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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
ALL-STAR: Sprint Showdown Should Be Wild
The Sprint Showdown field is the deepest in years...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted May 17, 2010   Charlotte, NC
Clint Bowyer (Left) and Jeff Burton (Right) are among the drivers who will be hoping to race their way into the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
The pressure is mounting and the drivers are feeling the heat.

Eighteen of NASCAR’s best Sprint Cup drivers already are locked into the Sprint All-Star Race, which will be televised live from Charlotte Motor Speedway on SPEED, starting at 7 p.m. ET on Saturday.

But there are another 30 or so drivers clinging to hopes — sometimes very faint ones — that they can still make the big show. Those drivers not already in the field will have two chances to get there: Finish first or second in the Sprint Showdown last-chance race, or be voted in by the fans.

Sprint customers can cast votes for their favorite eligible drivers using the NASCAR Sprint Cup Mobile application and all race fans can cast votes by visiting NASCAR.com.

But the real battle will be in the 40-lap Sprint Showdown. Normally such last-chance or so-called hooligan races are heavily weighed down with bog-slow backmarkers who have little hope of doing anything, performance-wise.

Not this time.

Four of the drivers in the field for the Sprint Showdown are actually in the top 12 of the Sprint Cup points standings: Greg Biffle (7th), Jeff Burton (8th), Carl Edwards (10th) and Martin Truex Jr. (12th). Also in the showdown field are Clint Bowyer and the always-dangerous Juan Pablo Montoya.

All six of the above-named drivers have in prior years qualified for the Chase for the Sprint Cup and most of them should make it this year. But with only the top two Sprint Showdown finishes advancing, the pressure will be on.

“Well, I certainly think that if you look at who is in that race, it's a lot of good teams and a lot of good drivers and none of those guys that are in it are proud to be in it,” said Burton, who has come close to winning already this season. “They don't want to be in it. They want to be in the other race. Every one of those drivers and teams, as we are, are embarrassed about being in that race. But the rules are the rules and somebody's going to go out and find a way to win that race and move in.”
Juan Pablo Montoya says his crew accepts responsibility in the event that he runs into a team member on pit road. (Photo: Getty Images)

Montoya, like several of his peers, said he hopes to use the All-Star night as a tune-up for the May 300 Coca-Cola 600 at CMS.

“We normally run pretty good there,” Montoya said of the 1.5-mile track. “... The way I look at it, it (All-Star night) is good practice for the week after. If we get in, good. If we don’t, we have to really focus on the race (Coca Cola 600) and get some points for the Chase. That is the most important. It should be fun.”

DRIVERS IN THE TOP 35 IN NASCAR SPRINT CUP DRIVER POINTS, BUT NOT LOCKED-IN TO ALL-STAR RACE:

7. Greg Biffle
8. Jeff Burton
10. Carl Edwards
12. Martin Truex Jr.
15. Clint Bowyer
19. Juan Pablo Montoya
22. David Ragan
23. Paul Menard
25. AJ Allmendinger
26. Scott Speed
28. Marcos Ambrose
29. Elliott Sadler
30. Sam Hornish Jr.
31. Regan Smith
32.Travis Kvapil
34. Robby Gordon
35. David Gilliland

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEEDtv.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100 and e-mail him at Jensen is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of Speed,” and has appeared on numerous television and radio shows. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association and an NMPA Writer of the Year.

2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series All-Star Week • The Stars Come Out. The Gloves Come Off. • Saturday, May 22nd at 7 pm ET
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