Need For Speed Race Preview: All Star Race

Saturday night, it'll be a quick dash for cash with no points on the line - just bragging rights and a very cool $1,022,975 paycheck!

21 drivers will set the field for Saturday night's 100 lap race.

Who's in?

All Sprint Cup Series Drivers who have won a race within the past year (last season and so far this season); past All-Star race winners; active Sprint Cup Series champions from the past 10 years; the top-2 drivers of the Sprint Showdown and the driver who wins the Sprint Fan Vote.

The drivers are:

Greg Biffle, Clint Bowyer, Jeff Burton, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Carl Edwards, Jeff Gordon, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne, Matt Kenseth, Brad Keselowski, Bobby Labonte, Mark Martin, Ryan Newman, Tony Stewart and the 3 drivers that will be determined Saturday night.

There's 8 past All-Star race winners so far in the line-up: Mark Martin, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Kevin Harvick, Kasey Kahne, Matt Kenseth and Ryan Newman.

The Race Rules?

100 laps = 150 miles with 4 segments: 50 laps, 20 laps, 20 laps and the final 10-lap shootout for the win!

Segment 1 - 50 laps with a mandatory green-flag pit stop on Lap 25 at which time teams will be required to change all 4 tires.
Segment 2 - 20 laps with the caution flag displayed at the end of the segment for an optional pit stop where teams will be allowed to fuel, change tires and make normal chassis adjustments.
Segment 3 - 20 laps with a 10-minute break at the end of the segment. Teams will be allowed to make the same adjustments.
Segment 4 - 10 laps with only green-flag laps counting.

One practice session will be held on Friday from 1:30-2:50 with Qualifying at 6:05. TV coverage begins Saturday night at 7 on SPEED.

The Sprint Showdown features the drivers who haven't already qualified yet for the All-Star. It's a 20 lap feature with the top-2 finishers winning their way into the show. The Sprint Showdown opens the All-Star event.

Have you placed your Sprint Fan vote yet? Voting will continue until Saturday night up until race time. If you haven't placed a vote and would like to, click here and go to the Sprint Fan Vote banner on the right hand side of the page. I also posted a link for you on the left hand side of this blog spot.

Jeff Burton's #31 crew won the pit crew challenge in record time Thursday night in Charlotte. They defeated the #43 team of Richard Petty Motorsports driver Reed Sorenson. Btw, Sorenson's crew clocked in at 23.839



It took them all of 22.115 seconds which set an event record! Let me take a second to type out their names as they're only too used to being referred to as "Burton's pit crew":

Curt Bowman (gas man)
Andrew Childers (catch-can man)
Daniel Blizzard (front-tire changer)
Jon Wallace (front-tire carrier)
Terry Spalding (rear-tire changer)
Chris Martin (rear-tire carrier)
Adam North (jackman)

“I’m real proud of them,” Burton said of his crew. “They take it very seriously. They truly are athletes. … These guys work so hard. Ninety-nine percent of the people in this country could not do the fitness program that they do. They put a lot of effort into it, a lot of heart into it. It isn’t just a bunch of mechanics who one day decided to pick up a wrench or a jack. They undergo NFL-caliber training.”

The winning crew receives a $70,000 cash prize and they'll also be the first to make their pit selection for the All-Star race.