Track Smack: All-Star race becoming three-ring circus

1. It's time for the annual All-Star race at Lowe's Motor Speedway. With no points at stake, is this event really important?

Dave Rodman: Of course it's important, because it's all about the money and it pays a cool million to win. Otherwise, the risk of tearing stuff up far outweighs the benefit of another test session, unless you're real smart about it. It's important for the fans if the format makes it a show, and it appears the return to the 10-lap segment might do that -- but you could make a pretty good argument for a five-lap final segment, too.

David Caraviello: Sorry, but I fell out of love with this event years ago. It's a great idea, and was once done very well. Now it's so overproduced, has so many long gaps, and so many changing rules that I'm just not crazy about it anymore. I mean, sure, the winner gets a big paycheck at the end. So for them, it's totally worthwhile. For everyone else, it's a glorified practice session for the Coca-Cola 600.

Raygan Swan: I don't know, after giving it some thought and trying to keep up with the slew of rule changes, I think it is more important for sponsors and just costly for teams. And it is kind of sad for the low-budget teams trying to qualify and waste their time when they could be putting their efforts into the following week's 600. It is enjoyable to see the change in drivers' race style when points are not involved. That can be entertaining. But it just seems like a big carnival to me.

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Dave Rodman: You know what? This would be the ideal event for a team race. Since NASCAR and Grand-Am are now allied, and since rule changes rule in this one, make a driver change mandatory in the middle of the event. Now, that would be the ticket. Give some struggling drivers a chance and make some instant all-stars!

David Caraviello: Um, Dave, let's come back down to reality there big guy. The one draw here is the drivers. Fans want to see Dale Jr. mix it up with no points at stake. They don't want to see him turn his No. 88 car over to somebody they've never heard of. And the last thing the All-Star Race needs is another long gap with no action!

Raygan Swan: Dave, if that means the event will take longer than it already does, then no thanks! But it might be funny to see drivers doing fire drills.

Dave Rodman: No -- the driver change would be in the middle of a pit stop in the middle of the race. I think it would be great stuff. If each of the races paid $100,000 to start, that would be a great incentive for the teams. Again, it can be valuable as a test, but not if you wreck your stuff and it is, after all, a race. No guarantees. And of course, you'd have to tighten up the eligibility parameters. One hundred grand to start is a start-and-park vulture's proverbial wooly mammoth.

Raygan Swan: Bottom line I just think the season is too long for an all-star race that doesn't affect the end result of the season and the championship

Dave Rodman: Let the fans pick the driver teams. Just think if they matched Elliott Sadler and John Andretti, for example. Or Tony Stewart and A.J. Allmendinger. The challenge of fitting the respective drivers would be cool. If it's a circus anyway, you might as well add some more clowns, right?

David Caraviello: Hey, how about this -- we just take the best and most popular drivers in the series and let them race! No pit stop regulations! No multi-segments! Just shorten the field, throw a big wad of money out there, ask NASCAR to look away for about two hours and go at it. What a revolutionary idea! It might be something people actually want to see!

Stay or go?

Charlotte has been the permanent host of NASCAR's All-Star race since its inception in 1985. Is it time to move this race around the country or it in the Queen City? Bill Kimm and Jason Schoellen debate in this week's Head2Head.

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• Video: All-Star facts
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• Video: Preview Show
• Video: More aggressive

Raygan Swan: I'd watch.

Dave Rodman: But if you were to do that, is Lowe's the best place to do it? Or how about this? We know Lowe's is the best place to do it -- but since selling seats is such a challenge, why not do it on the short track. Or mix the segments between the short track and the speedway? Why not do one segment on the dirt track, one on the short track and a finale on the speedway? Though that, I know David, would kill your idea of no gaps and no boredom.

David Caraviello: Yes Dave, a one-hour gap so 80,000 spectators cam change seats. Brilliant. Hey, no question this thing is a good idea. Anyone who watched Dale Earnhardt Jr. win the Winston in 2000 knows how cool the race can be. But it's kind of become weighed down in recent years. People want to see a race, not a made-for-TV extravaganza.

Dave Rodman: So do the dirt track segment in the early afternoon and tape it for the TV broadcast! There is a solution for anything if you want to seek it out, right? Make a segment that's the "Great All-Star Race." The driver and crew chief have to navigate from the Hall of Fame site in downtown Charlotte to the speedway. Again, taped to be added to the Saturday night extravacast!

David Caraviello: Shoot man, if you're gonna go that far, just stick 'em in legends cars and turn 'em loose on the quarter mile.

Raygan Swan: Since you guys are giving crazy ideas, why not scrap the race all together and put on a NASCAR drivers game show! Put them in an entirely different element, something that won't take all night but is still entertaining for fans. Like NASCAR's version of the show "Wipeout."

David Caraviello: Or maybe this: Passenger cars in rush-hour traffic! First guy from Charlotte to Mooresville wins $1 million!

Dave Rodman: I'd like to see those cats circumnavigate race traffic without the benefit of helicopters.

David Caraviello: Yes Dave, that would indeed be a real challenge for these all-stars.

