All-Star Race Preview: A Night for the Stars to Shine

This exhibition race is divided into several racing segments which ultimately culminate in the final segment in which a winner is crowned. The racing begins Friday night with the Sprint Showdown, a 40-lap sprint divided into two 20-lap segments. Three Showdown drivers will transfer into the All-Star Race, two by winning the Showdown and finishing second, the third by winning an internet fan vote. To qualify for the Showdown, a driver must have finished in the Top 50 of the 2014 Sprint Cup standings, attempted to qualify for the 2015 Daytona 500 or competed in a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event during the 2015 season.

This is an exciting heat race, for the winner is usually a driver who is not normally a contender for the victory on most Sprint Cup race weekends. On Saturday night is the Sprint Cup All-Star Race. This is the weekend's main feature. It is a 110-lap event divided into four segments of 25 laps, and a 10-lap shootout. The three drivers who transfer from the Showdown join the drivers who are race winners from the previous and current Sprint Cup seasons, past All-Star event champions and Sprint Cup Series champions who are active drivers and have competed in at least one series event during the 2014 or 2015 season. Once the field is set, racing begins in the first segment of 25 laps. After each of the 25-lap segments pit stops are optional. However, the final 25-lap segment has a mandatory pit stop of four tires that sets up the final 10-lap shootout. The final segment lineup is based on the order that the teams come off pit road after their mandatory four-tire pit stop. The 10-lap shootout that follows will only count green flag laps. Caution laps will not shorten this exciting, final segment. The winner earns $1 million and if a driver wins all five segments, that driver will win an additional $1 million.

Since this is an exhibition racing event and a departure from NASCAR's normal racing format, we have to put the historical track statistics in proper perspective this week. The stats can be skewed since most teams come to the All-Star race with "disposable cars" and are looking to hit the big payday even at the expense of wrecking the team's car. However, we can rely to the loop stats to a certain degree when evaluating our contenders this week. The loop stats in the table below cover the last 10 years or 10 All-Star Races at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The Contenders - Drivers in the hunt to win the Sprint Showdown

Martin Truex Jr. - This will be Truex's ninth appearance in the Sprint Showdown. He is a two-time winner of this opening heat race, so he knows all too well the pressure and performance required to race his way into the All-Star Race. The revitalized No. 78 team of Furniture Row Racing has been on an absolute tear through the season's first 11 races. Truex has netted 10 Top-10 finishes in those starts and comes into All-Star weekend as one of the top contenders to win. This veteran driver has started on the front row in each of his last two Sprint Showdowns and claimed fourth- and fifth-place finishes in those efforts. Truex should be the driver to beat Friday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Kyle Larson - The young Ganassi Racing driver will be making his second-career start in the Sprint Showdown. Larson had a good outing in this exhibition race one year ago. The rookie started third and finished sixth after 40 laps of All-Star action in the Charlotte oval. Now with that experience behind him, and the jitters of racing in his first All-Star weekend now gone it will be interesting to see how Larson responds. He's been an up-and-down performer so far in 2015, but in this thinner field of NASCAR talent, Larson is a clear star. If Truex stumbles and CGR gives this young driver a good car, it could be a night for Larson to shine in the Sprint Showdown.

Paul Menard - Menard has yet to win this exhibition event, despite seven starts prior to this weekend. The Richard Childress Racing veteran has earned a pair of fourth-place finishes in the Open in his last four starts. Menard has been strong in 2015 on the larger ovals. His Top-15 finishes in the four intermediate oval races to-date show that the No. 27 team are close but not quite on their game yet at these style ovals. Menard is not the front-runner in this event, but if anyone ahead of him stumbles, the Richard Childress Racing driver could easily slip into victory lane in the Showdown.

Greg Biffle - Considering that Biffle gets victories in most seasons he usually qualifies directly for the All-Star Race and skips the Showdown all together. His winless 2014 season and to this point winless 2015 season have put the No. 16 Ford team in a rare Showdown appearance. This will be just Biffle's third-career start in this exhibition event. The good news is that the veteran driver has a history of fifth- and second-place finishes in this race. The runner-up finish coming with 12 laps led in 2010s installment. In a much thinner than normal field of competitors, Biffle's experience stands pretty tall. The Roush Fenway Racing team haven't had much speed the last couple seasons, but this is an event ripe for the picking for this driver and team.

Clint Bowyer - The Michael Waltrip Racing star is the "best of the rest" in this pool of light Sprint Cup Series talent. A winless 2014 season has put the No. 15 Toyota squarely into the entry list for this weekend's Showdown. Bowyer won this exhibition heat race one year ago in his fourth-career start in the Showdown. In a similar scenario, the veteran driver took a team that was performing unremarkably last year into victory lane at Charlotte with a good performance in this 40-lap event. So things set up pretty similarly for Bowyer again this weekend. However, the No. 15 team's lack of performance to this point in the season keeps him from being the heavy odds favorite.

