All-Star Race lacked spark

CONCORD, N.C. – In a year when voting will determine the course of our country for the next four years, Kasey Kahne parlayed winning NASCAR's popular vote into a million-dollar victory in Saturday's Sprint All-Star Race.

Kahne, who failed to transfer into the All-Star Race when he finished fifth in the Sprint Showdown preliminary, managed to earn a spot in the main event thanks to a nationwide fan vote that chose him over Robby Gordon and teammate Elliott Sadler.

"I want to race my way in; I don't even want to be in the (Showdown)," Kahne admitted. "I want to be in because we won races last year. But we weren't in that situation.

"It's really cool that they give fans an opportunity to vote. They put us in, and we wound up being the best car tonight. That's just part of the rules, the way it is, the way this is all about, we took advantage of it and won the race."

Added team co-owner Ray Evernham, "If we've ever got to dedicate it to somebody, it has to be to the fans because without them, we wouldn't have been in the race."

Although he started last among 24 drivers, Kahne methodically worked his way through the field to become the first driver in the event's 24-year history to win the race as the fan favorite.

"It's really special and feels good to know we have that many fans following our team, to get voted in by them and to be that strong during the race, basically pass every car and just worked our way to the front," Kahne said. "It feels good, like we did a big deal tonight, did a lot and gives us a lot of momentum and gives me a ton of confidence and momentum as a driver."

But while Kahne and Dodge both celebrated their first triumph in the non-points event, it was far from the type of All-Star Race we've come to expect over the years.

This is supposed to be a battle of NASCAR's best drivers, yet there were no cautions in any of the four-segment, 100-lap event.

"I was surprised there was no wrecks," Kahne said. "Once I took the lead, I kept saying 'no cautions, no cautions.' The last thing I wanted was a restart and having somebody start alongside me. It worked out perfectly for us."

Even worse, seemingly content to primarily run in single-file, follow-the-leader fashion, drivers took few risks in a race that historically has been won based on unpredictable or unexpected moves.

Isn't this supposed to be a race where all bets are off, where drivers take chances they normally wouldn't in the 36-race regular season?

Where were Jimmie Johnson's infamous and seemingly reckless dives between cars? How did Jeff Gordon's bid for a fourth All-Star win end in a mediocre 15th-place finish? What happened to Dale Earnhardt Jr., who was strong early on, only to fade to an eighth-place finish in the final segment?

What happened to A.J. Allmendinger, who won the Showdown, only to end up 17th of the 24 drivers in the field? How is it that while Tony Stewart rallied to finish fifth, the other two Joe Gibbs Racing cars of Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch finished second-to-last and last, respectively, due to engine failures?

Yet at the same time, there also were several – perhaps unexpected – highlights:

• First was obviously Kahne's triumph – his first visit to victory lane since Oct. 14, 2006, also at Lowe's Motor Speedway – even though it doesn't count in the season standings.

"We've been saying we were getting better and it's good and real easy to say that, but you have to have some results to show it," Evernham said.

"Tonight, we have the results to show it. We needed something to get confidence and momentum back to prove we're not as bad as it looked, and tonight we did that."

• There also was Greg Biffle's runner-up finish, somewhat avenging the disappointing last-place finish last Saturday at Darlington after having a car that was the class of the field. Biffle also smoked the competition en route to winning the burnout challenge prior to the All-Star Race.

• There was the inspiring way former Indianapolis 500 winner and current Sprint Cup rookie Sam Hornish Jr. raced into the All-Star Race with a close runner-up finish to A.J. Allmendinger in the Showdown. Hornish wound up a strong seventh in the main event, an impressive potential harbinger of better things to come?

• And perhaps the most emotional and classiest part of the evening was the pre-race ceremonies honoring retiring driver Dale Jarrett. Not only did Jarrett finally get to "race the truck," driving a UPS delivery van around the track to the adulation and applause of fans, he couldn't help shedding a few tears after a stirring invocation and testimonial by his father, Ned.

Sure, it wasn't the kind of crash-filled, crazy-driving, All-Star Race we've come to expect.

But in the end, there was a winner, a lot of happy Kahne fans and the promise that we'll see an even better, more competitive race at LMS in next Sunday's always grueling Coca-Cola 600.

That's good enough for me.