CONCORD, N.C. – The epitaph on the grave of the 2016 NASCAR All-Star Race format should read like this: It was good in theory.
Saturday night was a great idea spoiled. An attempt to spice up the boring All-Star Race by implementing a new format that would seemingly guarantee an action-packed final segment went sour when unforeseen consequences derailed the concept.
It left drivers confused, frustrated and angry – well, most of the drivers except for race winner Joey Logano, who walked away with an additional $1 million.
“Awesome race,” Logano said with a laugh. “I thought it went great.”
Not many others did. The complex format, the brainchild of Logano’s Team Penske teammate Brad Keselowski, was thwarted by a scenario that NASCAR admitted no one saw coming.
“It’s just very unfortunate that this situation cropped up and a lot of people walked away from here disappointed,” NASCAR senior vice president of competition Scott Miller said. “We’re disappointed as well.”
The situation was complicated, but here’s an attempt to explain:
- Drivers were required to make a pit stop under the green flag within the first 50 laps of the first segment.
- All of the drivers did that except for Matt Kenseth, who was still on the track as the race leader when Jamie McMurray suddenly spun out and caused a caution with a few laps left in the segment.
- As a result, there wasn’t enough time for Kenseth to make a green-flag stop. He was penalized one lap for not taking tires and forced to pit.
- Since Kenseth was technically the race leader – even though it was illegally so – it meant nearly half the field was trapped one lap down and unable to take the wavearound.
That left drivers confused as to what their position on the track was. They were upset because it was a different procedure than NASCAR would use in a normal race, and it muddied the setup for the final segment.
After all, the entire idea of the 2016 format was to have fast cars with new tires start behind a bunch of slower cars on old tires. But instead of a bunch, there were only two – Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch.
What should NASCAR have done? It should have held Kenseth a lap, let the field come back around and then opened the pits. The cars would have unlapped themselves and returned to the lead lap while Kenseth would have been one lap down.
“Hindsight is really easy, and we didn’t really have a mechanism (to correct the situation) in our race procedures,” Miller said.
After all, the whole idea of making a change was to give the fans a fun and entertaining finish. And actually, the finish was an enjoyable one – Logano and Kyle Larson were side by side for the lead with two laps to go.
But unfortunately, it was too late to salvage the night as a whole by that point.
“I was pretty confused right up until it was 13 laps to go, and then I knew, ‘Well, we're racing from here to the end, and this is all the normal rules,’” Dale Earnhardt Jr. said. “But everything before that ... I was out of my element.”
Other drivers were a bit more blunt.
“It’s the dumbest damn thing I’ve ever been a part of,” Tony Stewart said. “I’m as baffled as everybody. … It’s the most screwed up All-Star Race I’ve ever been a part of.”
“I’ve never been this confused in a race car in my entire life,” Kenseth said. “I hope everybody watching understands, because I have no idea what happened ever since the first car pitted.”
“I’m in the sport and we’re confused, so how does the race fan keep up at times?” Denny Hamlin said.
But Keselowski, who had anxiously anticipated how his format would unfold, said he wasn’t disappointed by the racing itself – there was an exciting battle for the win, after all -- and said there shouldn’t have been so much confusion.
“I don't know how you can get much more compelling racing than what we saw today, so they need to get unconfused and enjoy the racing,” he said.
RESULTS
SaturdayAt Charlotte Motor SpeedwayConcord, N.C.Lap length: 1.5 miles(Start position in parentheses)
1. (8) Joey Logano, Ford, 113.
2. (6) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 113.
3. (10) Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Chevrolet, 113.
4. (4) Carl Edwards, Toyota, 113.
5. (3) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 113.
6. (7) Chase Elliott ‥, Chevrolet, 113.
7. (15) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 113.
8. (20) Greg Biffle, Ford, 113.
9. (12) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 113.
10. (2) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 113.
11. (1) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 113.
12. (5) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 113.
13. (14) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 113.
14. (9) Martin Truex, Jr., Toyota, 113.
15. (19) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, 113.
16. (18) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, Accident, 111.
17. (13) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 110.
18. (11) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, Accident, 71.
19. (16) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, Accident, 71.
20. (17) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, Accident, 70.
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Average Speed of Race Winner: 98.103 mph.
Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 43 Mins, 40 Secs. Margin of Victory: 1.142 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 4 for 18 laps.
Lead Changes: 13 among 7 drivers.
Lap Leaders: K. Harvick 0; Kyle Busch 1-4; K. Harvick 5-25; Kyle Busch 26-34; J. Logano 35-44; C. Edwards 45; M. Kenseth 46-49; C. Edwards 50; B. Keselowski 51-80; Kyle Busch 81-82; C. Edwards 83-84; B. Keselowski 85-93; K. Larson 94-111; J. Logano 112-113. Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): B. Keselowski 2 times for 39 laps; K. Harvick 1 time for 21 laps; K. Larson 1 time for 18 laps; Kyle Busch 3 times for 15 laps; J. Logano 2 times for 12 laps; C. Edwards 3 times for 4 laps; M. Kenseth 1 time for 4 laps.
