The only All-Star Race entertainment was its absurdity ... again

The All-Star Race is quickly becoming known for entertainment via rules definitions and average scoring calculations than the racing it produces.

Yeah, that’s pretty bad.

Saturday night’s race, won by Kyle Busch, was pretty boring on the track. The option tire introduced by NASCAR to help with strategy and passing was a dud. It simply wasn’t fast enough to combat cars with clean air at the front of the field. And the average finish calculations that determined the order of the field before the final pit stop of the race proved once again to be a boondoggle for Fox’s mathematical abilities.

The 2016 race, designed with input from Brad Keselowski, became a disaster when Matt Kenseth tried to stay out as long as possible during the race’s first 50-lap segment. Teams were forced to pit under green during the segment and Kenseth and his team decided to wait until the last second to do so while everyone else pitted far earlier.

The plan backfired when a caution came out late in the stage, trapping many teams a lap down to Kenseth and making him in violation of the race’s rules.

2017 was supposed to be simpler. The race, divided up in segments of 20, 20, 20 and 10 laps, required each team to use the softer option tire at least once. The tire was supposed to have less durability but more speed. Ideally, it would mean that teams who used the tire would be able to easily pass drivers who didn’t have them at the risk of being passed back as the option tires wore out.

But this is the All-Star Race. Nothing is ideal.

Daniel Suarez, who started the race in 19th, moved up to 11th in the first 20 lap stage. That was the tire’s peak. It all went downhill from there.

Teams had one set of option tires for the race and NASCAR said the entire set had to be used at once. Clint Bowyer used his set in the second stage and pitted for two (regular) tires at the beginning of stage three. He restarted the race in first, much to the chagrin of other drivers in the field, who felt that Bowyer was skirting the rules.

NASCAR ruled he wasn’t. While teams had to use all four of the option tires at once, there was no rule about ensuing two-tire pit stops.

At the same time Bowyer and his team made the strategy move, Keselowski and his team put the option tires on for the third stage of the race. But Keselowski sensed a vibration in the tires under caution and the team decided to change to a set of regular tires before the set began in case there was an issue.

The idea was that the problem could be diagnosed in the third stage and the option tires could be used for the final stage of the race. But NASCAR said that since Keselowski had put the option tires on for two caution laps he couldn’t put them on again.

He ended up restarting the final segment of the race in first, but only because he could pit for tires because he had none left.

Much like the scoring snafu that resulted in Kenseth’s pit strategy a year ago, the tire situations weren’t clearly spelled out to teams and fans ahead of time. NASCAR told NBC Sports the rule Keselowski and his team violated was this:

You’ll note that nowhere in the rule does it explicitly say the tires can’t be put back on the car or they are no longer “sticker” tires after two laps of caution. Keselowski and team chose to put a full set of sticker tires when it used them, which wasn’t in violation. If this was a court case, you can bet a good lawyer would seize on that.

NASCAR had a chance to learn from the mistakes of a year ago and clearly account for all scenarios heading into Saturday night. Based on that rule it didn’t do a very good job.

Oh, and we can’t forget the math thing either. Only 10 of the race’s 20 cars were allowed to compete in the final segment. They were determined via average finish of the first three stages and Joey Logano and Bowyer’s average finish tied for the 10th and final position. The tiebreaker was third stage finish, which meant the position went to Logano.

But Fox — which whiffed badly when average finish was last used in the All-Star Race in 2013 — couldn’t figure that out. It thought Chase Elliott was tied with Logano for the final spot.

If you haven’t noticed already, there’s a massive reason why it’s become an annual tradition to suggest All-Star Race alternatives. The racing product the combination of darkness, NASCAR’s downforce rules and Charlotte Motor Speedway produces in short bursts is terrible.

The boring racing seen Saturday night was no surprise and further entrenches the idea that the All-Star Race is in dire need of a serious makeover. Outside of moving the race to a short track like Bristol, Iowa and Martinsville, NASCAR and new series sponsor Monster Energy need to get really creative.

They seem to be utilizing that creativity if the thoughts that the fall points race at Charlotte will utilize the road course in 2018 are true. If they are, it opens up the All-Star race to a gamut of fun ideas. An 80-lap race with 40 laps on the oval and 40 on the road course would be fantastic. Not only would it be a diverse test of a driver’s skillset, teams wouldn’t be able to gear for one specific layout or another without sacrificing something elsewhere.

Or the track could host heat races on its infield short track and hold a 12-car, 50-lap shootout for the top finishers. The possibilities can be as immense as NASCAR and Charlotte want them to be. And judging by the product on display once again Saturday night, all of the angles need to be explored.

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Nick Bromberg is the editor of Dr. Saturday and From the Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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