Twelve All-Star drivers stand above the rest

In the 25 races run since NASCAR's All-Star Race format made its debut in 1985, a total of 83 drivers have taken part. Based on a combination of success and longevity, 12 stand above the rest. Here they are, listed alphabetically:

DAVEY ALLISON

7 starts, 2 wins, 4 top-5s, 5 top-10s

The driver among this group with the fewest number of starts, Davey Allison was the first and only driver to win back-to-back All-Star Races.

Allison made his All-Star debut in the 1987 The Winston by virtue of his win at Talladega two weekends before. He started third and finished 12th, which would ultimately wind up being his worst finish. He led 27 laps and was third behind Terry Labonte and Sterling Marlin in 1988, then dropped back to 12th again in 1989. He was fifth in 1990, the year Dale Earnhardt led all 70 laps.

Allison

Allison learned well, as he duplicated Earnhardt's feat the following season in the 1991 The Winston, the last time the race was held during the day. He then won perhaps the greatest finish in All-Star Race history in 1992 when he was third behind Kyle Petty and Earnhardt as the three took the white flag. Petty tried to pass Earnhardt low on the backstretch, with the Intimidator running him down onto the apron. That move backfired when Petty turned Earnhardt around in Turn 3.

That gave Allison just enough momentum to pull alongside Petty in the quad-oval, and as they crossed the finish line, they touched, sending Allison's car spinning driver's side door into the outside wall. Safety crews had to cut Allison out of his mangled car and instead of celebrating in Victory Lane, he spent the night in the hospital with a concussion, bruised legs and a bruised lung.

"When you are running for $200,000 and you come out of the last corner and you have only to go from point A to point B you are going to use as much race track as you can," Petty said that night. "... As we rubbed, rubbed, rubbed he came right and I came left ... and he rubbed right across in front of me. Both of us were going in the wrong direction. It was just as much my fault as it was his fault.

"We were both out of control. It's not so much that you're out of control but you are using each other to lean on. And we were leaning on each other."

Allison finished ninth in the 1993 The Winston, two months before the helicopter accident at Talladega that claimed his life at age 32.

Related:
• Davey Allison: Career Totals

DALE EARNHARDT

16 starts, 3 wins, 9 top-5s, 12 top-10s

The first two-time and three-winner of NASCAR's midseason exhibition, Earnhardt's name figures prominently in All-Star Race lore.

After finishing second to Bill Elliott at Atlanta in 1986, Earnhardt turned the tables when The Winston returned to Charlotte in 1987. The famous "Pass in the Grass" wasn't a pass at all, but showed off Earnhardt's incredible car control. Tapped from behind by Elliott as the field came down with seven laps to go, Earnhardt's car swerved into the infield grass but the Intimidator never lifted -- and never lost the lead. The two then rubbed fenders one lap later, causing Elliott's tire to blow.

Earnhardt

After finishing seventh in 1988 and third in 1989, he added his second All-Star Race victory in 1990, leading all 70 laps. And in 1993, Earnhardt put his name on the trophy for the third time following a controversial late-race restart. Earnhardt jumped the start when the field came down for the green. But instead of sending him to the back of the pack, NASCAR officials lined the cars up again, and Earnhardt blew past leader Mark Martin.

"They didn't like the first one, did they?" Earnhardt said afterward. "I loved it. I didn't think I would get away with it but I thought I'd try. ... I got my hands spanked."

"To jump the start and give him another try at it is like giving a bank robber a second shot," third-place Ernie Irvan countered.

Earnhardt finished third in 1996, fourth in 1997, fourth again in 1999 and third in a 1-2-3 Dale finish in his final All-Star Race appearance in 2000, behind son Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Dale Jarrett.

Related:
• Dale Earnhardt: Career Totals

DALE EARNHARDT JR.

10 starts, 1 win, 3 top-5s, 9 top-10s

After winning at Texas to gain entry into the 2000 The Winston, Dale Earnhardt Jr. made it pay off in a big way by winning in his All-Star debut. Earnhardt was running sixth when a multi-car accident brought out the caution with eight laps remaining. At that point, he and crew chief Tony Eury Sr. took a gamble, coming in for fresh tires.

