NASCAR hopes softer tires return magic to All-Star race Almirola out 8-12 weeks

Concord, N.C. — It’s the 25th anniversary of “One Hot Night,” the All-Star race that made the nighttime spectacular must-see TV.

NASCAR is hoping tonight running can replicate some of the magic from that 1992 showcase.

That year was the first time the exhibition dash-for-cash was held under the lights at Charlotte. There was a full moon, a raucous crowd of more than 100,000 and a wild ending in which the winner was unconscious when he crossed the finish line. The driver, the late Davey Allison, went to the hospital and his damaged car did not go to victory lane.

Nothing will likely top that race, celebrated recently by Charlotte officials at the track’s prestigious speedway club. Allison was represented by Larry McReynolds, his crew chief at the time.

“Davey asked me 10 times from the car to the infield care center what happened,” McReynolds recalled. “I kept telling him, and then he would ask me again.”

NASCAR is in need of another memorable night. Why not Saturday? The AllStar race this year has the makings of one they will talk about it for 25 years — if the drivers treat it that way.

NASCAR has some good on-track competition right now, and the $1 million made-for-TV event is a chance to showcase the storylines. There’s a changing of the guard and a youth movement afoot, and some of the older stars need to prove their relevancy. There’s no better stage to just throw it all to the wind than this race that doesn’t matter.

As always, there’s a convoluted format that will lead to one 10-lap shootout for $1 million. This year, only 10 drivers will be allowed to compete in the final sprint.

The big shake-up is a softer tire and Goodyear officials seemed to be pretty excited after a Friday practice session. Stu Grant, Goodyear’s general manager of world-wide racing, thought the “bonus tire” was considerably faster but wasn’t sure what importance track position will have on Saturday night.

Grant said the tires are built to last at least one 20-lap run, so it was up to teams to decide when they wanted to use that softer batch. If a driver elects to use the tires in the final shootout, he must start at the rear of the field.

When to use the tires becomes the pivotal question of the race because some will race with them just to ensure a spot in the final 10. Others will save the tires for the shootout, as they try to weave through traffic to regain track position and chase the money.

It’s literally checkers or wreckers, and a real chance for NASCAR to recapture the hype surrounding “One Hot Night.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has indicated the drivers have long asked for a softer tire — it has more grip but an unpredictable life span — so the gamble of briefly using a different compound tonight appeals to many. “I think the hardcore fans like that piece of strategy,” he said.

In other words, there’s not a lot of glitz and glamor to this race. Even Martin Truex Jr. didn’t know the rules when asked Friday. He thought the soft tires could only be used in the final 10-lap segment, and was unaware they could be used in an earlier stage of the event.

Under that thinking, he felt drivers have to use them in the final. “They’re so much faster, we’re going to have to do this,” he said.

Drivers should use them and drivers should lay it out on the line. Make this race matter again, and start it in the open, which is a qualifying race for drivers not already eligible for the All-Star race.

That event, which has Clint Bowyer, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott and Danica Patrick, could be just as intense.

Concord, N.C. — Aric Almirola celebrated a victory with his family one weekend, then found himself on a backboard in a helicopter on the way to the hospital just seven days later.

Almirola fractured a vertebra in a crash Saturday night at Kansas Speedway and could miss up to three months of the NASCAR season. The 33-yearold Almirola will heed doctor warnings and not rush back to racing because he has been warned further injury could lead to paralysis.

“Everybody is telling me that with this type of fracture it is eight to 12 weeks, so I’m not happy about that,” Almirola said. “Getting back in a race car two weeks too soon is just going to add two more starts to my start column and the stat book. But if I were to get in another similar accident and not be properly healed, you’re talking about potentially being paralyzed from the belly button down.

“I’m not going to risk that,” he said. “I’ve got a lot of baseball to play with my son and I’d like to dance with my daughter one day at her wedding. Whenever the doctors clear me, I’ll be ready to get back in a race car.”

It was a wild turn of events for Almirola, who reveled in celebrating an Xfinity Series win at Talladega with his family on May 6. A week later, he was hospitalized overnight in Kansas before flying home to North Carolina.

Almirola said Friday he’d stopped taking painkillers 48 hours prior to his news conference in order to sound coherent while discussing his injury.

Almirola suffered a compression fracture of his T5 vertebra, just above the middle of his back. Denny Hamlin missed four races — and started but didn’t complete a fifth — after suffering a compression fracture of the L1 vertebra in his lower back in 2013.

Regan Smith is substituting this weekend for Almirola in the No. 43 Ford at Charlotte Motor Speedway.