Casey Mears - The absolute wild card of the field, but with the best chance to upset the larger teams, has to easily be Germain Racing and Mears' No. 13 team. This will be his tenth appearance in the weekend opening All Star festivities. Those earlier starts have yielded only three Top-10 finishes, however, things have been looking up of late. It was what Mears did in last year's Showdown that leaves the lasting impression entering this weekend. He qualified ninth on the starting grid and after 40 laps of wild action found himself with a career-best third-place finish in the Sprint Showdown. Only Clint Bowyer and A.J. Allmendinger's stars shone a little brighter in this exhibition one year ago.

The All-Star Race Contenders - Those in the hunt for the win

Jimmie Johnson - The six-time Sprint Cup Series champion is a four-time All-Star Race winner, and he's a seven-time winner of points-paying events at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He has a real knack for dominating at this particular intermediate oval. Johnson has won three of the season's four intermediate oval races to-date, so Johnson has to be seen as the driver to beat this Saturday night. In the Coca-Cola 600 one year ago, the Hendrick Motorsports star won the pole, led 164 laps and dominated his way to his seventh victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway. This driver and team just comes to life when the lights come on at the Charlotte oval.

Kevin Harvick - Harvick enters All-Star weekend first in the championship standings with two victories to his credit after 11 races. That could be a big factor heading to Charlotte this Saturday night. The Stewart Haas Racing veteran is fresh off a strong performance at Kansas Speedway, a similar intermediate oval, where he finished runner-up to Jimmie Johnson. Harvick is a one-time winner of the All-Star Race, in 2007, and he also finished runner-up in last year's installment of this exhibition race. It's been a long while between drinks, but Harvick may visit the fountain of victory lane this Saturday night.

Joey Logano - The rising star of the Sprint Cup Series ranks can hardly wait to race this Saturday night at Charlotte. Logano is already a one-time winner in 2015, and he's coming off a strong pole position and Top-5 performance at Kansas Speedway last weekend. The Penske Racing driver finished runner-up in this exhibition race two years ago to Jimmie Johnson, and that was his second Top 5 in his four career starts in the All-Star Race. When the lights flip on each season for this event in Charlotte, the best tends to come out in Logano. We're certain that an all-out effort will be turned in to get Logano that million dollar purse and his first victory in this prestigious event.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. - The driver of the No. 88 Chevrolet has a checkered history in the All-Star weekend classics. If we go all the way back to Earnhardt's rookie 2000 season we see that he won his first All Star Race, then named The Winston. Fast forward 12 years and the last time he enjoyed victory on All-Star weekend was his win in that season's Sprint Showdown. The mix in-between and since has generally been a collection of very positive Top-5 and Top-10 finishes. Earnhardt has recently been pretty steady, although not a major threat to win, with a pair of Top 5s in the last three years. The way he's been racing on intermediate ovals this season, there might be an outside chance he could sneak into victory lane this Saturday night.

Jeff Gordon - The Hendrick Motorsports star is a three-time winner of this event ('95, '97 and '01) and while those victories are practically ancient history there's no reason to believe some of that old magic can take hold of the 43-year-old driver this weekend. Gordon is fresh off a morale-boosting Top-5 finish at Kansas Speedway and he's climbing the driver standings after a slow start coming into the All-Star break. Whatever this driver and the No. 24 team have recently discovered, its working and Gordon is looking like a threat to win once again. Gordon hasn't cracked the Top 5 in the All-Star Race since 2006, so imagine the surprise of the NASCAR world if the No. 24 Chevrolet pulls into victory lane this Saturday night.

Brad Keselowski - The Penske Racing star is due some close examination before this All-Star Race. Keselowski is a one-time winner at Charlotte Motor Speedway in points-paying events, and he boasts a pretty solid but small resume in the All-Star exhibition events. The veteran driver has been a top performer on the 1.5-mile tracks this season, and he has four-straight Top 10s at these style ovals to prove it. Keselowski owns a pair of runner-up finishes in this exhibition event in 2011 and 2012, so he knows what it is to race up front and taste a near-brush with that million dollar purse. We should see a motivated driver and No. 2 Ford team this weekend in one of NASCAR's most prestigious prime-time events.

Matt Kenseth - The slow start to the season has been a bit perplexing for the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 team. Kenseth is clearly at some mechanical or horsepower disadvantage 11 races in the 2015 campaign. However, recent improvements in performance haven't gone un-noticed. We still must give him his due respect in this race. Kenseth is a one-time All-Star Race winner and he is currently second among active drivers with 11 Top-10 finishes in this exhibition event. He's riding an amazing eight-race Top-10 streak in this race into Saturday's 110-lap shootout. If the breaks fall Kenseth's way he could get the win and boost to get his season going in the right direction.

Kurt Busch - Busch is a one-time winner of the All-Star Race, and that victory came in 2010 while he was racing for Roger Penske. The Stewart Haas Racing veteran has over 50 laps led and five-career Top-5 finishes in this exhibition event. It's easy to see that the 36-year-old driver has tons of experience performing on this big stage. Busch has been coming on strong on the intermediate ovals this season. He won the pole position at Texas and led 45 laps in that race. He also led 20 laps and finished a strong eighth-place this past weekend at Kansas. The No. 41 team is just a tick off the speed needed to win one of these intermediate oval events, and it could wind up Busch's night in the All-Star Race at Charlotte.