Sprint All-Star Race Preview

Nineteen drivers are already qualified for Saturday night’s Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Any driver who’s won a Sprint Cup race this year or last year is eligible. Any All-Star Race winners from the past 10 years or any Sprint Cup champion from the past 10 years are also eligible.

In addition to the field of 19, the top two finishers in the 40-lap Sprint Showdown will qualify. And the fans get to vote one more qualified driver into the field. Looking at the roster of drivers my guess is the fans will vote in Danica Patrick.

The race is run in four 20-mile segments and a final 10 lap dash to the finish.

All laps are counted in the first four segments, but only green flag laps count in the final segment.

It’s a huge payday – $1 million making it the richest per-mile winner’s purse.

And there’s more. If one driver is able to win all five segments there’s a $1 million bonus.

The first All-Star race was held at Atlanta Motor Speedway in 1986. Since then all of them have been held at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

19 different drivers have won the All-Star race. Dale Earnhard, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson are the only three-time winners. Davey Allison, Terry Labonte and Mark Martin each have won twice.

Martin leads all other drivers with 23 All-Star race starts. Terry Labonte has 20.

Here are the drivers already qualified this year.