2. Which driver is Hendrick Motorsports' best shot at the Cup Series title -- Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, or Mark Martin.

Dave Rodman: Might be Mark Martin, because he continues to insist -- and I, for one, tend to believe -- that a championship really doesn't mean that much to him. But he might have the best shot of his entire career at carrying it out, and Mark has that assassin's cool precision and surgical ability to take your heart out and you don't even know it's gone. Johnson and Gordon, of course, are known commodities with Johnson obviously having the edge given his three-on-the-trot, but the way Mark's going right now and assuming he'll only get better, Martin's the one.

Mark Martin

2009 Cup stats

Wins	2
Top-fives	3
Top-10s	6
Poles	3
Avg. Start	10.1
Avg. Finish	17.8
Lead-Lap Finish	7
DNFs	3
Rank	11

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Raygan Swan: As much as I want Mark Martin to finally get a Cup title so he can finally retire for real, it's Jimmie Johnson with the best shot. Especially after Darlington, you just can't keep him down. He survives everything.

David Caraviello: Hands-down, it's Johnson. Absolutely nothing against Gordon or Martin, either of whom could win the title. But what Johnson did Saturday night at Darlington, going from the back to the front again and again, was amazing. The cat can get through anything.

Raygan Swan: Right, and I don't see Gordon and Martin, their teams, having that ability.

David Caraviello: Well, I wouldn't go that far. Let's not forget how Jeff won Darlington two years ago, with his engine smoking like Old Faithful. And Mark shouldn't even be here right now. All these guys are defined by perseverance.

Raygan Swan: Yeah I guess, but it seems to me that Johnson is more capable. Last season Carl Edwards couldn't even make ground on J.J. when the No. 99 was winning races.

David Caraviello: On that, Raygan, I totally agree. I think Jimmie gives people the shakes. Makes them nervous. They know he can overcome almost anything, they know he's going to be there at the end, and they know he has a patent on how to win titles under the Chase format.

Raygan Swan: Yeah, it's like he can be in the back of the pack with 30 to go and the leader thinks he's safe ... then all the sudden he just comes from out of nowhere!

Jeff Gordon

2009 Cup stats

Wins	1
Top-fives	6
Top-10s	8
Poles	0
Avg. Start	9.7
Avg. Finish	12.3
Lead-Lap Finish	9
DNFs	0
Rank	1

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Dave Rodman: Mark's not retiring -- and if you were paying attention, he never retired. He's been pretty explicit in what he's doing and what his goals are. If he were to win the championship this season it might be the perfect storybook ending. But for Mark, the end is nowhere in sight. For one, he'd honor his deal with Rick to drive next year; and second, he'd certainly be in a position to keep winning, and that's most important to him.

David Caraviello: Well Dave he did have that big "Salute to You" press conference a few years back. That sure seemed like a planned retirement tour to me.

Dave Rodman: J.J. is a tough hurdle to get over, no question. And with what he's accomplished the last six or seven seasons, you have to feel like there's not much he and that team can't overcome. On the one hand, saying Mark has the ultimate loose attitude and the ultimate stock of experience is true -- but Chad, Jimmie and that team are, almost without question, the most formidable combination in Cup history, all things considered.

David Caraviello: Martin is playing with house money right now. Which Hendrick driver has the most race wins so far this year? That would be Mark Martin. Take away those two engine failures, and the guy might very well be leading the points.

Raygan Swan: I wish Martin the best, but it's hard to bet against Johnson.

Dave Rodman: Mark had Jimmie covered in the Southern 500 -- though he did have the advantage of being out front, which was proven over and over again to be an almost unbeatable advantage. At various points Saturday evening, Martin Truex Jr., Joey Logano and Ryan Newman all looked to have real good shots at winning.

David Caraviello: Well, Johnson didn't have anything left Saturday night. He had used up so much car coming from the back again and again, there wasn't anything left in the end. So I don't think we can consider that truly representative of their abilities.

Jimmie Johnson

2009 Cup stats

Wins	1
Top-fives	5
Top-10s	7
Poles	0
Avg. Start	13.0
Avg. Finish	13.7
Lead Lap Finishes	8
DNFs	1
Rank	4

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Dave Rodman: I think one thing might be certain -- even with 13 or 14 races to go until we lock-in the Chase field, I think the Hendrick mob has a pretty good chance of stinking up the championship run and potentially going 1-2-3. Heck, if you consider the Stewart-Haas boys default teammates, they could easily take five of the top-six or seven spots at the end.

David Caraviello: Is everyone forgetting about Kyle Busch? I mean, I totally agree with what you're saying, Dave. But I don't think we've heard the last of Rowdy yet. And I think he's getting a little overlooked in this Hendrickmania.

Dave Rodman: Kyle still has to prove he can be consistent. He's already proven that, on his day, he might be the best pure talent currently going. And that would make him the lone non-Hendrick individual in that top group. And Roush Fenway and RCR -- and for that matter, Denny Hamlin -- aren't going to rest between now and then. So while that's what it's looking like, pretty premature, all the same.

Raygan Swan: The Stewart-Haas combo is interesting and pleasantly surprising. And as for Kyle, he'll be up there all right. After last season's Chase, the racing gods owe him a few breaks.

