I'm still so disappointed in the All-Star race on Saturday night that I must vent a little here...

As a fan, I'd give up the option to be able to vote a driver into the All-Star event to go back to the way the race used to be run. There used to be much more excitement. Much more bumping and banging. Drivers used to actually get aggressive and excited going for the million in that 10-lap shootout.

I used to sit on the edge of my seat for the entire last 10 laps. It was pure excitement.

I'm not the only one that thinks this way. In this press release, Dale Earnhardt Jr. shares his thoughts:

"It's really a roulette wheel at the end in that pit stop, I feel like I wasted my time running those first three segments because it really didn't matter. I plea for Humpy to bring back the 40, 30, 10 laps because 10 laps, that will get things going. We need to bring it back because the races, they've been good, but they've never been as good as they were then."

Jeff Gordon's thoughts on a no-wreck event: "It’s unbelievable. I’m shocked. I’m absolutely shocked because I thought I was going to be the first caution in the first corner (laughs). I was completely sideways off Turn 2 for the first half of the first segment. I had my hands full. I thought for sure other guys would as well. So I’m pretty shocked there weren’t any cautions. I think that four 25-lap segments is a long way around this place, and you don’t have to be as aggressive to run 25 laps, so that might have contributed to it a little bit as well."

I was stunned when I read this next quote by Tony Stewart. Just stunned. It doesn't even sound like the Stewart I know.

Said Stewart:

"It’s nice that nobody had to crash tonight," Stewart said. "Normally, these things are wreck-fests. It’s nice to have one where nobody had to crash. You couldn’t run as close as you normally would, and that probably kept everybody from having problems."

I can't possibly disagree with him more. Is this an case of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" or something? This just doesn't sound like him. Now that Stewart's contract is up for for discussion, he's all the sudden going to be a "good boy?"

This race is for the fans. And yeah, and a million dollars. Maybe I'm wrong, but I can't imagine that owners go into that race saying, "Now Stewart, try not to scratch the car." I want you to race hard, but really tread lightly when racing against others, paint jobs are expensive."

I think they should drive like they're racing for a million bucks. Period.

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