What a Confusing NASCAR All-Star Race

            The NASCAR All-Star race was the most confusing All-Star Race I have ever seen.  I have watched the All-Star race for 12 years.  I have never seen nothing like this before.  It would not have been so confusing if it wasn’t for the officiating of the All-Star race.  I had no huge issues with the formats.  It was just that NASCAR officials did not know what they were doing when making calls in the race.

            They had an issue to develop that caught them off guard.  They should have prepared for that scenario.  I do not know what NASCAR officials were thinking.  The situation with Matt Kenseth should have been a scenario that they should have anticipated.  I think NASCAR just assumed that all the drivers would have pitted like they should have.  I guess NASCAR officials were wrong.  And plus drivers got put a lap down because of the situation with Kenseth.  I think NASCAR should have not put anyone a lap down since they did not know what they were doing.  That situation made things confusing from then on.

            I would also like to put this out there that there was a full moon last night.  I have noticed when there is a night race during a full moon, that there would be weird things happening.  Last night was not an exception.  I knew things were going to go wrong last night. 

            Another situation that went wrong on the track was the situation with Chase Elliott.  I’m not going to blame Alan Gustafson or Elliott.  I blame Greg Biffle for causing the whole thing.  The reason I blame him is because Elliott hand his hand out letting drivers behind him know that he was getting ready to pit.  How is it different from a regular points' race?  Just like Jeff Gordon had mentioned last night, the drivers are more aggressive on All-Star night.  Biffle was more aggressive and did not want to slow down like he was supposed to.  That chain reaction would have been prevented. 

            Now, the converting the field after the second segment and right before the final segment, was exciting to see.  People were in an uproar just because Jimmie Johnson was sandbagging or not racing 100% so that he could get on the front row.  I hope they saw that it was a huge mistake for JJ and the 48 team to do that.  Fresh tires were better than not pitting.  The top-11 were chosen to pit for fresh tires while the other the 12^th and 13^th places driver had to stay out to be on the front row.  The drivers were behind them with fresh tires. 

One driver on the radio complaining about JJ was Kyle Larson.  Larson should have kept those comments to himself.  He complained about something for nothing.  As a race car driver, he should have known that fresh tires are better.  I like Larson, but he needs to keep his mouth shut down sometime.  This is his second time I have heard him criticizing the 6 time NASCAR champion Johnson.  If you don’t have the wins or champions in NASCAR, you have no business criticizing a champion like JJ.  I’m not saying that Larson should not have an opinion.  He should use his words wisely.

            I would like to add that Larson was the star last night.  Someone mentioned that NASCAR should have a MVP for the All-Star race.  I think it was a NASCAR writer I follow on Twitter.  And I agree with them.  There should be a Most Valuable Player in the All-Star race.  The MVP should have been Larson.  He was the best driver last night.  He was wheeling it last night.  He did the same in the NASCAR Showdown race yesterday morning as well.  He did a really good job. 

            I have a feeling that next year NASCAR will not have the same problem again during the All-Star race.  NASCAR did admit they were wrong about last night.  I think things will be better next year.  I did like the formats, but they do need to be tweaked and NASCAR should have different scenarios out there just in case things do not go the way they expect.  I did not like the mandatory green flag stops.  NASCAR should have let them pit whenever they wanted, and that would not have cause the chaos involving the chain reaction from Elliott trying to pit. 

            It really was a very confusing All-Star race.  I did enjoy the funny comments from drivers such as Dale Earnhardt Jr.  The drivers and crew chiefs were all confused as well.  And yes the NASCAR officials were confused as well.  Everybody were a little confuse during the race.