Kevin Harvick, the driver of the #4 Jimmy John’s Ford, takes the checkered flag to win the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 19, 2018, in Charlotte, North Carolina. Photo – Sean Gardner/Getty Images
The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series All-Star race at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Saturday night switched it up with a new racing package. The big changes were the restrictor plates with a larger spoiler to create more downforce and the ability to pass. This sparked a lot of anticipation from the fans on how this package would affect the racing. NASCAR is trying to offer more excitement at intermediate tracks with tighter racing like at Daytona and Talladega. Just by watching the practice, the anticipation was building for a wild night.
The night kicked off with the 50-lap Monster Energy Open with three stages for the drivers who have not qualified for the NASCAR Cup Series All-Star race. The four drivers earning a spot in the All-Star exhibition race were Alex Bowman, Daniel Suarez, AJ Allmendinger by winning an Open stage, and Chase Elliott who won the Fan Vote. Erik Jones and Darrell ‘Bubba’ Wallace Jr just missed their chance to these four drivers.
The opening stage of the All-Star main event was exciting. The new package worked pretty well as drivers were racing tight on one another. It was a pleasant surprise to see drivers racing like this at an intermediate track. Kevin Harvick led the way and took the win for the first stage of the race.
The second stage showed a bit more action as drivers were racing harder for track position. There were more changes for the lead and a lot of weaving in and out of each other. Kyle Busch made a few key moves and won the 20-lap second stage.
The third stage showed a lot more urgency from the drivers with more aggressive moves to race their cars to the front. ‘The Big One’ came late in this stage as the field got stacked up and went four-wide through turns three and four. Obviously, this did not end well as Brad Keselowski, Martin Truex Jr., and Kyle Busch got wrapped up in the wreckage allowing Harvick to race back to the front and win the third stage.
The last ten-lap stage was a wild shootout for the $1 million dollar prize. Joey Logano and Kyle Larson got into each other with two laps left in the race. However, the last restart of the race was no challenge for ‘The Closer.’ Harvick shot out to the lead and held it for the last two laps. He raced away from the field and claimed his million dollar check for the victory.
After NASCAR changed up the package for the cars, a new anticipation for this race was in the air. A buzz on social media confirmed how excited fans were to see how restrictor plate racing would work on 1.5-mile speedways. In watching the race, it was definitely more exciting as cars could make runs and use more of the draft as seen at superspeedways. Drivers could side draft off one another and race more aggressively because they had more opportunities to do so with more downforce from the restrictor plate and bigger spoiler.
The package worked as NASCAR intended with more passing and tighter racing. Sometimes the racing at intermediate tracks can get long and boring. This new format offered some excitement to the 1.5-mile intermediate track like the racing at Daytona or Talladega. More passing throughout the race than in the previous four All-Star races is proof of NASCAR’s successful new package. What a positive for the sport but NASCAR will need to choose carefully if they plan to use restrictor plate racing at other 1.5-mile tracks. Leave it as a treat thrown out every once in a while to draw more attention to an event.
Next week the series will stay in Charlotte for the longest race of the season – the Coca-Cola 600. For this race, the cars will have their normal package instead of the All-Star race package. Fans will want to tune in to watch how élite drivers keep up their stamina for this marathon event that will be fun to watch.