David Caraviello: Either way, Rick Hendrick looks to be the big winner here. We thought his team couldn't be better than it was in '07. Looks like it is.

3. Jeremy Mayfield received an indefinite suspension for violating NASCAR's new random drug testing policy, a sanction he can't appeal. Is the punishment too harsh?

David Caraviello: This is a tough one, given that we don't really know what Jeremy was caught using. If it was hard stuff, throw the book at him. If it's not ... well, I'd like to see the guy be given a little more leeway.

Raygan Swan: I don't think the punishment is too harsh for a NASCAR-described zero tolerance attitude. But the reality is that NASCAR agrees to help rehab the drivers or rid them of their "substance of concern," so he may be back.

Dave Rodman: To me, there are still way too many questions and not enough answers, which leads to plenty of barely-appropriate speculation. The basic punishment is not too harsh, but the program needs to be flexible and responsive enough to spring to life and put someone back in the sport in very short order if they were barely out of the program's parameters.

Perception battle

We know that Jeremy Mayfield failed a drug test and is suspended from NASCAR. But with so many unanswered questions and Mayfield proclaiming innocence, David Caraviello wants to wait before labeling Mayfield a drug user.

• Complete story
• Wide array in tests
• Mayfield suspended
• Yeley interim driver
• NASCAR: Ensuring safety

Raygan Swan: I disagree completely. When the policy was announced, drivers were told to go to the NASCAR doctor to make sure what they were taking, and that cold medications, prescriptions, etc., would not cause a positive or put them in a false light.

David Caraviello: Dave, I think flexibility is the key here. NASCAR, as drug-testing coordinator Dr. David Black has told us, tests for a ton of different stuff. Some of that stuff is a lot more benign that others.

Raygan Swan: Why didn't Jeremy take care of this? Why didn't he take his prospection to NASCAR's doctor? I'm not saying Jeremy took or did something illicit or illegal, but he knew the policy and the risk. If I were a driver taking any meds, I would've asked questions on the first day.

David Caraviello: Well, I think then you run into the issue of NASCAR not having an official "list" of banned substances like so many other sports do. Maybe this will change that. Seriously, do all drivers know what they should or shouldn't be taking, when some over-the-counter meds can flag them for a violation?

Dave Rodman: Not having a list doesn't take away the responsibility of checking anything you might be taking -- discussing it at length with your personal physician -- because as NASCAR said, everyone was tested in the preseason and now, everyone has been tested randomly at least once, so you know it's inevitable. Let's just say that you failed a substance test. Do you think you'd be told what you failed for -- or that you just failed? Tell me if you think you should be told.

David Caraviello: You better damn well be told what you failed for, and what the amounts were, and how that relates to what's considered acceptable. This is all a fine line here. This stuff has to be done right.

Raygan Swan: Yes, I should be told what caused me to fail. Was Jeremy not told? I know we in the media weren't told. But Jeremy knows. I think on the subject of sports and drugs, the case is black and white. You can't live in the gray. You just don't screw around and put yourself in any circumstance that could cause a failed test.

David Caraviello: So if a driver with a head cold takes some DayQuil, he has to first call NASCAR and Dr. Black and say, "Is this all right?" That sounds kind of backward to me.

Raygan Swan: Yes, not that day, but he should know ahead of time what he can take. I'm pregnant, and there is a whole list of crap I can't take, and I know what it is. Drivers can do the same thing. It's not hard.

David Caraviello: Right, but Raygan, somebody gave you a list, right?

Raygan Swan: Yes, but drivers could get a list of cold meds from the doctor at the start of the season, just like the list I got from my doctor.

Dave Rodman: All I'm saying is he knows what he took, but he might not know exactly what flagged his result. You can't validate the accuracy of anything on the Internet, but there is an extensive list of over-the-counter meds that have a history of causing "false positives." Again -- too many questions, not enough answers. My biggest concern would be that a competitor -- whether crewman or driver -- was assessed with a positive test, that they could make one call and find out what they were flagged for. They could make one call to begin a "recovery" program. Personally, I have little confidence that's in place.

David Caraviello: I find it very, very difficult to believe that NASCAR would not tell Jeremy "this is the substance you tested positive for." What kind of communication would that be? How would that solve any problems? Boy, you would hope the sport learned from the Tim Richmond fiasco 20 years ago, when he got busted for Sudafed and Advil. I'm sure they have. Drug testing has come a long way since then.

Raygan Swan: Mixing scripts with over-the-counter stuff to me seems like a bonehead move, or maybe I just feel that way because I'm more aware of what is going into my body. We are an overmedicated society and are too quick to pop pills anyway.

Dave Rodman: Well, to Dr. Black's remarks that NASCAR's program tests "normal" substances to an extreme degree, and knowing that many allergy and cold medications have warnings on them about driving and operating machinery, it's probably fair to say NASCAR drivers are held to a higher standard. But as Dr. Black also said, Jeremy's case doesn't appear to be simple.

David Caraviello: I think I may need some Advil myself. This Smack session is giving me a headache!

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writers.