| | | | | | CULMINATION | All-Star risk vs. reward calls for unconventional measures | |
| | From NASCAR.com The All-Star Race is unlike any other race, so it's only fitting that preparation for the star-studded event is anything but standard and routine.
With $1 million and no points on the line, some teams take the opportunity to be a bit more aggressive or unconventional with their setups.
"We've seen teams try different, off-the-wall things," said Larry McReynolds, former crew chief and SPEED analyst. "In the mid to late '90s, Hendrick and the 24 team broke out that T-Rex chassis at the All-Star Race, which NASCAR said to never bring back again. This is a good opportunity to step outside the box with an engine combination, chassis combination or a different setup to see if it's a little faster or better than what you'd normally run."
While the theme throughout the All-Star Race is "going for broke," crew chiefs say they are responsible for balancing the risk of taking themselves and their drivers out against the reward of winning a cool million.
"You have to measure risk versus reward," said Chad Knaus, crew chief for Jimmie Johnson. "If you're second or third going for the lead, you will do whatever you can to win but if you're fifth, it's kind of foolish. As far as throwing caution to the wind, and putting ourselves and Jimmie in harm's way, we're not going to do that."
Kurt Busch laid it on the line in last year's All-Star Race but was arguably the night's biggest loser when he and brother Kyle wrecked.
"In last year's race, we were definitely going for it," Busch said. "We were coming off a restart and I really felt like we needed to be out front and try to build a little buffer. I can't see anything that I could have changed if I had the same opportunity. Like I said, it's an all or nothing race and nobody ever remembers who finished second. Think quickly, can you tell me who finished second in the All-Star race last year?"
Watching your racecar bound for the garage on a rollback is an all-too-familiar sight during the night.
"The All-Star Race falls right behind Daytona, Talladega and Bristol with a good likelihood of getting wrecked," said McReynolds, who won the 1991 and '92 All-Star races with driver Davey Allison. "So many things promote that. There are only double-file restarts and you just know they're going to drive off into turn one side-by-side on every single restart. The different segments don't allow the cars to get strung out as much. All those things can put you in a position where you could lose your race car."
Since the possibility of totaling a race car is so strong, most teams prepare different ones for the All-Star Race and the next week's Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway. If the All-Star car runs well and escapes mostly unscathed, teams may opt to run it in the 600-mile event.
"Our car from the All-Star Race was in one piece last year and it ran so well that we took it to the 600," said Bootie Barker, crew chief of the No. 66 Chevrolet. "But that's not what we plan on ahead of time. You save your best piece for the 600 and something close to that for the All-Star Race."
McReynolds won the 1992 All-Star Race with Davey Allison but lost the car when Allison and Kyle Petty wrecked coming to the checkered flag. With it, they destroyed the car McReynolds had planned to take to the Coca-Cola 600.
"These teams better plan on having separate cars for the two races and I'm living proof of that," McReynolds said. "We weren't prepared to destroy that car on Saturday night because we needed it the following week. Heading into Charlotte, all we had to do was win the Coca-Cola 600 or the Southern 500 and we'd be the second team to take home the Winston Million.
"We had this race car that was batting close to a thousand getting to Victory Lane and seemed to win everywhere we took it," McReynolds said. "We took it to the All-Star Race because we thought we could win with it. Mission accomplished, to some degree, because we absolutely spanked them in the race but we paid the price."
Despite the dejection and frustration McReynolds and Allison felt that Saturday night, most teams acknowledge there's something special about this race under the lights.
"This is the home track for most of these teams," McReynolds said. "I was part of winning in back-to-back years in '91 and '92 with Davey Allison. It was very cool to have so many people from our shop there who normally aren't at the track, and it was an added bonus for us to carry them to Victory Lane to celebrate with us. They worked on the car week after week but only got to see it race on TV."
And alleviating the burden of points for even one night helps to lighten the mood in the garage area a bit.
"We think about points every single weekend and we don't really have to for one day," Barker said. "We can focus on winning at all costs. The mentality for the All-Star race is going for broke. You're going for the money at the end and if you've got to make it 12-wide to try to get it, do so, and if you wreck, who cares. You won't do that in a points race."
Despite his disappointing finish last May, Busch is going for broke again this year.
"Like Jimmy Fennig, my old crew chief, used to say, 'Hey, either bring us back the winner's trophy or the steering wheel, it really doesn't matter to us,' " Busch said. "I think that the Chase format even further strengthens that attitude of the All-Star race being such a great change from not having to worry about points."
"The guys enjoy the race because it breaks up the monotony of a regular race week and the pressure is off a little bit," Knaus said. "The way the pit crew is included in the selection of pit stalls by virtue of the Sprint Pit Crew Challenge is kind of cool. They get jazzed by that and it's a fun event."
Of course, it's more fun when you're an All-Star champion.
"It sounds like a cliché but it's absolutely all about winning," McReynolds said. "Yeah, you get money for second but nobody knows and nobody cares who finished second or who led the most laps. I couldn't begin to tell you who ran second last year because it doesn't matter. I only remember that Kevin Harvick won."
| | Posted May 07, 2008 , 8:15 pm EST
Last Updated May 09, 2008 , 9:36 pm EST | | | | | | | | | | |
