NASCAR apologizes for All-Star debacle, but not for eating ice cream

So NASCAR staged their annual Sprint All-Star race Saturday night, which by the way for those who forgot, won’t be the actual Sprint All-Star Race next season. Sprint is abandoning the sport at the end of this year so next year the All-Star Race will be something like the “Chef Boyardee” or “Keebler” All-Star Race and everyone will vote their favorite driver in to the main event by turning in empty cans of Spaghetti-O , or dressing up like little elves or something stupid.

Another thing there won’t be in NASCAR’s All-Star Race next season is the format we saw Saturday night.  As they are apt to do, NASCAR changed the All-Star format, splitting the main event into 3 segments, 50, 50 and a 13 lap final shootout.  There was also a mandatory pit stop in each of the first segments, with a minimum of two tires. The third segment was also tied to tires; a draw decided whether the top 9,10, or 11 cars at the end of segment two would be forced to pit for four tires, while those behind would stay out on older tires. The intended result would be leaders with older tires while trying to hold off cars with fresher tires. Sounds pretty exciting on paper.

It didn’t quite work out that way in reality however.

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Greg Engle

Greg is a published award winning sportswriter who spent 23 years combined active and active reserve military service, much of that in and around the Special Operations community.

Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.

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