The NASCAR All Star race is known to bring a night of racing for $1 million but this year it featured things that don’t happen everyday.

Just like every year, the All Star weekend consisted of the pit crew challenge, burn out contest, Sprint Cup Showdown and all leading up to the All Star race. This year brought a few surprises along the way.

After attempting to win in the past few years since the burnout contest began, Clint Bowyer finally got his opportunity to win. In the five years that the competition existence, Bowyer has attempted to win in all five.  That was just the first surprise of the weekend.

On Saturday night a winless streak came to an end as Dale Earnhardt Jr won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Showdown. Earnhardt did not have to rely on the fan vote this year to get in the All Star race. Although Earnhardt won, technically his winless streak ends but the showdown win does not count towards his cup points. So within the Cup standings, Earnhardt is still winless.

This year’s All Star race consisted of five segments, allowing drivers to race hard to run up front when it really mattered in the dash for the cash. The first segment provided all the action and hard racing fans wanted to see, only that things would change heading into the remainder of the night.

After Jimmie Johnson won the first segment he decided to stay out of the pack and just slide into the final segment. Other drivers did the same once they won their segments, Matt Kenseth and Brad Keselowski joined Johnson to sit back while everyone else ran to the finish.

Earnhardt won for the second time in the night when he won the fourth segment  but it was his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Johnson who took the million dollars. That was a NASCAR first, not that it was Johnson’s first victory but it was the first time a winner was someone who didn’t really race all night.

The All Star weekend had its ups and downs, but overall it was a weekend that allowed fans to see things that normally don’t happen. For example Earnhardt won twice in one night.

 

Follow Christy Valdez on Twitter @Knowursports and on Facebook at On The Sidelines With Christy


Sign Up
for the


We Recommend

Partner with USA TODAY Sports Digital Properties