Winning paint scheme design for Kasey Kahne’s Coke Zero 400 car

Last week Kasey Kahne and Great Clips held a vote for fans to choose what paint scheme the Hendrick Motorsports’ driver would have for the Coke Zero 400 in July at Daytona International Speedway.

The vote was among four designs created by patients at the Seattle Children’s Hospital as part of its “Strong Against Cancer” program.

Kahne later revealed the winner of the contest, which was designed by an 8-year-old named Noelia from White Center, a suburb of Seattle. The paint scheme can be seen on July 2 on NBC.

Below is how the car will look in the race and the original design.

NASCAR drivers to carry names of fallen service members in Coca-Cola 600

For the second consecutive year, all 40 drivers in Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Charlotte Motor Speedway will pay tribute to fallen members of the U.S. Armed For

As part of “600 Miles of Remembrance,” the top part of the windshield on each driver’s car will carry the  fallen service member’s rank and last name in place of where driver names are usually located.

Names of fallen service members also will adorn the pace car and grand marshal cars.

The tribute serves as the commemorative launch of “NASCAR: An American Salute,” an initiative within the industry to express collective respect and gratitude to members of the U.S. Armed Forces.

Fans can follow the conversation on social media using #NASCARSalutes.

“Each of the names proudly displayed on these race cars tells a story of honor and sacrifice,” said Brent Dewar, NASCAR chief operating officer. “As the NASCAR industry reflects on Memorial Day Weekend, we’re proud to honor these and all fallen service members in a way that helps ensure their stories and lives are never forgotten.”

Many of the fallen members that will be remembered have direct links to individuals who work for NASCAR teams, including:

* Navy SEAL Denis Miranda, who was killed in a helicopter crash in Kabul, Afghanistan in 2010, trained in BUD/S alongside Graham Molatch, jackman for the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing team. Miranda’s name will appear on Kyle Larson’s car during the Coca-Cola 600.

* Lance Corporal Scott Lynch served in the United States Marine Corps with Mark Singleton, tire changer for Chip Ganassi Racing, and will be honored on Jamie McMurray’s No. 1 car.

* Furniture Row Racing employee John Parks served in the Marines with Jeffrey Bohr, Jr., a gunnery sergeant who was killed during Operation Iraqi Freedom and whose name will be carried on Martin Truex Jr.’s No. 78 car.

In addition, Charlotte Motor Speedway will once again play host to and salute more than 6,000 active-duty military members and their families through the weekend.

Other activities scheduled for the weekend include:

* During Saturday’s Hisense 4K TV 300, NASCAR XFINITY Series drivers will display red, white and blue Xfinity windshield decals on their race cars.

* Goodyear will replace the “Eagle” sidewall design with “Support Our Troops” messaging on all tires used during the weekend.

* NASCAR, Coca-Cola and Mars will offer a sweepstakes to shoppers at more than 180 military commissaries who will have a chance to win a trip for two to NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion’s Week in Las Vegas.

* Race fans can help assemble care packages for the troops in the midway at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The care packages will include Mars candy and be shipped following the Coca-Cola 600 to deployed military members.

* NASCAR and Honor and Remember, Inc. will display specially prepared Honor and Remember flags representing those who lost their life in service to our country from each of the 50 United States throughout the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series garage at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

* During the Fox Sports broadcast of the Coca-Cola 600, the names and branch of all service members who have lost their lives in the past year will by displayed on a graphic scroll.

* SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90) will have a special military tribute Sunday at 1 p.m. ET., that will include interviews with drivers as well as service men and service women from different branches of the military.

Here’s the list of service members who will be honored with their names atop driver windshields in Sunday’s race:

