I have to start by saying congratulations to Carl Edwards on winning his first career All-Star race. Over the last five seasons he has been one of the best drivers in NASCAR, he deserved this accomplishment. Nobody expected Carl Edwards or any driver for that matter to dominate the majority of the segments. Carl's teammate at Jack Roush Racing Greg Biffle managed to win the first segment. Kyle Busch finished 2nd in the All-Star race in just his second career All-Star race appearance. You could find that #18 M&M's car near the front for most of the night. Although David Reutimann was not a favorite to win the event I am not surprised that he finished in 3rd. Reutimann has won at Charlotte Motor Speedway before. He knows how to be fast and competitive at this NASCAR circuit.

Charlotte Motor Speedway is located in North Carolina, all of the best drivers compete to determine the All-Star driver in NASCAR. For some of the race it looked like Jeff Gordon had an outstanding chance at winning his 4th career All-Star race. However the final pit stop somehow managed to shuffle Gordon to the rear of the competition. The 4-time Champion never recovered and ended up finishing in 15th. I will admit my prediction was false, which was for an unlikely, underdog driver to pull of a shocking victory. I thought Kasey Kahne, Jamie McMurray, or David Reutimann would be the driver to do such a thing. All three of these drivers have a victory at least one victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Kasey Kahne is a former All-Star race winner. I did also state that the popular drivers like Carl Edwards, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, and Kyle Busch would have a significant chance at winning this glorious event. I figured it would come down to simply who can find the best lane, speed, and handling balance to decide a winner.

David Ragan out raced Brad Keselowski to win the Sprint Showdown which took place before the All-Star race. What was really exciting was the final restart when Keselowski made a bold move to the inside to make it 3-wide with Paul Menard and David Ragan. Keselowski would then drive off with the lead but was later caught and passed by Ragan, giving Keselowski a 2nd place finish. Jeff Burton was my pick to win the Sprint Showdown despite him not having any top 5 or top 10 finishes yet this season. The former Charlotte winner slipped further away from the leader on a restart when a slower car held up Burton and several other cars. Marcos Ambrose did an excellent job of using the outside lane to pass a couple cars at a time in the corners at some points. Some risky moves which turned into clean passes gave Marcos a 3rd place finish, but this was not enough to advance him into the main event race.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. was voted as the third of the three drivers to advance into the All-Star race, no one was surprised by this. Dale has so much love, respect, and popularity with the fans because of his father's legacy and again love with the fans. The Most Popular Driver Award usually goes to Earnhardt Jr. at the end of each season, but this year he seems to have a contender. Jeff Gordon has always had a large fan base and now it's beginning to show. For 8 of the 11 races completed so far in 2011 Gordon has been the Pizza Hut Fan Favorite driver. It will be interesting to see who wins this year's Most Popular Driver award.

All-Star Race Results:
1. Carl Edwards
2. Kyle Busch
3. David Reutimann
4. Tony Stewart
5. Greg Biffle

Written by: Tyler McMurter