All-Star events have never truly been the most competitive, there is always more of a fun aspect where everyone is “trying” with limits to ensure nobody is injured in a meaningless game. The NBA as games where teams reach over 150 points each due to absolutely 0 offense. The NFL version of the All-Star game has been essentially reduced to two hand touch with some light hitting. This is where NASCAR is different, at the end of the event the winner gets 1 million dollars. This leads to a lot of competition and some great moments that make these races ones to remember.
NASCAR sometimes uses these races to test out new packages or rules that they either will use later in the season or later in the year. This means teams have very little time to prepare which also adds to the excitement and drama, not only is 1 million dollars on the line, there is a sense of unpredictability. This year NASCAR pulled out all the stops at Texas. Flipping the field, multiple times, many stages that bunched up the field, much less horsepower and a lot more. This race took a lot of heat before it even happened but once it took to the track it was much better than everyone thought it would be and put on some decent racing.
A big concern of the people was they would take a lot of what they did this weekend and put it into the regular season either this year or next year. Fans should not worry about this at all, NASCAR tried something different and despite a great battle for the win in the final 10 lap shootout, the racing was pretty bad and after the first lap off a restart there was little to no action from what we saw on the T.V broadcast. NASCAR would not put out something like that knowing the fans, even the fans on their council did not like the racing or the super slow engines that produced less than 500 Hp.
The All-Star race was just that, a race for fun with a big cash prize for the winner. No points standings, no regular season implications, none of it matters at the end of the day and was pure entertainment, and that is all it would ever be. Do not fear taht one exhibition will ruin NASCAR.
The Slow Restart 