2016 600 Miles of Remembrance
Car No.DriverSoldierBranchSoldier Hometown

1Jamie McMurrayLCPL Scott Albert LynchMarinesGreenwood Lake, NY
2Brad KeselowskiSPC Joseph T. PrentlerArmyFenwick, MI
3Austin DillonSOC Mark T. CarterNavyFallbrook, CA
4Kevin HarvickLCPL Nathan Ross ElrodMarinesRockwell, NC
5Kasey KahneLCPL Eric Levi WardMarinesRedmond, WA
6Trevor BayneCW4 Jason William McCormackArmyEnterprise, AL
7Regan SmithLCPL Cody Steven ChildersMarinesChesapeake, VA
10Danica PatrickLCPL Benito “cheeks” Ramirez
11Denny HamlinSGT John Davis HarveyMarinesRoanoke, VA
13Casey MearsSPC Christopher Shane WrightArmyTollesboro, KY
14Tony StewartMSG Paul D. KarpowichArmyFreeland, PA
15Clint BowyerMSGT Tara BrownAir ForceLong Island, NJ
16Greg BiffleSPC Joel A. TaylorArmyPinetown, NC
17Ricky Stenhouse Jr.SP4 James (Jim) H. WoolardArmyManchester, OH
18Kyle BuschPFC Robert Stephan UnderwoodArmyO’ Fallon, MO
19Carl EdwardsCPT Edmond Jablonsky Jr.ArmyPasadena, TX
20Matt KensethPFC Christopher Neal WhiteMarinesElizabethtown, KY
21Ryan BlaneySMSN Cherone L. GunnNavyVirginia Beach, VA
NASCAR Select Driver
Kevin Harvick carried the name of fallen military member Sgt. Mracek in last years Coca-Cola 600.
(Matt Sullivan/NASCAR via Getty Images)
NASCAR drivers to carry names of fallen service members in Coca-Cola 600
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By Jerry BonkowskiMay 23, 2016, 1:13 PM EDT
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For the second consecutive year, all 40 drivers in Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Charlotte Motor Speedway will pay tribute to fallen members of the U.S. Armed Forces.

As part of “600 Miles of Remembrance,” the top part of the windshield on each driver’s car will carry the  fallen service member’s rank and last name in place of where driver names are usually located.

Names of fallen service members also will adorn the pace car and grand marshal cars.

The tribute serves as the commemorative launch of “NASCAR: An American Salute,” an initiative within the industry to express collective respect and gratitude to members of the U.S. Armed Forces.

Fans can follow the conversation on social media using #NASCARSalutes.

“Each of the names proudly displayed on these race cars tells a story of honor and sacrifice,” said Brent Dewar, NASCAR chief operating officer. “As the NASCAR industry reflects on Memorial Day Weekend, we’re proud to honor these and all fallen service members in a way that helps ensure their stories and lives are never forgotten.”

Many of the fallen members that will be remembered have direct links to individuals who work for NASCAR teams, including:

* Navy SEAL Denis Miranda, who was killed in a helicopter crash in Kabul, Afghanistan in 2010, trained in BUD/S alongside Graham Molatch, jackman for the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing team. Miranda’s name will appear on Kyle Larson’s car during the Coca-Cola 600.

* Lance Corporal Scott Lynch served in the United States Marine Corps with Mark Singleton, tire changer for Chip Ganassi Racing, and will be honored on Jamie McMurray’s No. 1 car.

* Furniture Row Racing employee John Parks served in the Marines with Jeffrey Bohr, Jr., a gunnery sergeant who was killed during Operation Iraqi Freedom and whose name will be carried on Martin Truex Jr.’s No. 78 car.

In addition, Charlotte Motor Speedway will once again play host to and salute more than 6,000 active-duty military members and their families through the weekend.

Other activities scheduled for the weekend include:

* During Saturday’s Hisense 4K TV 300, NASCAR XFINITY Series drivers will display red, white and blue Xfinity windshield decals on their race cars.

* Goodyear will replace the “Eagle” sidewall design with “Support Our Troops” messaging on all tires used during the weekend.

* NASCAR, Coca-Cola and Mars will offer a sweepstakes to shoppers at more than 180 military commissaries who will have a chance to win a trip for two to NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion’s Week in Las Vegas.

* Race fans can help assemble care packages for the troops in the midway at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The care packages will include Mars candy and be shipped following the Coca-Cola 600 to deployed military members.

* NASCAR and Honor and Remember, Inc. will display specially prepared Honor and Remember flags representing those who lost their life in service to our country from each of the 50 United States throughout the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series garage at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

* During the Fox Sports broadcast of the Coca-Cola 600, the names and branch of all service members who have lost their lives in the past year will by displayed on a graphic scroll.

* SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90) will have a special military tribute Sunday at 1 p.m. ET., that will include interviews with drivers as well as service men and service women from different branches of the military.

Here’s the list of service members who will be honored with their names atop driver windshields in Sunday’s race:

2016 600 Miles of Remembrance
Car No.DriverSoldierBranchSoldier Hometown

1Jamie McMurrayLCPL Scott Albert LynchMarinesGreenwood Lake, NY
2Brad KeselowskiSPC Joseph T. PrentlerArmyFenwick, MI
3Austin DillonSOC Mark T. CarterNavyFallbrook, CA
4Kevin HarvickLCPL Nathan Ross ElrodMarinesRockwell, NC
5Kasey KahneLCPL Eric Levi WardMarinesRedmond, WA
6Trevor BayneCW4 Jason William McCormackArmyEnterprise, AL
7Regan SmithLCPL Cody Steven ChildersMarinesChesapeake, VA
10Danica PatrickLCPL Benito “cheeks” RamirezMarinesEdinburg, TX
11Denny HamlinSGT John Davis HarveyMarinesRoanoke, VA
13Casey MearsSPC Christopher Shane WrightArmyTollesboro, KY
14Tony StewartMSG Paul D. KarpowichArmyFreeland, PA
15Clint BowyerMSGT Tara BrownAir ForceLong Island, NJ
16Greg BiffleSPC Joel A. TaylorArmyPinetown, NC
17Ricky Stenhouse Jr.SP4 James (Jim) H. WoolardArmyManchester, OH
18Kyle BuschPFC Robert Stephan UnderwoodArmyO’ Fallon, MO
19Carl EdwardsCPT Edmond Jablonsky Jr.ArmyPasadena, TX
20Matt KensethPFC Christopher Neal WhiteMarinesElizabethtown, KY
21Ryan BlaneySMSN Cherone L. GunnNavyVirginia Beach, VA
22Joey LoganoSPC Cindy BeaudoinArmyPlainfield, CT
23David RaganLT COL Paul Keith MikealAir ForceMooresville, NC
24Chase ElliottGYSGT Justin MartoneMarinesBedford, VA
27Paul MenardSPC Zachary Lee ShannonArmyDunedin, FL
30Josh WiseSSG Robert A. MassarelliArmyHamilton, OH
31Ryan NewmanSSGT Jason C RamseyerMarinesWest Palm Beach, FL
32Jeffrey EarnhardtCPT Christopher CashArmyOld Orchard Beach, ME
34Chris BuescherSSGT Eric A. McIntoshMarinesIndianapolis, IN
38Landon CassillPVT Earl PlattArmyVestaburg, MI
41Kurt BuschSGT Nicholas Ray GibbsArmyStokesdale, NC
42Kyle LarsonSO3 Denis Christian MirandaNavyToms River, NJ
43Aric AlmirolaSSGT Forrest B. SibleyAir ForcePensacola, FL
44Brian ScottPFC John G. BorbonusUS ArmyBoise, ID
46Michael AnnettPFC Jacob Henry WykstraArmyThornton, CO
47AJ AllmendingerYN3 Wendell WilliamsNavyCincinnati, OH
48Jimmie JohnsonSFC Kyle B. WehrlyArmyGalesburg, IL
55Reed SorensonPFC Jason Hill EstopinalMarinesDallas, GA
78Martin Truex Jr.GYSGT Jeffery E. Bohr, Jr.MarinesOssian, IA
83Matt DiBenedettoCPL Jared C. VerbeekMarinesVisalia, CA
88Dale Earnhardt Jr.LCPL Aaron Howard ReedMarinesChillicothe, OH
95Michael McDowellPFC Andrew Mark KrippnerArmyGarland, TX
98Cole WhittCPL Michael D. Anderson Jr.MarinesModesto, CA
Pace CarCAPT Matthew RollandAir ForceLexington, KY
Split Pace Car1SG Kevin A. DupontMarinesChicopee, MA
Grand Marshal Car 1SGT Bryan Paul AbercrombieArmyClinton, UT
Grand Marshal Car 2SPC Tony J. GonzalesArmyNewman, CA

Branch Breakdown
Army20
Marines 16
Air Force 4
Navy 4
Total Pairings 44

Dollar General not returning to Joe Gibbs Racing, NASCAR in 2017

Dollar General, which sponsors Matt Kenseth‘s team at Joe Gibbs Racing, announced Monday that it will not return to NASCAR after this season.