It turned out to be a great decision, as Earnhardt roared through the pack, passing Jarrett for the lead before they took the white flag.

Earnhardt Jr.

''I was running real good, but we were tight and I told Tony I needed four tires,'' Earnhardt said. ''We sat there and thought about it and thought about it and finally said, 'We didn't come here to run second or third, let's take the tires.' ''

Even Earnhardt's old man was impressed by the kid's late-race charge.

''I thought I could give Dale Jarrett some trouble and then I saw this kid running in my rearview mirror and couldn't believe it,'' Earnhardt said. ''He is just something else.''

Since then, Junior hasn't returned to Victory Lane, but he has been the model of consistency, with just one finish outside of the top 10 in 10 All-Star starts. He was second to Ryan Newman in 2002, finished fifth in 2004, and hasn't been worse than 10th in his last five appearances.

Related:
• Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Career Totals

BILL ELLIOTT

18 starts, 1 win, 6 top-5s, 13 top-10s

The driver with the most top-10s in All-Star Race history, Bill Elliott is also the only driver to win the event at a venue outside of North Carolina, when the native Georgian captured the 1986 The Winston at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Elliott was dominant that day, leading all but one lap -- when the field stopped for mandatory service in the pits and Dale Earnhardt's stall was on the other side of the start-finish line -- and winning by 2.55 seconds in the exhibition held before a sparse Mother's Day crowd. Earnhardt claimed he could have gotten the lead with a faster stop, but a NASCAR official obstructed him.

Elliott

''He got in the way of me making Elliott go somewhere else other than where he went,'' Earnhardt said.

While Earnhardt tried to block, Elliott was able to get by unscathed and was never headed.

''I didn't know what Earnhardt was going to do but I was bound and determined to get by him,'' Elliott said.

If not for tire problems caused by fender damage after contact with Dale Earnhardt one lap after the famous "Pass in the Grass," which led to a finish of 14th in 1987, Elliott could very well have put together one of the most impressive series of runs ever. He followed that with four consecutive fourth-place finishes, then ran fifth in 1992. An injury forced him to miss the 1996 The Winston, but Elliott continued to run well for the rest of the decade, recording four top-10 finishes in his last six All-Star starts.

Related:
• Bill Elliott: Career Totals

JEFF GORDON

16 starts, 3 wins, 6 top-5s, 9 top-10s

Along with Dale Earnhardt, the only other driver to have won three All-Star Races.

Two years after crashing while leading the 1993 Winston Open, Jeff Gordon picked up his first All-Star win by taking advantage of someone else's misfortune, mainly that of Earnhardt and Darrell Waltrip. When those two passed Gordon on the first lap of the final segment, they got together and wrecked each other, plus Terry Labonte and Lake Speed.

Gordon

"I just got loose and lost it and got into Darrell," Earnhardt said. "It caused a pretty big wreck."

"Dale came up and he just kept coming and coming and coming and finally it broke loose," Waltrip said. "Then, bam! He was going to run me out of room and I guess he thought I would [back off]. Guess what? He was wrong."

Two years later, crew chief Ray Evernham brought out an exotic chassis design nicknamed "T-Rex" that pushed the envelope on NASCAR's rulebook at the time, and Gordon dominated the field for his second win.

But Gordon's win in 2001 may have been the most impressive, and most unusual. A constant drizzle threatened the evening's activities, and as the field took the green flag for the start, the rain picked up in the first turn. The result was a multi-car accident which wiped out Gordon's primary car. Given the unusual circumstances, NASCAR officials decided to allow four teams involved in the crash to use their backups, but to start at the tail end of the field.

That didn't seem to affect Gordon, who was fourth by the end of the first segment and second behind Tony Stewart after the second one. Then with fresh tires, he only needed two laps to get past Ward Burton, grab the lead and hold off Dale Jarrett at the stripe.

