Looking at what drivers said before and after the All-Star Race
By now, you likely know that confusion reigned supreme during Saturday night’s All-Star Race won by Joey Logano.
The race featured yet another new format – inspired by Brad Keselowski – and was designed to feature a thrilling finish after a lack of drama in recent All-Star Races. Like many previous formats, the race featured a mandatory green flag pit stops during the first two segments.
That’s where the race got confusing. Matt Kenseth’s team had their driver stay out on track until the last possible moment before pitting in the first segment. The plan backfired when a caution came out with four laps to go, preventing Kenseth from pitting under green. If you’re unfamiliar with the chaos that ignited from there, read our post-race post.
NASCAR admitted after the race that it didn’t have a way of fixing the problem’s that Kenseth’s failed strategy created. Given the way Kenseth’s strategy (and NASCAR’s reaction) played out, it’s easy to see a race without much post-race confusion if the team had pitted on lap 25.
With that in mind, we wanted to go back and find quotes from drivers before the All-Star Race. How many people were looking forward to the potential excitement of the new format? Was anyone already against it? And for fun, we’ll contrast some of the pre-race comments with ones from after the race. Enjoy.
Denny Hamlin
Before: “Obviously, I think last year’s format was perfect for us,” Hamlin, the defending winner of the race, said in his team’s pre-race advance. “But at the same time, this will be exciting for fans and as drivers and teams, it will really force you to think through strategy and test how risky you want to be. It’s an exhibition event where we lay everything on the line for a million bucks, so any format will make the drivers get up on the wheel and throw caution to the wind.”
After:
No sir it didn’t. It came from 1. Nobody liked it https://t.co/DbpWudod1X
— Denny Hamlin (@dennyhamlin) May 22, 2016
Agree. My suggestion is make it so ppl who are watching at a bar can understand whats going on without tv sound https://t.co/sc0sxgu691
— Denny Hamlin (@dennyhamlin) May 22, 2016
Tony Stewart
Before: “I normally sit in the driver’s meeting and I don’t totally understand it,” Stewart said in his team’s pre-race advance. “When we get out of the driver’s meeting, I ask the crew chief to re-explain it because there are a lot of moving parts. That’s what’s cool about the All-Star Race. It’s not the same as we run every week or anywhere else. It’s a unique race and a unique format and it’s a really cool deal for the fans to see.”
After: “I’m as baffled as everybody,” Stewart said. “I don’t know how in the hell we were scored a lap down after they stopped [Kenseth] and the pit everybody together a lap down then lead lap and then lap down. It’s the most screwed up All-Star race I’ve ever been a part of. I’m glad it’s my last one. I’m all right. I’m just madder than hell because I don’t understand how the hell they’ve officiated this from start to finish.”
NASCAR
Before: “The NASCAR Sprint All–Star Race has long been a fan favorite,” NASCAR Vice President Jim Cassidy said in a release. “We think this year’s format will ensure one of the best all–star races to date and we can’t wait to see it play out.”
After: “It’s something that we certainly, if we continue on with this format, we have to look at,” NASCAR Vice President Scott Miller said via ESPN. “But you have to expect that certain circumstances are going to happen in this type of race, and we had one crop up tonight that maybe we could have been a little bit more ready for and weren’t.
“It was a very unique situation, and we did not in our race procedures have a mechanism to correct that.”
Ryan Newman
Before: “The format is what it is,” Newman said in his team’s pre-race advance. “I won it with an entirely different format and obviously I have lost racing with other formats in place. It’s all about who can play the game better. I do like it when they kind of keep it simple but we’ll just have to see. Maybe it will play to our favor.”
During:
From @RyanJNewman: “EIRI, right? We’re the only people I know that droop their pants around their own ankles and then try to run.” #nascar
— Nate Ryan (@nateryan) May 22, 2016
Matt Kenseth
Before: “I don’t know how it’s going to go and believe it or not I’ve listened to people talk a lot about strategy, but [crew chief Jason Ratcliff] and I have touched on it a little, but not a lot,” Kenseth said Friday. “I could be totally wrong, I’ll have to sit and watch it, but I think everybody is going to race for 12th in the second segment and I think that’s going to be very interesting. I might be 100 percent wrong on that, that’s what it feels like today and especially after watching the last few races. It’s still really important to be out front and I don’t know that 15 laps after a 10 minute break to cool down on your tires is enough to be a huge deficit to four new ones. It might be, I hope it is because it will mix the field up a lot more. I don’t think anyone will be sure until we see it.”
After: “I can’t say I don’t like it, I don’t know what’s going on,” Kenseth said. “From the driver’s seat, I don’t know what’s going on, but maybe if I was on the pit box or watching on TV I would understand. I just don’t know what happened there. I knew that we had to pit before a certain lap and that was the wrong lap and the caution happened to come out, but I don’t really know what happened from there to be totally honest with you. I just don’t know.”
Carl Edwards
Before: “I just don’t know how this thing is going to play out,” Edwards said Friday. “The advantage that I have is we have a really fast pit crew so I feel like even if we’re not leading and we feel like the tires are the deal and we’re running fifth or something we could still come off of pit road first. I think for us and for my team fortunately because of my pit crew I have more options I believe. But then somebody brought up the fact that the complete chaos that’s going to ensue when they drop the green flag, you might be better off being in the back with fresher tires because I believe some people are going to be wrecking. I think the factor that’s going to determine what you do is how much the tires fall off how much advantage do you have. I don’t know, it’s going to be – before that caution comes out there’s going to be a lot of people trying a lot of different things.”
After: “It’s crazy and just a crazy night,” Edwards said. “I wouldn’t call it confusing because I kind of understood what was going on, but it took most of my brain power to keep up.”
Kurt Busch
Before: “The format itself is unique,” Busch said in his team’s pre-race advance. “It’s a fun environment for a novice fan to enjoy his or her first taste of NASCAR. It’s an even better environment for a longtime fan to see his or her favorite driver laying it all on the line for $1 million while there are no points at stake.”
After:
Watched the race this morning…still a bit confused. I understand why some of you at home were frustrated. All eyes on the #600 though.
— Kurt Busch (@KurtBusch) May 22, 2016
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
