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Saturday night’s Sprint All Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway is set to be one wild ride. With no points on the line drivers will be racing only for the gory of winning, a nice trophy, and oh, by the way a $1 million payday for the driver who brings home the checkered flag.

To put it simply, it is 90 laps for $1 million.

This is one race when it really is “checkers or wreckers,” and “I’ll bring back the trophy or the steering wheel!”

“It’s win or nothing” says Jeff Gordon, a three-time All Star winner.

But not just an All Star event, the race is also a tune-up for the following week’s 600 mile race on the same track. Drivers who find the right set-up for the All Star duel will have an advantage when the 600 rolls around. In 2010 Kurt Busch won the All Star and went on to win the 600.

5 segments will make up Saturday night’s All Star race. 4 20 lappers, and a 10 lap finale for $1 million.

So far Dale Earnhardt Jr is not qualified for the race, but he still has a chance to race his way in during the Sprint All Star Challenge before the main event. Should he not make it in there is still a chance he would get in with a fan vote.

Who do you think has the best shot to win?

The following is a guest post.

By Reid Spencer

NASCAR Wire Service

RICHMOND, Va. — One of these days — and that day may come very soon — Dale Earnhardt Jr. will win a Sprint Cup race and put an end to what several writers have facetiously called NASCAR’s “long national nightmare.”

Earnhardt last tasted victory in the Cup series on June 15, 2008 at Michigan, not quite halfway through the first year of a lucrative contract with Hendrick Motorsports.

Since that race, Earnhardt has changed crew chiefs twice, a testament to his struggles to master the new racecar NASCAR introduced in 2007 and incorporated into the series full-time in 2008. He finished 25th in the final standings in 2009 and 21st in 2010.

When owner Rick Hendrick’s bold reshuffling of personnel after the 2010 season matched Earnhardt with Steve Letarte, Jeff Gordon’s former crew chief, Earnhardt’s performance improved. In 2011, he qualified for the Chase for the Sprint Cup for the first time since 2008 and ended the season seventh in the standings.

Earnhardt’s performance this year has put to rest any notion that last year’s success with Letarte was merely the sort of honeymoon that sometimes accompanies a crew chief change. Yes, Earnhardt’s winless streak grew to 138 races Saturday night at Richmond, but consider the rest of the story.

Since his last victory in 2008, Earnhardt has finished second seven times and third four times. Two of those runner-up finishes have come this year, most recently on Saturday night. Likewise, Earnhardt has fashioned two of his third-place runs this season, giving him four top-three finishes in nine races this year.

In seven of nine races, he has finished in the top 10. As a measure of his consistency this season, Earnhardt’s WORST finish this season is a 15th at Bristol. In the third race of the season, at Las Vegas, Earnhardt led more laps (70) than he had all last year (52).

Saturday night’s runner-up finish propelled Earnhardt to second in the Cup standings, five points behind series leader Greg Biffle.

All the numbers argue that Earnhardt is every bit as close to a breakthrough win as he believes he is.

A newfound maturity behind the wheel is part of the equation. When Hendrick announced the pairing with Letarte, one of Earnhardt’s first reactions was that he would have to tone down his language on the radio — because Letarte’s wife and children would be listening.

As a consequence, the invective that permeated Earnhardt’s radio chatter with cousin Tony Eury Jr., who served as crew chief until mid-2009, has all but disappeared.

“I’ve always been uncensored, (but) I think I’ve gotten a lot better since working with Steve,” Earnhardt said Friday before opening practice at Richmond. “Obviously, Steve is not family, and there are things you can say to your family, and you won’t say those things to other people.”

Instead of cussing his car, Earnhardt has learned to choose his words more carefully, and the quality of his feedback has improved.

“He’s definitely made me more accountable . . . for the words I choose to use and how I choose to describe the car to him,” Earnhardt said of his crew chief. “He’s not going to put up with me verbally abusing him or the equipment. I wouldn’t expect anything less than him being a professional as well.”