Even Gordon was amazed.

"I said, 'Wouldn't it be something if we can win this thing in a backup?"' Gordon said. "I didn't think it would actually happen, but we did it through awesome teamwork."

Gordon has come close to adding a fourth All-Star title, finishing fourth in 2005 and third in 2006.

Related:
• Jeff Gordon: Career Totals

JIMMIE JOHNSON

8 starts, 2 wins, 6 top-5s, 6 top-10s

Jimmie Johnson's domination of Sprint Cup racing isn't limited to the Chase. He's been almost unbeatable at Charlotte Motor Speedway as well.

He won the first two segments only to finish fifth in his All-Star debut in 2002, so Johnson changed strategy the following year. Knowing that the field would be inverted for the final 20-lap shootout, Johnson bided his time in the pack. Starting fourth, he charged past Hendrick teammate Jeff Gordon with 15 laps remaining and easily held off Kurt Busch for the win.

Johnson

"Last year we thought we had it after the first two segments, but it didn't work out," Johnson said. "So this year we played our cards right and focused on the big prize and went out and got it."

Johnson added a second victory to his resume in 2006, despite having to come from the tail end of the field to win. A repaving of the track, coupled with Goodyear's decision to bring a harder tire compound, made it difficult to pass and resulted in a pair of multi-car accidents that left just half of the 20-car field running at the finish.

Kevin Harvick, who finished second in 2006, edged Johnson the following year. Johnson then finished fourth in the 2007 edition.

Related:
• Jimmie Johnson: Career Totals

TERRY LABONTE

20 starts, 2 wins, 6 top-5s, 9 top-10s

In addition to sharing the record of most All-Star starts with Mark Martin, Terry Labonte has the distinction of having an 11-year gap between his two victories, both won on May 22.

Labonte

Labonte finished second to Earnhardt in the slam-bang 1987 The Winston, then won it all the following year.

"I really figured it would be a good, clean race," Labonte said. "The cars are better today than they were a year ago."

Labonte continued to be a factor in the midsummer exhibitions, finishing fifth in 1996 and third in 1998. But he didn't repeat his visit to Victory Lane until the 1999 The Winston, when he survived a 10-car pileup to chase down Tony Stewart in the closing laps.

Labonte finished sixth the following year, and continued to race in the event until 2005.

Related:
• Terry Labonte: Career Totals

STERLING MARLIN

13 starts, 0 wins, 3 top-5s, 8 top-10s

Sterling Marlin never won the main event in 13 tries, but that doesn't mean he wasn't successful. With four wins in the Winston and Nextel Open -- with three different manufacturers -- Marlin has been to Charlotte's Victory Lane more frequently than any other driver in NASCAR's midseason exhibition weekend.

Marlin

Before he captured the 1994 Daytona 500, Marlin fought his way into The Winston four times by winning or finishing second in the preliminary race. In 1988, he won the Winston Open in an Oldsmobile and finished second to Terry Labonte in The Winston. He repeated as Winston Open champion the following year, again in an Olds, and wound up sixth in The Winston. He added a third Winston Open crown in 1993 while driving a Ford and was seventh in the finale.

With a secured spot, Marlin then scored back-to-back runner-up finishes in 1994 and 1995, winding up second to Geoff Bodine in the first and Jeff Gordon in the second. He followed that with three more top-10 runs -- and then a fourth and final Nextel Open victory in 2004, this time driving a Dodge.

Related:
• Sterling Marlin: Career Totals

MARK MARTIN

20 starts, 2 wins, 6 top-5s, 10 top-10s

Mark Martin missed advancing to the 1989 The Winston when he finished 12th in the qualifying race. Since then, he's been a fixture in the yearly visit to Charlotte, as he will have an opportunity Saturday night to start a record 21st-consecutive All-Star Race.

Martin got over his 1989 disappointment in a big way, finishing third behind Dale Earnhardt and Ken Schrader in 1990. He was second in 1993 and fourth in 1996 before fortune shined his way in the 1998 The Winston.

