The NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, set for Saturday, May 22 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, will consist of four segments, concluding with a 10-lap sprint and a $1 million pay-out to the race winner. There’s an added twist this year before the green flag drops for the final segment: once the field takes a lap behind the pace car, all cars must enter pit road for a four-tire stop. The order in which the cars exit off pit road is how they will line up for the final 10 laps, placing an even greater premium on the efficiency of the pit crews.

The 2010 format is as follows:
• Segment 1: 50 laps with a mandatory green-flag pit stop on Lap 25 at which time teams must pit and take on four tires. Following the end of Segment 1, the caution flag will be displayed for an optional pit stop.
• Segment 2: 20 laps with the caution flag displayed at the end of Segment 2 for an optional pit stop.
• Segment 3: 20 laps with a 10-minute break at the end of Segment 3. Teams may make normal adjustments to their cars during this break. The finishing order after the third segment determines the field’s lineup for the pace lap prior to the start of the fourth segment.
• Segment 4: Once the field takes a lap behind the pace car, all cars must enter pit road for a four-tire stop. The order in which the cars exit pit road is how they will line up for the 10-lap shootout with only green-flag laps counting.

  

“We saw last year just how competitive this format can be, with Tony Stewart battling Matt Kenseth for the win on the final couple of laps,” said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR vice president of competition. “With the addition of the four-tire pit stop, there is going to be even greater competition between the pit crews on who can get their driver serviced and out the quickest. I think the fans are in for quite a show.”

Mark Martin, a two-time NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race winner, is looking forward to competing in his 21st all-star event this year, which is the most of any driver.
“I love the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race as much as the fans do,” said Martin.

The eligibility standards for the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race remain the same: race winners from either the 2009 or 2010 season through May 16 or any past champions of the all-star event or NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (over the previous 10 years) are eligible for the race. In addition, the top-two finishers in the Sprint Showdown, a 40-lap preliminary race scheduled for 7:30 p.m. and the winner of the Sprint Fan Vote, all advance into the all-star race lineup. Joey Logano won the Sprint Fan Vote last year.

The sixth annual NASCAR Sprint Pit Crew Challenge presented by Craftsman returns to kick off the all-star week’s competition, Wednesday, May 19 at 7 p.m. at the Time Warner Cable Arena. The event’s finishing order determines pit selection for the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race. The No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet team is the defending Pit Crew Challenge champion.

Drivers currently eligible for the 2010 NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race (as of March 17): Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne, Matt Kenseth, Brad Keselowski, Bobby Labonte, Joey Logano, Mark Martin, Jamie McMurray, Ryan Newman, David Reutimann, Tony Stewart, and Brian Vickers.

Artical from SpeedTV.com

Related articles by Zemanta

• NASCAR adds mandatory pit stop to All-Star race (sports.espn.go.com)

With the high speeds and close finishes the Kobalt Tools 500 should be a great race. Hopefully Atlanta Motor Speedway will provide us with another thrilling finish like in 2005 when Carl Edwards won by just .028 seconds? Or a repeat of 2001 when Kevin Harvick won by just .006 seconds? We could be in for another great race this weekend in Atlanta.

Atlanta Motor Speedway is l.54 mile quad-oval with 24 degrees of banking in the turns. At Atlanta the cars will not have restrictor plates, average speeds is even faster than the superspeedways of Daytona and Talladega. This is a very fast race track that has a history of truly great racing.

The qualifying record in Atlanta is 197.478 MPH making it one of the fastest race tracks on the NASCAR schedule.

Will Jimmie Johnson be able to win his third straight Sprint Cup victory Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway?

  

The way the 48 team is racing so far it would be a good bet they will. In fact, it’s easy to consider him the race favorite entering the fourth event of the year after he won race two at California and then passing his teammate Jeff Gordon late in the race to a win at Las Vegas last week.

Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus seem to have things going early this season in their search for a fifth straight championship, statistics make success this weekend well within their reach.

Of all current drivers, Johnson is fourth behind only Bobby Labonte (6), Bill Elliott (5) and Jeff Gordon (4) in career victories at AMS.

“We’re excited to have won the last two weeks, but there’s still a lot of work going on,” Johnson said Tuesday. “We’re looking forward to getting on the racetrack and looking for a third.”

Dale Earnhardt JR is looking forward to racing at Atlanta. This one of his best non-resrictor-plate races were won the March 2004 race.

His average finish there is 11.9, and he has 10 career top-10 finishes at Atlanta, his last coming in March 2008 when he finished third.

“We’ve always run pretty good at Atlanta, so I look forward to going there,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “It’s a wide track, and it gets slick. Atlanta is a driver’s track – if one groove doesn’t work, then you can find another one. It’s a fun track, and it’s a fast track.”

This weekend NASCAR honors Wendell Scott, the first African-American to win at NASCAR’s highest level. Scott’s first NASCAR start came on March 4th, 1961 in Spartanburg, SC. Two years later Scott would pick up a victory in Jacksonville, FL on December 1st, 1963

All of the cars this weekend will carry a special decal commemorating the event.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Fantasy Pick’Em: 2010 Kobalt Tools 500 (bleacherreport.com)
• Which driver will take the checkered flag during the Kobalt Tools 500? (hubdub.com)
• 5 more fresh articles…