Fans' Vote remains tight entering home stretch

The field for the Sprint All-Star Race is set. Almost.

Unique to NASCAR, the all-star lineup has three spots remaining to be filled -- and on-track competition -- the winner and runner-up of the Showdown -- will take care of two of the openings.

The third will be determined by fans' voting, on Sprint and Nextel handheld devices or at Sprint stores, as well as voting on NASCAR.COM.

This is the fifth year in which a driver will be voted-in to the field. Ken Schrader won the inaugural Fans' Vote, in 2004. Other fan-vote winners include Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Petty and Kenny Wallace.

This year, more than 251,650 votes have been cast to date. Among the top vote-getters are Robby Gordon, Kasey Kahne, Elliott Sadler, Wallace and Michael Waltrip.

Voting ends at 7 p.m. ET Saturday. The winner will be announced on NASCAR.COM and also during SPEED's All-Star Saturday coverage, which includes the Showdown (green flag at 7:40 p.m. ET) and All-Star Race XXIV.

Fans can vote either on NASCAR.COM or by texting the word "NASCAR" to "7777" on their Sprint or Nextel phones or by visiting a Sprint store. Standard text messaging and data rates apply.