The performance on the racetrack is a litmus test of just how proficient the driver/crew chief collaboration has become.

When Rick Hendrick hired Earnhardt in 2008, his stated goal was to win races and championships. Those who scoffed at the notion and insisted that Earnhardt was merely a cash cow with a gift for moving merchandise from his fleet of trackside trailers are about to stop laughing.

Earnhardt will win a race this season, sooner rather than later, and he’ll likely win more than one. Hendrick will get his coveted 200th Cup win, and Earnhardt may be the one to deliver it.

That achievement would pale in comparison, however, to an 11th Cup title for the organization. Given the consistency of Earnhardt’s performance this year, seats at the head table for the Sprint Cup awards banquet aren’t out of the question for the driver of the No. 88 Chevrolet and his crew chief.

Have an opinion on this? We’d love to hear about it in the comments.

Just arrived! Check out this diecast.

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Forbes has named Jimmie Johnson America’s Most Influential Athlete for the second straight year.

6 of the top 10 on the list are NFL quarterbacks. No. 7 on the list is the only other NASCAR driver in the top 10 – Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Earnhardt was 3^rd on the list last year. Jeff Gordon also appeared last year but he did not make this year’s cut

“It is just a huge honor,” said Johnson. “I think it’s very good for NASCAR.

The rankings are based on public opinion polls conducted by Nielsen and E-poll. 1100 US adults were surveyed. The poll measured each athlete’s likability and their marketing influence toward consumers.

He has 5 NASCAR championships, but is Jimmie Johnson really more influential than Tim Tebow (No. 2), or Peyton Manning (No. 3), or Dale Earnhardt Jr (No> 7)? After all, Earnhardt has been voted NASCAR’s popular driver year after year.

I suppose the answer depends on who you ask. Forbes did not say who the 1,100 people were who were polled. Pose the same question to a group of race fans at Talladega and the results could be altogether different.

If influential means being liked and having the ability to represent sponsors and influence purchases then who is NASCAR’s Most Influential Driver?

Jimmie Johnson Gets Points Back

Chad Knaus will not have to serve the 6 race suspension imposed by NASCAR after the No. 48 Chevrolet of Jimmie Johnson failed pre-race inspection for the Daytona 500.

Jimmie Johnson will also get 25 points back that he was docked by NASCAR following the violation.

Knaus had been suspended and fined $100,000 for the incident, while Johnson was penalized with a loss of 25 Championship points.

NASCAR Chief Appellate Officer John Middlebrook heard an appeal by the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports team and reversed the penalties imposed by NASCAR.

The penalties were previously unanimously upheld by a NASCAR appeals board, and this was the team’s last chance at overturning the penalty.

Middlebrook is a retired General Motors executive who serves as NASCAR’s version of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. One person with little if any experience officiating races has overturned the findings of NASCAR’s officials and their appeals board.

This decision only serves to make NASCAR look bad, and their rules to look meaningless.

It will only encourage more cheating going forward.

What do you think of the decision?

What do you think about this?

NASCAR’s reigning champion Tony Stewart felt the pressure from Jimmie Johnson as the final handful of laps wound down. Stewart was so concerned with Johnson that he asked  his team to ask NASCAR to make sure that Johnson did not lay back to get an extra bit of momentum on the final re-start.

When the green flag fell for the last time Johnson and Stewart rocketed ahead of the field and it was Stewart getting to the checkered flag first for the win.

It was the first Vegas victory for Stewart, leaving only Kentucky and Darlington as tracks Smoke has not won at.

Ironically the move Stewart warned about was the same one he himself had used with about 3o laps to go to grab the lead from Brad Keselowski on another re-start.

Dale Earnhardt Jr was fastest at the start of the race leading 73 laps early on, including the first 43. But Earnhardt’s shot at victory faded when he took 4 tires on a pit stop, while most other teams only took 2.

What were your thoughts on the race? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below.