The company’s statement read:

Dollar General has had tremendous success with NASCAR and our sponsorship of Joe Gibbs Racing. We have enjoyed a great partnership with Joe Gibbs Racing and we are excited to see what the No. 20 Dollar General car driven by Matt Kenseth will accomplish during the remainder of 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. Our strategy to reallocate our future marketing assets into new programs is strictly a business decision to align our priorities to better serve our customer in this rapidly changing retail environment.

Dollar General has served as Kenseth’s primary sponsor in 10 of 12 points races this season and in the Sprint All-Star Race and Sprint Unlimited exhibition races. Dollar General was the sponsor on Kenseth’s car earlier this month at Dover when he won.

Joe Gibbs Racing is expected to announce a replacement sponsor in the next month or so.

NASCAR official says one driver not to blame for All-Star confusion

NASCAR’s Steve O’Donnell said that one driver shouldn’t be blamed for the Sprint All-Star Race format, admitted that “we learned some lessons” from last weekend’s race but was encouraged by the racing.

O’Donnell, NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer, made his comments Monday on “The Morning Drive” on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Brad Keselowski was given credit for some of the ideas when the format was introduced — and then blamed for what resulted Saturday night — but O’Donnell said the format changes included input from several drivers, NASCAR and Charlotte Motor Speedway, among others.

“I’ve seen some of the blame, some of the tweets that are cast upon one driver, let me dispel that myth,’’ O’Donnell said. “This was an inclusive effort. Were there some folks that maybe didn’t like the concept going in? Sure, but that’s any part of a format. I’m proud of what we put together in working with folks, working with the track and the industry. When you saw it play out in the race, I don’t want to say it was a perfect storm, but it was.’’

Problems occurred late in the first 50-lap segment. All teams were required to make a green-flag pit stop during that segment. Matt Kenseth was the only driver who hadn’t when Jamie McMurray’s spin brought out the caution on Lap 47. The caution period went to the end of the segment.

Kenseth had no chance at that point to fulfill the green-flag pit stop requirement before the segment ended.

NASCAR held Kenseth for a lap on pit road. Still, eight cars were a lap down and had no chance of getting their lap back. In a typical race, they could have stayed on the track for the wave around to get back on the lead lap while those ahead pitted. Problem was that NASCAR required all teams to pit after the first segment for at least two tires.

“In hindsight, we didn’t have the wave-around rule,’’ O’Donnell said. “Once you mandate that teams come down to change tires together, that prevented us from having a wave around and that created where we trapped cars a lap down.

“Do we wish we would have had that in place? Absolutely. Could we have made a call to maybe just wave them around anyway? We probably could have. The guys who had a lap up on everybody, what would they say? It was an unfortunate circumstance. We thought we had anticipated everything, but this one snuck up on us.’’

O’Donnell also was asked if the event would remain at Charlotte Motor Speedway. It has been run there every year but once since debuting in 1985.

“We’re happy with the event at Charlotte,’’ he said on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “Our intent is that it will be at Charlotte.’’

O’Donnell said that Tony Stewart would not be fined for his comments on FS1’s broadcast. O’Donnell said he talked to Stewart after the race.

O’Donnell also said that he felt good about the racing. Joey Logano chased leader Kyle Larson and passed him with two laps to go to win.

“We put some tweaks into the rules package, certainly minor, but wanted to see directionally if it would continue to have a positive influence on a track, especially at Charlotte, that has been one of the more challenging tracks for us both from tire wear and the leader getting kind of a big separation from second place,’’ O’Donnell said.

“What you saw really throughout the night, especially with some of our up-and-coming talent battling door-to-door for wins was really encouraging to see. The ability to pass certainly improved for the weekend and expect to see that continue for the (Coca-Cola) 600. Directionally, from a race product, (it’s) really continuing on what we’ve seen all year long, which is absolutely encouraging.’’

Upon Further Review: Sprint All-Star Race

The last couple of weeks have showcased some fascinating duels between young drivers in the Sprint Cup Series.

