CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- With NASCAR drivers lobbying for another round of changes to the Sprint All-Star Race format, it’s just a matter of time before the league announces their newest plans for the event.
The invert rule would return excitement to NASCAR All-Star Race
The final segment of the Sprint All-Star Race has disappointed in recent seasons with Jimmie Johnson winning the two most-recent events in largely lackluster fashion. A rule from the event’s past could be the key to deciding its future.
Drew Hallowell
But before coming up with ideas for what they should do next year, how about we discuss what has gone wrong in recent seasons. Jimmie Johnson has won the two most recent races as a result of track position and clean air during the final 10-lap shootout.
Most drivers expressed an inability to pass deep in the field following Saturday night’s race -- a common complaint over the past few seasons and an opinion that even got Denny Hamlin fined $25,000 in March. But whether NASCAR agrees with this assessment or not, the track action speaks for itself and Johnson pulled away to an easy victory as soon as he cleared Kasey Kahne with six laps to go on Saturday night.
As much as some of us would like to see this event held at another track or with some of other type of car, that’s not an option. So what can be done to generate some excitement in NASCAR’s most extravagant event?
Two words -- the invert.
Mostly believed to be an ancient relic of NASCAR’s long-forgotten past, the invert is actually a tactic still used at the Late Model level to fabricate excitement when the local powerhouse teams start to dominate a track and leave their rivals in the dust.
Sound familiar?
So how would I implement this system in the modern Sprint All-Star Race -- totally at random to prevent all attempts of sandbagging and taking advantage of the system. I’ve grown attached to the current 20-20-20-20-10 format but for the invert to work effectively, the contenders will need more laps in the final segment to slice through the field.
My hypothetical version of the All-Star Race will run five 20-lap segments for a total of 100 laps. To discourage sandbagging, the invert would come at the conclusion of any of the first four segments with the moment chosen at random prior to the race -- perhaps with a random number generator or similar contraption.
The number of cars inverted (or flipped) will be decided by a good old-fashioned dice roll just like any other Saturday night shootout.
And just for the sake of reference, if the die lands on nine, the ninth-place car will restart first and the segment-winning driver drop to ninth. To avoid drivers sandbagging in the early stages of the race as has happened in the late 1990s, I would hope that Bruton Smith is still offering his $2 million sweep bonus just as he had on Saturday night.
In an ideal world, the invert comes late enough in the race and with a high-enough number that it traps some of the fastest cars of the race deep in the field with only 20-40 laps to work their way through traffic. To add to the excitement, four-tire pit stops will no longer be required at the end of the race as teams can choose to take any number of tires for the final 20-lap segment.
While totally random, the Sprint All-Star Race is an exhibition. Some of the better races in NASCAR history involved the fastest driver charging back from adversity and doing whatever it took to take the checkered flag.
With track position, clean air and fresh tires deciding All-Star Races before they even finish, NASCAR and Charlotte Motor Speedway should consider looking to the past when trying to decide the plan for its future.
It’s time to bring back the invert.
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