All Star Weekend

Did you know that NASCAR has an All Star Weekend? You've probably watched the baseball All Star game, or the NBA, maybe even the football Pro Bowl, but, it's true, NASCAR has an All Star weekend. The NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, formerly known as The Winston until 2004, then the NEXTEL All-Star Challenge from 2004 until 2007, is a race open to race winners (either as a driver or a car owner) from the previous season as well as the current season, plus the past ten event winners and past decade's Cup Series champions. Drivers are also eligible if they are one of the top two finishers in the Sprint Showdown qualifying race (a 40-lap race in two 20-lap segments for drivers not qualified for the main event) or remain on the lead lap in the Sprint Showdown and get the most votes in a fan vote. There used to be another qualifying race following the Open known as the No Bull Sprint. Since 2003, only one qualifying race has been run. The following year, the fan vote was put into place to determine the second transfer driver. Michael Waltrip became the first driver to win the All-Star race after transferring in from a qualifying race in 1996. The first running of the race was held in 1985 at Lowe's Motor Speedway (formerly the Charlotte Motor Speedway) and has been run there every year except in 1986 when it was run at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Due to the nature of the race (only winning counts, and no points are rewarded regardless of finishing position), drivers often make crazy and reckless moves not seen in other races, and crashes are frequent - it is not uncommon to see less than half the starting grid finishing at the end. The winner of the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race recieves $1,000,000 with each segment winner recieving a bonus prize.
The race has a unique format, which changes frequently. The current format consists of a 50-lap segment with a mandatory 4-tire green flag pit stop on lap 25, two 20-lap segments, a 10-minute break, and a 10-lap shootout to determine the winner.
Former Sprint Cup and Sprint All-Star champions are also eligible for the race. Until 2001, the rule restricted only champions of the past five Sprint All Star Challenge events, but in 2005, the rule became the winners in the past ten years of either the Sprint Cup or the Sprint All-Star Race. The Sprint Showdown was restricted to the top 50 drivers in either the final standings of the previous year or current standings in the current year.
In 2004, NEXTEL, predecessor to Sprint, added a vote of race spectators, internet users and Sprint cellphone users to add one additional driver not in the field, but in the Sprint Showdown, and finishing on the lead lap, to the final starting field.
So, that's what were doing...that's a lot of information, but it does help you understand who's in and why. That race takes place Saturday night.
On a side note, I came to Charlotte on Tuesday to work on a concert for All Star Weekend. The band was O.A.R. Now, I'm not hip like the younger crowd and didn't know who this band was, but apparently, they hold the record for the most sales of an independent band in history. They are huge on the college scene. They are signed now with a major recording company, and are bazillionares. I got to go out and listen to a few songs. I liked 'em.