Kyle Larson has been involved in each.

Larson dueled with Chase Elliott for second place at Dover earlier this month. Larson eventually pulled away and challenged Matt Kenseth for the win before settling for second.

In Saturday’s Sprint Showdown, Larson battled Elliott for the win in the final segment to advance to the Sprint All-Star Race. Although their Dover battle was without contact, Larson squeezed Elliott into the wall off Turn 4 of the final lap of the Showdown, and they hit before Larson won.

“Kyle did what he had to do to beat us back to the end of the line, which is part of it,’’ said Elliott, who advanced to the All-Star Race via the fan vote.

Larson was aggressive on that final lap because he feared that if he finished second he wouldn’t advance to the All-Star Race via the fan vote.

“I had to use him up pretty good there,’’ Larson said of Elliott. “Feel bad about that. I feel like me and Chase race really well together. He’s always raced me clean, and I know I raced him dirty there, but I had to.’’

Saturday night saw Larson facing another nemesis in the Sprint All-Star Race.

Joey Logano.

Larson charged to the lead at the start of the final segment, but Logano stalked him. Logano passed Larson with two laps to go. Logano won $1 million. Larson bounced off the wall and finished 16th.

“I hate that I keep letting my team down,’’ Larson said. “I tried to hang on his quarter panel like I did with Chase earlier (in the Showdown). I got really loose as soon as I got in the corner. We were going so fast that I couldn’t correct it and ended up drilling the wall.

It’s not the first time that Logano has kept Larson from winning. In 2014, Larson finished runner-up three times. He finished second to Logano at New Hampshire and Kansas that year.

“He’s a heck of a racer,’’ Logano said about Larson. “He’s going to win a lot of races, that’s for sure, and it’s fun to race against him, and it’s fun to see the youth in this sport. For me, starting eight years ago now, to see guys that are close to my age now, and I get to race them for wins is a lot of fun.”

YOUTH MOVEMENT

The All-Star Race marked the eighth time in the last nine Sprint Cup races that at least one driver age 25 and younger has scored a top-five finish.

All-Star Race: Joey Logano (he turns 26 Tuesday) won.

Dover: Kyle Larson (age 23) finished second. Chase Elliott (20) placed third.

Kansas: Ryan Blaney (22) finished fifth.

Talladega: Elliott was fifth.

Richmond: No driver 25 and younger placed in the top five.

Bristol: Elliott was fourth. Trevor Bayne (25) placed fifth.

Texas: Logano placed third. Elliott was fifth.

Martinsville: Larson was third. Austin Dillon (was 25 at the time) placed fourth.

Auto Club: Logano was fourth.

STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION

Days after a frank assessment of his team and season, Dale Earnhardt Jr. felt better after his third-place finish in the All-Star race.

Earnhardt is 11th in the points — the lowest he’s been in the points at this time of the season since 2010 — and said on his weekly podcast that “we’ve got to look ourselves in the mirror and really get to it here, figure out what’s going on and what we need to be doing, start really trying to find some speed and some answers.’’

Earnhardt noted on his podcast that the All-Star weekend wouldn’t solve all their issues but would be a start. After Saturday night’s race, Earnhardt was encouraged.

“For our team it’s a good step in the right direction to get more competitive,’’ he said. “A lot was made about the comments I made in the podcast on Monday. I just want the team to succeed and really like the crew and Greg (Ives, crew chief), and I think we can do it. We did it last year.

“We started this year off really awesome and hit a little rough patch, but this week was a great opportunity for us to learn, and I think we did. We had about 80 percent of the setup on the car was new stuff. So I hope Greg learned a lot. We didn’t get a lot of practice, so we had to learn as much as we could in the race, and I think we learned some stuff.’’

COVER BOY

By placing fourth and as the highest-finishing Toyota driver in the All-Star Race, Carl Edwards will be on the cover of the NASCAR Heat Evolution game for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC. The game will debut Sept. 13.

Myatt Snider, son of NBC’s Marty Snider, wins ARCA Racing debut

Myatt Snider was just hoping to finish in his ARCA Racing Series debut Sunday at Toledo Speedway.

Snider finished, alright – and with the checkered flag, capturing the victory in the Menards 200 in the 29-driver field.

