Dull Stars

The All-Star Race: It just ain't what it used to be. There definitely weren't the sparks that I and everyone else was hoping for. Speed Channel's coverage started off with the "Pennzoil Victory Challenge," a burn-out competition that was really quite gimmicky. Greg Biffle "won" the event. The Sprint Showdown (the preliminary race) was probably the best event of the night. There were two 20 lap segments and the top 2 finishers would advance. On lap 3, Patrick Carpentier wrecked and then on the restart, A.J. Allmendinger pushed up into 2nd-place Elliott Sadler and wrecked him. Brian Vickers was leading at the end of the first segment. Some cars pitted (Vickers) while others stayed out (Allmendinger). Sam Hornish and David Ragan had a good race for 2nd and after getting by, Hornish stalked Allmendinger for the lead and put up a good fight, but A.J. won. That put two former open-wheelers in the main event. Kasey Kahne was the winner of the fan vote; he finished 5th in the Showdown. more...