Maybe no one cares but after watching what I saw the other night I have an idea - well two ideas. I'm sure neither will go over but here's what I think they could do to guarantee a better All Star Race. A) Keep the same format we had this year except run that last segment 20 laps as well. Instead of each segment paying $50,000 to win and then having guys win a segment and sandbag it here's two ways to guarantee that won't happen. A driver winning any of the first 3 segments MUST be in the top 10 running order at the end of segment four in order to line up in the front of the pack. If they are outside of the top 10 they don't get the luxury of moving to the front of the field. It would at least keep them from running 3/4 a lap behind. But more importantly...........each segment in itself will still pay $50,000 to win. BUT, if a driver wins 2 segments he gets a $100,000 bonus. If a driver wins 3 segments he gets a $250,000 bonus. If a driver wins 4 segments he gets a $500,000 bonus. And if a driver sweeps it and wins all 5 segments he gets a $1,000,000 bonus on top of the $1,000,000 that the race pays. I think THAT would get them up on the wheel. Oh, and that last pitstop going into segment 5 - everyone has to do a 4 tire change to keep things more fair for everyone. B) Run 10, ten lap segments. Then a 20 lap finale. After segment 1 the guy that wins sits until the last 20 laps and so on and so forth. So by the 10th segment the 9 previous segment winners are waiting on that last 20 lap race without even being on the track. It gives incentive to win a segment earlier in the evening. After all 10 segments are complete and you have your final 10 guys have them all change four tires on pit road and then bring ping pong balls out onto pit road - or Coca-Cola bottles or whatever. Have the 10 drivers pick a bottle for their starting spot in the last 20 lap run. Let the guy who won the first segment choose first and on down the line. The big kicker is the race will still pay $1,000,000 to win. But it also comes with a huge bonus.........the winner of the All Star Race gets an automatic pass into the Chase for the Cup at the end of the year. Getting a guarantee of a Chase spot in May would finally put the drivers into a position where they would do almost anything to win the race. I know both suggestions are gimmicky but NASCAR loves gimmicks and I think either idea would at least provide more of a sense of something spectacular and a can't miss race to watch for fans.
Giving the winner of the All Star a spot in the Chase is like deciding who gets home field in the World Seriers based on who wins the All Star game.
99% of the time the guy who wins the All Star Race will be in the Chase anyhow. I'm too lazy to look it up since the inception of the Chase how many All Star winners have missed the Chase but it can't be more than one or two. Maybe that year Kahne won it for Petty out of nowhere he didn't make the Chase but I'm not 100% sure.
"........the winner of the All Star Race gets an automatic pass into the Chase for the Cup at the end of the year. Getting a guarantee of a Chase spot in May would finally put the drivers into a position where they would do almost anything to win the race. " This would make winning a non points "race" equal to running the entire regular season, and a gimmicky less than a full race at that. Never happen and shouldn't.
If the concern is about guys sandbagging and running near the back after winning a segment, they should eliminate 'X' amount of cars after each segment.
