Unlike ‘all-star’ events in other sports, NASCAR’s matters. ‘We actually take it seriously’

All-Star events have long held significance to their sports, even as their popularity has declined in recent years.

The Major League Baseball season is usually broken up by the popular “midsummer classic” each second week of July with a real game of baseball. Stars on the NFL’s teams not heading to the Super Bowl used to go to Hawaii during the week following conference championship games. It’s now called the Pro Bowl Games and features a flag football game.

And now, with once-spectacles like the NBA All-Star Game shattering scoring records with a noticeable lack of defense, and the NHL seeing notable players opt out of its All-Star events, it’s clear that these annual events don’t live up to the hype they once did.

NASCAR’s annual All-Star Race, which will be run at 8 p.m. Sunday at North Wilkesboro, was established in 1985 to precede the Coca-Cola 600. The purse awarded to its winner ballooned to $1 million in 2003.

Is the All-Star Race still important?

“It’s just a little different,” Denny Hamlin said. “It used to be that in NASCAR, this was the one race that had a bunch of money — but that’s stayed stagnant, really for the past few decades.”

$1 million for the last 21 years

Beginning in 1985, any driver who could win each of the sport’s three crown jewels at the time — the Daytona 500, Coca-Cola 600 and Southern 500 — was eligible for a $1 million prize from Winston. Bill Elliott (1985) and Jeff Gordon (1997) both pulled off the trifecta of elusive checkered flags and took home the “Winston Million.”

NASCAR and Winston went even further in 1998, giving $1 million to a driver who won a crown jewel race after a Top Five finish in the most recent crown jewel. Over the final five years of Winston’s run as the Cup Series’ title sponsor, the $1 million bonus was won 13 times.

The All-Star race winner’s prize — $1 million in 2003 is worth approximately $1.7 million in 2024 — still remains unchanged.

But that doesn’t necessarily impact the authenticity of the on-track product.

“I think our All-Star race is more important than other sports,” William Byron said. “We actually put the same effort into it. We race the same. It may be even more aggressive — other sports, you see them doing flag football, or they’re not really playing defense in the NBA.

“For us, we actually take it seriously. And there’s a lot on the line.”

It’s part of the season

Byron, this year’s Daytona 500 champion who grew up in Charlotte, has fond memories attending All-Star Races at Charlotte Motor Speedway during the 2000s.

While that $1 million prize may not seem as enticing as it once did, it doesn’t necessarily diminish any pride in being that year’s All-Star Race winner. Even for someone like Byron, who is making $28 million from his recent Daytona triumph.

Drivers want to win races every Sunday, and whether this weekend’s race is considered the All-Star Race or not, it’s another race on the schedule.

It’s not some kind of “All-Star break,” like other sports’ midseason events provide. This weekend will be all about the lore of North Wilkesboro and significance of the All-Star Race — and then the following week, drivers will be using what they learned to apply it to their next race.

“It feels just like another race,” Chase Elliott said. “I think it’s a little different in team sports — like baseball, and the Pro Bowl in football — because their season is just a little different. That might not necessarily apply to their next competitive event.

“Whereas, for us, you could take something from Wilkesboro next week, and it could apply to your next points-paying event. Which I think is a really big deal.”

What can NASCAR do to improve its All-Star Race?

All winners of Cup Series points-paying races since the start of the 2023 season, along with previous Cup champions who still race full-time, are eligible to run in the All-Star Race.

That list includes 17 drivers, with three more spots determined following the All-Star Open earlier Sunday evening.

“Our race is as good as anyone’s All-Star event,” Hamlin said. “You see the NBA, NFL are just not good for that, a lot of it’s injury reasons. But for us, it’s that we’re all trying to win it. Trust me, we’ve seen some really great finishes, and I think that certainly adds to our sport to have that weekend showcasing the best drivers.

“It should probably be a little more exclusive. I think they opened it up to too many drivers over the course of time, where, I mean, all you have to do is lead out of caution, and I think you get into the All-Star Race. It’s a little different, for sure. But they’re trying.”