NASCAR’s All-Star Race Highlights—Perhaps Unexpected!
May 18, 2008
CIA Stock Photo, Inc.
• 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.
