SPEED™ is the exclusive television home for the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race from Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, NC, with live race coverage beginning May 16th at 7 pm ET.
Sprint today announced the names of the top 10 drivers leading the Sprint Fan Vote, a voting competition driven by fans awarding one NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team a position in the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race on Saturday, May 16. The race will be televised live on SPEED, starting at 7 p.m. ET.
The top 10 drivers in the Sprint Fan Vote as of May 12 (in alphabetical order) are AJ Allmendinger, Bill Elliott, Joey Logano, Jamie McMurray, Juan Pablo Montoya, David Ragan, David Reutimann, Elliott Sadler, Martin Truex Jr. and Michael Waltrip.
The top eight in the standings are separated by less than 20,000 votes and the top two are separated by less than 4,000 votes. Votes placed on Sprint phones count double, which could cut the margin in half.
Close competition among drivers has sparked personal messages to fans for last-minute support. The Sprint Fan Vote closes at 7:30 p.m. ET May 16.
Following are comments from those in contention:
Richard Petty, team owner of Richard Petty Motorsports – “I guess if there is any team in NASCAR that’s more thankful to the fans, it is us. The fans voted Kasey (Kahne) into the race last year, and he went and won the thing. It wouldn’t be too bad if that happened again. I don't care if it is AJ (Allmendinger), Reed (Sorenson) or Elliott (Sadler). Once you are in, anything can happen.”
AJ Allmendinger, driver of the No. 44 Hunt Brothers Pizza Dodge – “I’m not taking any chances. I’m kicking off my campaign to get the most Sprint Fan Votes. I’ll do anything to get into that race. I think I’m going to use the next few days to campaign for votes harder than Barack Obama and John McCain did in the last election. I’ll promise anything! I don’t mind bribing the voters. ‘Whatever works’ is my motto.”
Casey Mears, driver of the No. 07 Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet – “The fans have a lot of options, but I hope they look in our direction for the Sprint Fan Vote. It’s been a rough start to the year for us, but we’re a very credible race team that can go out and win. We’d love to be in the Sprint All-Star Race. We’ve been pushing hard for the fans and everybody to vote for us in the Sprint Fan Vote. We’ll see how it all plays out, but I think if you look at everyone out there, I’d say the Jack Daniel’s team is just as deserving, if not more, than everyone else.”
