2011 NASCAR All-Star Race: Carl Edwards Wins Unusually Mild Event

The gloves did not come off. None of the boys had at it. And the most notable wreck of the evening was during the race winner’s celebration.

As it turned out, the 2011 NASCAR All-Star Race didn’t live up to the hype. That’s disappointing, although it doesn’t mean there’s necessarily anyone to blame.

Carl Edwards dominated the 2011 NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Saturday night, winning an unusually mild event that didn’t quite meet the predictions of aggressive racing.

But in the end, it was checkers and wreckers for Edwards – he wrecked the car during his post-race celebration.

After finishing sixth, Earnhardt Jr. talked to crew chief Steve Letarte and returned to his hauler, where he received the official word he was the winner.

And believe it or not, Earnhardt Jr. said he wasn’t totally sure he would win the thing.

David Ragan won the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Showdown to transfer into his first NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race. Making the final pass for the lead exiting the second corner with two laps to go, Ragan secured his spot in the night’s main event.

Starting from the pole, Ragan led the field to the end of the first 20-lap segment and did not pit during the caution flag period separating the two segments. Restarting the second segment, Brad Keselowski powered to the lead by going three-wide under Ragan and Paul Menard.

“Iceman” Kimi Raikkonen kept his cool during his NASCAR debut on Friday night, turning in a solid, clean 15th-place finish in the Camping World Truck Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Now, it appears, he may already have his sights set on moving up the NASCAR ladder.

Let’s face it: The qualifying format for the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race is one of the wackiest things NASCAR does all season.

The starting lineup is determined by three laps: Drivers make two qualifying circuits, come down pit road at the end of the second lap for a four-tire pit stop and then return to the track for a final lap around the 1.5-mile Charlotte Motor Speedway.

After a week or more of debate, Kevin Harvick explained he was still unsure whether or not the four week probation handed down by NASCAR applied to Saturday night’s Sprint All-Star Race.

“I’m still confused whether I am on probation or not on probation so I can’t answer that,” he said when asked if he would be hesitant racing Kyle Busch in the All-Star Race. “I don’t really know. I’m just going to go race and see what happens.”

NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France took time on Friday afternoon at Charlotte Motor Speedway to address the state of the sport 11 races into the 2011 season.

France touched on topics ranging from the ‘have at it’ philosophy and clarifying what probation means, also addressing attendance numbers, getting back to the roots of the sport, highlighting the Nationwide Series regulars, split-screen commercials and the possibility of shortening races.

There are a few ways to tell Tony Stewart is now a 40-year-old.

For one, the veteran has a few streaks of gray hair. He’s now a team owner instead of just somebody’s driver. And there are so many candles on his birthday cake that when he blows them out, he lives up to his nickname: Smoke.

Former Formula One world champion Kimi Raikkonen made his NASCAR debut Friday at Charlotte Motor Speedway, taking the wheel of the No. 15 truck for Kyle Busch Motorsports. Running 30th in both practice sessions, Raikkonen was unhappy with the day’s progress but knew there would be a major learning curve in NASCAR.

“Since I stopped in Formula 1, my interests have always been in many different motorsports,” Raikkonen said. “I want to try different things and this wasn’t the first time that I have been offered to come here. I had a good time to come and see how it is and learn and try to get better in it. That’s really the only reason that I came. I was interested to see how it is and how it feels and how it is racing in NASCAR.”

When Regan Smith was down on his luck in NASCAR and searching for a ride, Furniture Row Racing picked him up and gave him an opportunity.

So just because he’s won a Sprint Cup Series race now, Smith said it can’t just be assumed he’ll ditch Furniture Row to go chase after the money that a bigger team could offer.

In the six year history of the NASCAR Pit Crew Challenge, no team had ever been a repeat champion. But on Thursday night, the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing crew was able to do just that, becoming back-to-back champions by edging out the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports pit crew in the final round.

