The 2011 NASCAR All-Star Race
Every year at Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina, all of the best drivers and pit crews compete in exciting competitions to determine the most dominant warriors in NASCAR. The Charlotte circuit is a 1.5-mile quad-oval with 24 degrees of banking in the turns and 5 degrees on the straight-aways. Pit road speed is 45 mph. The All-Star weekend will consist of the Pennzoil burnout competition, the Pit Crew Challenge, the Sprint Showdown, and the All-Star race.
Eligibility Regulations
The NASCAR drivers are eligible to compete in this historic event if they have at least one victory in the Sprint Cup Series in the previous season or the current season. All-Star race winners from previous years are automatically eligible for the All-Star race as long as they have competed in any NASCAR series during the 2010 or 2011 season. The exact same thing applies for drivers who have won a Cup Series Championship within the past 10 seasons. Expect a sold out crowd of 171,000 die hard NASCAR fans.
There is a preliminary event called the “Sprint Showdown” for teams that are not eligible for the All-Star race. The top two finishers from the Sprint Showdown will be entered into the All-Star race which will be later that same evening. Keep in mind that the fans get to vote in a third driver that competed in the Sprint Showdown as well. The NASCAR All-Star Event is always exciting for the fans and interesting for the experts.
I continue to say this all week leading up to the legendary event, it’s very possible that an under dog driver with less success than most of the best drivers will win the All-Star race:
-Kasey Kahne won the 2008 All-Star race and the points race at Charlotte the very next weekend. In 2006 Kahne won both points races at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
-Casey Mears won the first of the two points races at Charlotte in 2007.
-Kurt Busch has been struggling. Over the last six races his best finish is 10th. However Kurt won the 2010 All-Star race and the first of the two points races at Charlotte last season.
-Jeff Burton has no top 5 or top 10 finishes so far in 2011. He could pull off a victory this weekend; he won the second of the two points races at Charlotte in 2008.
Jamie McMurray won the second points race at Charlotte last season, Jimmie Johnson won the same event at Charlotte in 2009, and so did Jeff Gordon in 2007. Jeff Gordon is a 3 time All-Star race winner, Jimmie Johnson and Mark Martin have each won the event twice, there are about eight drivers that have a great chance at being victorious this weekend.
Written By: Tyler McMurter
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