Wild All-Star race a coveted prize for drivers

CONCORD, N.C. - Welcome to All-Star week. It must be, for the usually stuffy corporate driverspeak has strangely disappeared.

Instead, drivers talk about how wild and crazy The Winston -- er, the NASCAR Nextel All-Star Challenge -- is. They talk about how points don't matter, about how it's all about the trophy, about how much they want to win it.

Well, heck, let's let 'em talk.

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"The race is bigger than it ever was to many of us because it pays more money, it has a bigger, prettier trophy, and it will be watched by more people," 1998 race winner Mark Martin said. "Those three things pretty much sum up whatever drives anyone in motorsports, so it is a very special race and it's really important to the competitors."

So it's important?

"I mean, really important to the competitors," Martin said. "I feel like it's grown, and I feel like it's an even bigger deal than it ever was and I think that was the intent. It definitely has managed to keep pace with the changing times."

First run in 1985, the idea was to pit winning drivers against one another in a shorter race. Over the years, it has produced some memorable moments, like Rusty Wallace's punt of Darrell Waltrip in 1989, Dale Earnhardt's "pass in the grass" in 1987, and Davey Allison's comeback victory that ended against the fence in 1992.

The format of the race has changed several times, too. This year, the 25 drivers will race 90 laps in segments of 40, 30 and 20 laps. Teams must make a four-tire pit stop under green between lap 10 and lap 35.

There's a 10-minute break after segments 1 and 2, and a random drawing will be held to determine the starting order of the second segment. No drivers will be eliminated, and only green-flag laps count in the final 20-lap shootout.

The winner gets $1 million. No wonder the drivers are talking so much.

"With a million dollars on the line at the end, I think pretty much all the strategy will go out the window when we're all going for a million or broke during those last few laps," Kurt Busch said.

	Jimmie Johnson is the defending winner of the All-Star race. Credit: Autostock

Drivers have said they take more chances during the All-Star race than during a points-paying event. That means fans get to see more craziness than usual.

"We put a lot of emphasis on this all-star race, because it's a big-money race and we've won it before, so we know how awesome it is to come out on top," 2000 winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. said. "This is guts racing. It's just like the Budweiser Shootout -- it's a brawl. It's hard to predict an outcome in a money race like this, but that's what makes it fun."

The 25 drivers include 19 race winners from 2003-04, two former All-Star winners, two drivers whose car owners won last year, the Nextel Open winner and one driver selected by the fans who finishes on the lead lap of the Nextel Open.

"It's a race for winners," said Dale Jarrett, who hasn't won the race but usually is a contender. "You can't get any more competitive than that. It's a Saturday night shootout. It's where we all came from. It takes us back to our beginnings -- our roots in the sport because many of us started racing on a Friday or Saturday night. This is a wild night and the wildest of Saturday nights anywhere."

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One of the biggest problems, two-time race winner Terry Labonte said, is not getting too wild.

"The hardest thing to do is try to show a little patience," said Labonte, who won in 1988 and 1999. "With all the energy and emotion of the night -- no points at stake and all that money on the line -- you still have to be smart about it, pick your spots and try not to use up your race car before the final segment.

"You have to look past all the pre-race hype and try not to get overly excited before the race when the fireworks are going off and all those flashbulbs are popping in the stands. I've been fortunate enough to win two of these races, and the most satisfying thing about it is when you win, you can say you've beaten the best in the business."

Jimmie Johnson is the defending champion, so he knows what Labonte felt. Johnson believes that winning NASCAR's All-Star race means more than winning any other all-star game in sports.

"I would have to imagine that the prize money and everything else that goes into it is purpose-built, to try to make our sport be above and beyond what other sports have for their all-star events," Johnson said. "When you think of football or baseball, there isn't much to it. They're pretty laid back. (Our race) is a big part of our sport with the big prize money. I think it really sets us above and beyond any other sport."

It's a race every driver wants to win -- really wants to win.

"My advice to Elliott (Sadler)?" said his crew chief, Todd Parrott. "Drive it like you stole it. We are going there to win - second place is the first loser in this one."