The No. 11 crew pushed the car across the line in 22.298 seconds, beating the No. 48 team’s time of 22.714 seconds.

Tonight’s NASCAR Sprint Pit Crew Challenge will see some of the best teams in the Sprint Cup Series compete against one another for bragging rights as the best crew on pit road. For the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports team, the competition is a chance to show they are once again among the sport’s elite.

At the end of the 2010 season, the pit crew struggled as the battle for the championship heated up between Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick. When the crew continued to make mistakes at the eighth Chase race in Texas, crew chief Chad Knaus made a mid-race decision to swap the No. 48 pit crew with teammate Jeff Gordon’s over--the-wall guys. Once among the most respected and successful pit crews, the move was a surprise to many.

The No. 48 team was able to soldier on with the No. 24 pit crew for the final two races and claim its fifth consecutive championship, but the over-the-wall crew saw all but one person changed during the offseason. Heading into tonight’s Pit Crew Challenge, car chief Ron Malec says the team is eager to prove its worth.

With fresh faces going over the wall, many of the No. 48 crew members will be taking part in their first Pit Crew Challenge. Made up of former athletes, the crew has the finest of facilities to train at, including a new turf field complete with a track course for sprints and a sand pit with what appears to be monkey bars for additional conditioning.

“I think this is the best group of athletes we’ve ever had,” Malec said. “These guys are very focused and it’s a great group of guys. They’ve done really well for us this year. With Chad restructuring the team like he did at the end of last year, I think they have performed flawlessly for what you can expect for a new group of guys working together in a high-pressure situation like we are every week.”

While the team has performed better over the first 11 races, the crew has not gone without its hiccups and shuffling of crew members in 2011. Following a slow day on pit road in Bristol – where Johnson finished third – there were changes made at the tire changer position. Malec explained the crew member was not replaced as much as he was benched.

“We have a second string system,” he explained. “We put in the guy in that was a back-up who filled in on the 88 when the other guy got hurt for three weeks. It’s basically keep them in line, and if somebody needs to refocus or do something more in practice, it gives them time off if they’re fighting an injury and they’re not quite able to be doing their job as well as they could.

”(Then) we put that second string guy in and he may be the first string guy and the other guy may become the back-up. It’s like a pitcher – when he’s struggling they pull him out of the game.”

Making the connection between a pit crew and traditional stick-and-ball sports teams is not an exaggeration by any means. More and more these days, pit crews are made up of former athletes from baseball, football and hockey, among other things. The days of working on the car in the shop and pitting the car on Sunday are quickly becoming a thing of the past.

According to Malec, the No. 48 team has made the shift from mechanics to athletes in the last year, adding that the No. 88 pit crew still has a lot of guys that work in the shop throughout the week.

“We’re using (the No. 48 crew) as a benchmark to try and build for the future and maybe use as a template for developing the rest of the teams,” he said.

Although they do not typically set up the cars for a race weekend, the No. 48 guys set up the car they will push across the finish line in tonight’s Pit Crew Challenge. Malec explained even though the pit crew members are highly specialized, they still need to know how to work on the car in the pits if need be. As a result, Hendrick Motorsports is beginning to include the pit crew on various things around the shop without taking away from their over-the-wall training and conditioning.

Tonight in front of fans, friends and family at the Time Warner Cable Arena, the men of the No. 48 pit crew will shake off the jitters, focus on the job at hand and attempt to win the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Pit Crew Challenge.

It looks as if Trevor Bayne’s first competition after his return to NASCAR may be in the burnout competition prior to Saturday night’s NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race.

Bayne is among the seven entrants in the Pennzoil Ultra Victory Challenge, in which drivers perform burnouts that are judged by experts and, ultimately, the fans.

The 2011 NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway is one of the most highly anticipated events on the NASCAR schedule, and it is hard to believe it is already upon us. After 11 races, the teams head home to Charlotte for two weeks of fan events and hard racing.