Martin

Jeff Gordon appeared to have the car to beat, and probably could have cruised to the victory, but he jumped a late-race restart, forcing NASCAR officials to line up the cars once more. That little mistake became a big one when Gordon's car, low on fuel, sputtered immediately after the green flag, as a surprised Martin flashed by.

"They had it won. We lucked out," Martin said. "I don't think that we would have ever caught them, but that doesn't matter."

Martin added a second win in the 2005 Nextel All-Star Challenge, driving a car with a Valvoline retro paint scheme to the win in what was expected to be his retirement season.

On the race's final restart, Martin survived a bump from Elliott Sadler and pulled away for a .582-second margin of victory.

"This is how I want to do it," Martin said. "And we did this by racing smart with a great race car. I am excited about what is coming up ahead of us."

Five years later, Martin's not only entered in this year's Sprint All-Star Race, but in contention for that long-sought Cup championship.

Related:
• Mark Martin: Career Totals

KEN SCHRADER

8 starts, 0 wins, 6 top-5s, 6 top-10s

It has been said that second place is the first loser, but in Ken Schrader's case, that couldn't be further from the truth. Schrader finished second in his first three All-Star Races, then followed that with a third, fourth and third.

Schrader

He wound up second to Rusty Wallace in 1989, played the bridesmaid's role to Dale Earnhardt the following year and was runner-up in the first of Davey Allison's victories in 1981.

Schrader made his final All-Star appearance in 2004, thanks to fan voting, and finished 13th for Beth Ann Morgenthau.

Related:
• Ken Schrader: Career Totals

TONY STEWART

11 starts, 1 win, 6 top-5s, 7 top-10s

Like Schrader, Tony Stewart's All-Star experience started off with a bang, when he won the Winston Open to qualify for the main event, then nearly held off eventual winner Terry Labonte. He then finished third in 2001 and 2004, and scored a pair of fifth-place finishes before finally breaking through in the 2009 Sprint All-Star Race, his first as a car owner.

Stewart

With co-owner Gene Haas in attendance, Stewart bided his time in the first three segments, then turned up the intensity when the race resumed for the final 10-lap sprint. When accidents wiped out both Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, Stewart found himself third and chasing leader Matt Kenseth and second-place Kyle Busch.

Stewart got past Busch and set his sights on Kenseth, finally getting by on the backstretch with two laps to go as Kenseth failed to block the inside line.

"I felt stupid," Kenseth said. "He went around me like I was tied to a tree."

Stewart was somewhat surprised but was certain he had the fastest car at the end.

"I can't believe he gave me the bottom," Stewart said. "But I'll take it. Matt is a guy you can trust. We got to second there, got by the No. 18 and I thought all right, we have a shot at this thing."

Related:
• Tony Stewart: Career Totals

DARRELL WALTRIP

16 starts, 1 win, 4 top-5s, 8 top-10s

Darrell Waltrip will forever be remembered for winning the inaugural The Winston, as the engine in Junior Johnson's Chevrolet grendaded just as he took the checkered flag. That came one day before he swept the weekend's racing activities with a victory in the 1985 Coca-Cola 600.

Waltrip

The announced attendance for that first All-Star Race was 133,200 -- the biggest crowd in NASCAR history at that point -- and they saw Waltrip edge Harry Gant by .31 seconds to take home the $200,000 paycheck.

"If a man has to win only one race a year, this isn't a bad one to win," Waltrip said. "To come from behind and pass a guy on the white-flag lap for that amount of money makes it one of my all-time wins."

Gant appeared to have victory within his grasp, but his car's handling problems were too great to overcome.

"The tires went away on my car with five or six laps to go," Gant said.

Waltrip finished fourth in 1986, third in 1991 and posted another fourth-place finish in 1994. However, his record somewhat fails to take into consideration the number of times he was in contention for the win up until the closing laps, only to be sidelined by accidents or mechanical failures.

Related:
• Darrell Waltrip: Career Totals