Commentary
NASCAR Cup All-Star
Opinion: Why the All-Star race hate is unfounded
Only in NASCAR can the sanctioning body provide the very thing fans and media have been clamoring for and still no one seems happy.
Jim Utter
Edited: May 26, 2016, 11:08 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Complaining – whether about wrecks, attendance or rules (both too many and not enough) – appears to be the new normal in this sport.
For years – and I stress years – fans, media and even drivers have complained about the lack of drama in the outcome of the sport’s annual All-Star race and its $1 million prize.
Saturday night’s rain-delayed event at Charlotte Motor Speedway provided an abundance of it – including something that has not happened since 2009 – a lead change in the final segment with two laps remaining.
In addition to the last-segment lead change, there was also some of the best racing seen on a 1.5-mile track since the new low downforce aero package debuted last summer at Kentucky Speedway.
Still, that was not enough.
The superb on-track product has been nearly lost in the criticism – much on social media (shocking I know) – over the format of the race and the results of the mess at the end of the first 50-lap segment which left several top drivers a lap down.
Why it went awry
Never mind that the format itself had nothing to do with what many are complaining about. It was teams’ willingness to test the limits of the format (never heard that before have we?) that caused the problem.
While 15 of the 20 teams completed their required green-flag pit stop, five teams elected to wait as long as possible. As four of the teams were on pit road, a caution came out for a wreck by Jamie McMurray.
Matt Kenseth had not yet pit and except for a few lucky teams that un-lapped themselves on new tires before the caution, many teams remained caught a lap down. There was no wavearound available to help, thus leaving many top teams in a mess before the second segment began.
This of course became a tragedy of epic proportions – with the team and fans of every driver negatively affected by the issue immediately complaining of the format and the “confusion” of the race.
It was better than previous formats
No one bothers to remember that for the last two years we asked fans to figure out the average finish of drivers in the first four segments to determine which ones would enter pit road in the final segment.
Somehow, this was more confusing. At least no calculator was required.
The best complaints are by those who say NASCAR keeps changing the rules every year. Care to guess why NASCAR changed the rules to begin with – like the first time and every time since then? That’s right, fan and competitor complaints.
Saturday night’s All-Star race was the most entertaining in years but the willingness of everyone to find fault in anything will surely overshadow it.
And by the way, since when did anything other than the result matter in NASCAR?
Everyone talks about the big fight in the 1979 Daytona 500 and no one bothers to mention how lackluster the race on the track was with Donnie Allison dominating most of it.
Social media erupts like a volcano when a race ends under caution these days but no one criticizes the late Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s lone Daytona 500 victory even though it came in a race that ended under caution.
NASCAR makes way too many rules unless Tony Stewart rips them for safety over not requiring five tight lug nuts on wheels (while his crew chief bothers to put only four on the wheels in Stewart’s first race back).
Criticism is easy, easier these days than ever before.
In the words of American writer and lecturer Dale Carnegie, “Any fool can criticize, complain, and condemn – and most fools do.”
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Earnhardt: Chassis changes helped make Logano's All-Star win possible
Next article Dollar General leaving Kenseth, ending involvement in NASCAR
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Jim Utter
Erik Jones agrees to multi-year contract extension with Legacy Motor Club
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Erik Jones agrees to multi-year contract extension with Legacy Motor Club
Goodyear's option tires at Richmond "were like Mario Kart with a star"
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Richmond II
Goodyear's option tires at Richmond "were like Mario Kart with a star"
NASCAR: Austin Dillon move was "really close to crossing the line"
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Richmond II
NASCAR: Austin Dillon move was "really close to crossing the line"
Latest news
Christian Horner: Kimi Antonelli has 'earned' the right to be Mercedes' number one
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Singapore GP
30 min
Christian Horner: Kimi Antonelli has 'earned' the right to be Mercedes' number one
FIA ratifies key 2027 WRC sporting regulations
WRC
WRC WRC 2 h
FIA ratifies key 2027 WRC sporting regulations
Toprak Razgatlioglu to miss the rest MotoGP season due to shoulder injury
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Australian GP
3 h
Toprak Razgatlioglu to miss the rest MotoGP season due to shoulder injury
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe