Will Jeff Gordon shine among stars?
There should be plenty of drama and excitement in NASCAR's Nextel Cup All-Star Challenge race on Saturday night at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte, an event that's up for grabs given its unique format -- four 20-lap segments on the 1.5-mile oval.
No championship points are awarded, but it's all-out racing with pride and a lot of money at stake -- the winner collecting just over $1 million. And given that this event is a series of sprints expect just about anything.
With how well they have been running this season, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, the top two drivers at Hendrick Motorsports have a good chance at winning, but so do a bunch of other drivers in the field.
Automatically entered in this event are All-Star race winners from the past decade, active Cup champions, and winners of Cup races in 2006 as well as the first eleven events of this year.
Another two drivers make the event by finishing first and second in the Nextel Open, a preliminary event that precedes the All-Star Challenge earlier on Saturday night. A fan vote places another driver in the field.
Working in Jeff Gordon's and Johnson's favor
Jeff Gordon comes into this event red hot. He has three wins in the last four races, and nine top-fives in 11 races this season. He's on top in points and he's taken NASCAR's top series by such storm that it will be next month before there is even a chance he falls from the top spot in the standings.
While this race is not about points, it can prove valuable down the line in qualifying for the Chase for the Nextel Cup. Jeff Gordon's crew chief Steve Letarte will use the All-Star Challenge to try and get a leg up on the best setup for next weekend's Cup race which is also held at Lowe's Motor Speedway.
Letarte will go to a new chassis and try some different things with it. What he and Jeff Gordon learn from that experience they will apply to other races this season starting with the Cup 600-miler on May 27 at Lowe's. The No. 24 Chevrolet has a good mile-and-half program, but like other teams it will use this non-points opportunity to experiment with new ideas that might help better the competition down the line.
Make no mistake, however, Jeff Gordon and Letarte will be out to win on Saturday night. If the four-time Cup champion does take the event, he'll make history becoming the first driver to win the All-Star Challenge four times. Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt are the only drivers with three All-Star wins. Jeff Gordon's victories came in 1995, 1997 and 2001 -- all championship seasons for him -- and Earnhardt's in 1987, 1990, and 1993.
Johnson won this event last year becoming only the second two-time winner in the last eight All-Star races. Mark Martin was the other with victories in 1998 and 2005. Johnson's first All-Star win came in 2003.
Defending Cup champion Johnson seems as formidable as ever at Lowe's, a venue he considers his home track. But because of the format of the All-Star event repeat winners are rare -- there's only been one, Davey Allison in 1991 and 1992.
There's no question Johnson and his No. 48 team have the Charlotte track figured out better than any of their competitors. In addition to his two All-Star wins, Johnson has five victories and eight consecutive top-three finishes in Cup races at LMS. He makes a pretty strong case for owning this track having led for a quarter of the laps he has raced at LMS.
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