History
The first running of the race was held in 1985 at Charlotte Motor Speedway (formerly Lowe's Motor Speedway) and has been run there every year except in 1986 when it was run at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Michael Waltrip became the first driver to win the All-Star race after transferring in from a qualifying race in 1996. Until 2001, the rule restricted only champions of the past five Sprint All Star Challenge events, but in 2005, the rule became the winners in the past ten years of either the Sprint Cup or the Sprint All-Star Race. The Sprint Showdown was restricted to the top 50 drivers in either the final standings of the previous year or current standings in the current year. Previously there was a qualifying race following the Showdown known as the No Bull Sprint. Since 2003, only one qualifying race has been run. The following year, the fan vote was implemented to determine the third transfer driver.
In 2004, NEXTEL, predecessor to Sprint, added a vote of race spectators, internet users and Sprint cellphone users to add one additional driver not in the field, but in the Sprint Showdown, and finishing on the lead lap, to the final starting field. Starting in 2008, the event's name featured the use of the edition of the race in Roman numerals, with the 2008 race's official name the "Sprint All-Star Race XXIV". Also, the fan entry driver was changed, with the new formula coming from those attending races up to that point, Sprint retail locations and double votes from Sprint subscribers.
Read more about this topic: NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“It’s a very delicate surgical operation—to cut out the heart without killing the patient. The history of our country, however, is a very tough old patient, and we’ll do the best we can.”
—Dudley Nichols, U.S. screenwriter. Jean Renoir. Sorel (Philip Merivale)
“I believe that history has shape, order, and meaning; that exceptional men, as much as economic forces, produce change; and that passé abstractions like beauty, nobility, and greatness have a shifting but continuing validity.”
—Camille Paglia (b. 1947)
“To a surprising extent the war-lords in shining armour, the apostles of the martial virtues, tend not to die fighting when the time comes. History is full of ignominious getaways by the great and famous.”
—George Orwell (1903–1950)