Saturday's pre-race report

The bottom line

A brand-new, and really boring, name: Sprint All-Star Race.

The mother of NASCAR invention: Lowe's Motor Speedway, Concord.

The ultimate work in progress: The all-star race, originally known as The Winston, has gone through almost constant change since it was first run in 1985. This year there are still four segments, but each is five laps longer (25). As was the case last year, there's a mandatory stop on pit road after the third segment, but quickness matters since the order for the final segment will depend on the order in which the cars leave the pits. In other words, no adjustments, no tires, no gas means starting up front with an inferior car.
Been a while: No one has won the all-star race after starting on the pole since Davey Allison in 1992.

The interesting, the ironic and the wacky:
* In 1999, Bobby Labonte won the pole and Terry Labonte won the race.

* In 1996, Michael Waltrip earned a spot in the all-star race by transferring in through what was then known as the Winston Open (now the Sprint Showdown). He then won The Winston. In 1999, Tony Stewart won the Open and finished second in The Winston.

* The Showdown, by the way, is 40 laps/60 miles.

* Dale Jarrett, who is making his final appearance as a driver in the all-star race, which he has never won.

* NASCAR had an all-star race for three years in the 1960s. It was run in conjunction with Daytona Speedweeks 1961-63.

* The winners, in order, were Joe Weatherly, Fireball Roberts and Fred Lorenzen.

* Seventeen different drivers have won the all-star race. The only three-time winners are Dale Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon.

* Terry Labonte took part in a record 20 all-star races.

* Two drivers, Dale Earnhardt Jr. (2000) and Ryan Newman (2002), have won the all-star race as rookies.

Informative, humorous or quotable in some other sense:
* "You'll do some pretty crazy things for a million bucks." - Clint Bowyer

* "You can sit around and come up with a ton of different ideas, but Humpy (Wheeler, LMS president) sure does have some good ones." - Bobby Labonte

* "When the green flag waves for the final 25 laps, you can fully expect to see all hell break loose." - Kurt Busch

*Racing is racing. We're trying to win. We can try a few things and, most importantly, it gets us some track time and seat time for that 600." - Greg Biffle

* "Hey, here's the deal. It's entertainment." - Carl Edwards