NASCAR All-Star Race changes: Will fans like the 'choose rule'?

Moving the NASCAR All-Star Race to a short track won’t be the only obvious change fans will see next Wednesday night at Bristol Motor Speedway.

NASCAR hopes fans will love the fact that drivers will vie for $1 million at a track where they shouldn’t be afraid to rough up each other a little bit.

OFFICIAL: The 2020 NASCAR All-Star Race will be held July 15th at Bristol Motor Speedway WITH fans. pic.twitter.com/HZXH19uMM7

— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) June 15, 2020

But NASCAR also uses the race to test concepts to see if it wants to implement them in future seasons.

The first thing that will be obvious is the number. The car’s number won’t be centered on the driver-side body panel. It will move back toward the rear wheel, giving teams more unobstructed space to put sponsor logos.

The look for number placement on the cars for the all-star race: #nascar ⁦@NASCARONFOX⁩ pic.twitter.com/kow4nvXVBR

— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) June 16, 2020

The second thing will be NASCAR using the “choose rule” on restarts. Here’s how it works: The drivers are single file after pit stops, and a lap or two before the restart, there is a spot on the track (either a line or a cone) where the drivers must choose in what lane they want to restart.

Traditionally, the leader picks a lane, and then the rest of the field lines up, with the those in third, fifth, seventh, etc., on the inside and those fourth, sixth, eighth, etc. on the outside.

NASCAR won’t have an actual cone on the track for the all-star race. It will be a designated point on the track where they choose what lane they will restart.

— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) July 1, 2020

With the choose rule, each driver picks the lane. So second place could choose to start behind the leader or on the front row. Let’s say the first four drivers pick the same lane because it is the preferred groove, the driver in fifth might decide to start on the front row – but in the non-preferred groove.

“When we had a more formal driver’s council, it was always a topic that came up,” said seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson. “We hope that it comes into play and if you watch from about 15th on back on a restart, everybody is just choosing where they want to go anyhow, so it would be nice to have that be a part of the format.

“I only see it helping.”

It’s time for a choose cone. @TooToughToTame is the perfect place to try it. The bottom is at a disadvantage this will create drama and allow us to decide our fate. Paint something on the track before the start finish line. One to go we choose our destiny.

— Austin Dillon (@austindillon3) May 21, 2020

There will be plenty of restarts. The Open will be run in stages of 35 laps, 35 laps and 15 laps. The main event will be stages of 55 laps, 35 laps, 35 laps and 15 laps.

“We’ll see how it works in the all-star race, but we’re confident it’s going to be fun,” NASCAR Executive Vice President Steve O’Donnell said when announcing the choose rule.

Drivers are used to this rule on short tracks, so it shouldn’t be too difficult for them. NASCAR has never had it, though, and a crash early on a restart could end up being a scoring nightmare. But fans seem tired of the games drivers were playing by slowing down on pit road to try to get the preferred groove.

DEBATE: Do you think NASCAR should implement a “choose cone” for restarts at certain tracks?

— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) May 23, 2020

“I’d love the choose cone,” said Ryan Blaney. “At certain tracks, I think it would be really neat. Maybe you don’t do it everywhere, but some of the places where it’s maybe dominant on one lane for the restart at least, you could kind of maybe have some people take a chance.”

Kevin Harvick said he would rather see a return to single-file restarts, but that doesn’t seem likely as the drama created from double-file restarts often are must-see moments during the race.

“[It’s] trying to make it better for the fans and create more drama than it already has,” said Austin Dillon, who advocated for the change. “The ‘choose cone’ is something that is utilized throughout short tracks in America, asphalt, you name it.

“You see it on a weekly basis at places when I was heck, racing Legends cars at age 14, with no radios, you could figure out how to make a choose cone work. You just chose and that was your line that you had to make. This puts it in the drivers’ hands.”

Thanks to @NASCAR for the making the choose rule happen. Looking forward to the excitement it brings the sport. ??

— Austin Dillon (@austindillon3) July 1, 2020

If fans like it, expect to see it weekly in 2021. NASCAR wouldn’t change those rules for the remainder of 2020.

“What we will probably do is hold it and look at it for ’21,” O’Donnell said. “We don’t really want to inject too much into the remainder of the season. … This is something that we have obviously had a lot of discussion with the drivers about.

“A lot of the stuff you see coming off pit road, especially on the short tracks with guys braking to get a certain position coming off pit road on a restart — if we can avoid that and do this in a smart way, you could see this as part of the racing season for 2021.”

Agreed. Always has been part of @NASCAR grassroots. https://t.co/UqC0wHX5WP

— Steve O’Donnell (@odsteve) July 1, 2020

There are 14 drivers who are qualified for the event thanks to wins in 2019-20 or being a previous all-star winner or Cup champion: Kurt Busch, Brad Keselowski, Harvick, Ryan Newman, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, Blaney, Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr., Erik Jones, Joey Logano, Matt Kenseth, Jimmie Johnson, Justin Haley and Alex Bowman.

Each of the segment winners in the Open advances and then a final spot will go to the winner of the fan vote.

On The Air

Two NASCAR Xfinity Series races kick off a full weekend of racing from Kentucky Speedway on @FS1 ? pic.twitter.com/xY3X5w43vZ

— FOX Sports PR (@FOXSportsPR) July 8, 2020

Thursday

Xfinity Shady Rays 200 (Kentucky), 8 p.m., FS1

Friday

Xfinity Alsco 300 (Kentucky), 8 p.m., FS1

Saturday

Gander RV Outdoors Trucks Buckle Up In Your Truck 225 (Kentucky), 6 p.m., FS1

Sunday

Cup Quaker State 400 (Kentucky), 2:30 p.m., FS1

Stat of Note

In the three NASCAR Cup Series races at Kentucky that have had stages, a stage winner has won the race. In 2017 and 2018, Martin Truex Jr. swept the stages and won the race. In 2019, Kyle Busch and Kurt Busch won stages with Kurt beating his brother at the race finish.

Social Spotlight

Gutted. I’ve been trying to win the Brickyard for so many years. Come so close. This one hurt on many levels.

— Denny Hamlin (@dennyhamlin) July 6, 2020