. Kahne passed him for the lead with 17 laps to go and never looked back. Biffle, his closest competition as the race ran down, later said he was pushing too badly to catch the 9 car at the end.

Kasey's win was the first for Dodge in the All-Star race and the first for a fan vote winner. The final top 5 consisted of Kahne, Biffle, Kenseth, Johnson, and Stewart (the only Gibbs driver to complete the race).

The two transfer winners, Hornish and Allmendinger, finished 7th and 17th respectively.

While many teams consider the All-Star Showdown and Challenge races a warm-up for next weekend's big Coca-Cola 600, a newsworthy blog issued tonight by NASCAR writer David Poole (http://turn-lane.blogspot.com/2008/05/sadler-out-of-luck-and-nascar-out-of.html) should give everyone pause for thought.

Poole reported that NASCAR is planning on cracking down this week on the modifications teams are making to the COT which makes the back end look oddly sideways when the car is traveling in a straight line. Poole notes that Sam Hornish's car, which performed surprisingly well in both events tonight, is a prime example.

"Hornish said in his interview after finishing second in the Showdown that his car is so sideways it's hard for him to actually get it into his stall in the garage without hitting the door openings," writes Poole.

If NASCAR intends to start policing that situation this week, teams that have been relying on the cantered out rear for speed may find a surprise in store when they head for the inspection line later this week.