Who needs soap operas, there was more drama in the Daytona 500 than Days of Our Lives and As the World Turns combined.

If the first race is any indication NASCAR fans are in for some interesting racing in 2012.

For starters it took 3 days to get the race in. Driver introductions were held on Sunday afternoon, and the race finished up around 1 AM Monday, Daytona time.

Burning down the track

For a while it looked like an underdog team that barely made the race might win by default. Dave Blaney, driving for independent team Tommy Baldwin Racing, held the lead for two hours during an extended red flag as the track burned and a few rain drops fell.

The fire erupted when Chevy driver Juan Pablo Montoya’s transmission failed under caution sending his No. 42 car crashing into a safety truck towing a helicopter engine and 200 gallons of class A jet fuel being used to blow debris from the racing surface.

Montoya climbed from the car as it burned on both ends, and the safety truck driver was helped from his truck and down from the steep banking just before the spilling jet fuel ignited. Both are okay.

A penalty for tweeting?

During the red flag Brad Keselowski started trending on Twitter and garnered over 100,000 new followers as he tweeted photos and updates from the track. If Super Bowl quarterback Eli Manning had done that he would have been fined by the NFL.

Dale Earnhardt Jr thinks there may be a penalty coming. “I heard he was in trouble for having a recording device in his car,” said Earnhardt. Who knew Keselowski was carrying his phone. Do they even have time to call or text during the race?

Who’s more popular now?

Danica Patrick was NASCAR’s most popular driver leading up to the 500; drawing bigger crowds than even Dale Earnhardt Jr. But on lap 2 Patrick was caught up in a 5 car crash that also sent 5 time champion Jimmie Johnson to the garage. “We waited 36 hours to wreck on lap one?” asked Kyle Busch during the caution period.

The race ended in a 2 lap green-white-checkered shootout that came down to Matt Kenseth beating Dale Earnhardt Jr to the finish line. It was Kenseth’s second Daytona 500 victory.

Junior likes night racing

Will the Daytona 500 become a permanent night race after this? One driver would approve of that. “Yeah, I’ll work, I’ll race any night you want to race,” said No. 88 driver Dale Earnhardt Jr.

“We were talking about it on the back straightaway.  That was kind of fun actually, standing around on the back straightaway.  It reminded me of Hickory when we’d race over there and they’d have a funeral and you’d have to stop and talk about the race or whatever, whatever you’d want to talk about,” said Junior/

But I don’t know, I mean, when you’re in the car you don’t think about what night it is, and you could just forget, really, to be honest.  But whenever they want us to race, we’ll race.

What is your take on the race? Did you see any other dramatic moments, and have you ever seen anything like this?

Dale Earnhardt Jr had a confident tone even after disaster struck  during Saturday night’s Budweiser Shootout. The race ended in a crash for Junior.

“I like this kind of racing better,” Earnhardt said, talking about the big pack style of racing that Daytona is famous for. “At least I know what to expect.  I feel like I have a better chance with this style than I did last year for damn sure.”

“You just hold your damn car where it needs to be and not drive around like an idiot,” Dale Jr explained. “If you want to drive your car in a straight line and be sensible it is possible.

Pack racing fits Earnhardt driving style better. He is a calculating driver when it comes to superspeedway racing. Always thinking a step ahead.

Earnhardt described how the car drives with NASCAR’s new aero package designed to eliminate 2 by 2 tandem racing. “There‘s just a massive closing rate, said Earnhardt.”If you get bogged down guys can just fly around you.”

Earnhardt hopes the Daytona 500 will go a little smoother than the Shootout. “Being 500 miles guys might use a little better judgment, but I wouldn’t count on it. It’s a pretty big deal to win and it’s going to be a lot of guys pretty excited about their prospects of winning it. Still pretty much any car can win.  The lottery’s still there for the whole field.”

Earnhardt has a fast car. He qualified 3^rd on Sunday afternoon. Next up are the Gatorade Dual 150s.

What do you think about this style of racing so far?