Cup All Stars Go For The Million At Dover              

From a NASCAR Fan’s View

The place for the All-Star race this season is the Monster Mile at Dover Motor Speedway. NASCAR couldn’t have picked a better venue than Dover for the race this season, and it will be a definite challenge for all involved. NASCAR set up the race in three stages of 75 laps, 75 laps, and 200 laps. They have also set it up to make it even more interesting by the way the three stages will start. The first stage has been set by the qualifying session. The second will be inverted at least for the top twenty-six finishers in the first stage and the final stage. Well, at least that’s the way I understand the way things are supposed to go,

I can’t remember a more interesting or dramatic qualifying session for an All-Star race in recent times. I am sure there are those who will disagree with me, but I’m just telling it the way I saw it today. It seemed no matter how well some seemed to run their qualifying laps and pit stops, either they or their crews had problems and cost them penalty time on the clock. Every time a good run turned into a bad one, even though they looked to have better runs. Those penalties cost them dearly.

Denny Hamlin looked like he was going to have a bad run for qualifying and ended up on the pole. Admittedly, I was surprised by that performance, but probably shouldn’t have been. The Toyotas seem to be the class of the field every weekend. That doesn’t mean they are going to win every weekend, but it is obvious they are having a strong season so far.

Brad Keselowski managed good qualifying laps and will start outside Denny Hamlin on the front row. He has to be happy about that, and it was good to see the hard work of the RFK teams paying off. Lately, the RFK teams haven’t often qualified that well, but when they do, their chances seem to improve, and this fan can’t help but wonder if Brad might walk away with that million-dollar prize. Yeah, I know that might be a long shot, especially with the way the stages are set up to happen.

First of all, the drivers have to make it through the first two stages and finish in the right spots. That may be difficult for two reasons. One reason is that they are racing at Dover. Dover is one of the toughest tracks on the NASCAR circuit. It is tough to run on, to pass on, and it is tough to make pit stops and not have problems during those stops. That means there will be a lot of pressure on the crews to have clean stops and the drivers not to miss pit entry or speed, and end up way back in the field.

Another reason is that this race is for a million dollars. I know that is an incentive for taking chances that probably wouldn’t be taken in a normal weekend race. Now, I don’t expect anyone to really do anything out of place, but I know that, given the opportunity, they will be aggressive, and that could make things very interesting.

Okay, so I think I talked about the two front row starters determined by qualifying enough for now. As usual, the qualifying results can be a little deceptive. There were a bunch of drivers who ran as good or maybe a little better than the two on the front row, but they are starting pretty far back in the field. That was the result of the ten-second penalties for infractions during their qualifying attempts.

Some could have even taken the pole, but didn’t because of those one or two infractions or not being able to complete their full qualifying runs. There are also several fast qualifiers at the front of the field that can likely give those front row starters a run for their money (no pun intended). The one real advantage for those top qualifiers comes from their pit selections. After that, it is being able to make it through the two 75-lap stages and making it into the final twenty-six that will inevitably run for the million.

If the race is as dramatic and interesting as the qualifying turned out to be, this could be one of the more exciting All-Star races in recent memory. Of course, there is also the possibility that it could be dominated by the pole sitter and just be a boring, chase-the-leader type of race where Denny Hamlin basically controls it pretty much from beginning to end. Of course, there is the problem of the inversion in the second 75-lap stage, which could throw a wrench into the whole thing completely. That remains to be seen, and that 200-lap final stage could be a real win-killer.

There is one more thing to mention before I go. All of the drivers will be running to beat Miles. Yeah, that’s right. Miles the monster will have to be tamed if any of them wants to claim that million dollars…