Son of NBC NASCAR announcer Marty Snider, 21-year-old Myatt Snider started the race from the third position. He drove the No. 22 Cunningham Motorsports Ford Fusion, with sponsorship from The Original Louisiana Hot Sauce, which just signed on as his sponsor for Sunday’s race this past week.

Here’s some social media posts about the younger Snider’s achievement:

Twitter:

ARCA: @MyattSnider celebrates a victory in his ARCA debut at Toledo.

Myatt Snider wins the #Menards200 on his ARCA Racing Series debut

An elated @MyattSnider in victory lane at @ToledoSpeedway #ARCA

Dalton Sargeant finished second, followed by Kyle Weatherman, Chase Briscoe, Matt Kurzejewski, Josh Williams, Gus Dean, Tom Hessert, Brian Keselowski and Bo LeMastus.

Sunday was the first of nine ARCA races Snider will take part in this season. Others coming up include both season races at Pocono Raceway, as well as Michigan International Speedway, Iowa Speedway, Lucas Oil Raceway (Brownsburg, Indiana), Chicagoland Speedway, Kentucky Speedway and Kansas Speedway.

“I hope to win a race for sure,” Snider said last week. “I want to learn all I possibly can about racing the bigger and heavier cars on the bigger tracks.

“It’ll be a huge learning experience getting adapted to the radial tires. I plan on being like a big sponge in soaking up all the knowledge and experience that I possibly can.”

He apparently has learned his lessons well already.

Ryan: All-Star Race’s beautiful disaster still had a massive silver lining and a good lesson

CONCORD, N.C. – It was a wonderfully shambolic mess that turned the Sprint All-Star Race into astrophysics.

In the “theater of the absurd” (not my words but those of a network host) that transpired Saturday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway, we saw:

–A Pro Bowl tight end openly wondering on national TV why teams were “punting on second down.”

–A three-time Sprint Cup champion decreeing it “the dumbest damn thing I’ve ever been a part of. … It’s the most screwed up All-Star Race I’ve ever been a part of. I’m glad it’s my last one.”

–A social media meltdown that remains ongoing with flummoxed crew chiefs, drivers and spotters alternately professing disdain, empathy and exasperation about the event.

In stock-car racing’s traveling circus of silliness, Saturday represented Peak Derp (why hello, Deadspin post!).

Yet it still was captivating (however frustrating) and also featured a thrilling and unpredictable conclusion.

From start to finish, it was the most memorable All-Star Race in more than a decade.

Which is why the Sprint Cup circuit needs more of it.

No, we don’t mean the convoluted format so tricked up and impenetrable, its narrative was the NASCAR equivalent of digesting a William Faulkner novel.

Let’s dispense with the niggling codicils and unexpected consequences that had CPAs gleefully dreaming about itemized deductions from Schedule C. This race was loaded with more legal wrangling than Ferko v. NASCAR.

Focus instead on what worked: The racing.

Whether viewed as an unintended consequence or well-designed construct, the action was the overwhelming highlight on a 1.5-mile oval lately synonymous with snoozefests.

The cascading effect of a bizarre early sequence (puttitng nearly half the field a lap down) ensured there’d be no runaway as in the previous three All-Star Races (when the winner led every lap of the final segment).

While many teams admitted to racing for 12th after the second segment, and Jimmie Johnson successfully claimed that transfer spot into the lead for the final 13-lap dash, the plan to win in clean air couldn’t work because there weren’t enough buffer cars on older tires.

It took half a lap after the green for the front row of Johnson and Kyle Busch to be gobbled up on the last restart.

And once ensured the outcome wouldn’t be a track-position battle, things really got good.

With aerodynamic tweaks in place to keep drivers off throttle for longer through the turns on Charlotte’s grippy, supersonic asphalt, Kyle Larson, 23, and Joey Logano, 25, locked in a stirring battle that left fans cheering and NASCAR marketers swooning.

When Logano swiped first from Larson with two laps remaining, it marked the latest lead change in an All-Star Race in seven years – and it mostly salvaged the head-scratching and hair-pulling preceding it.

It couldn’t have happened without the rules changes, which were the result of a continuing collaboration between NASCAR, teams, drivers and manufacturers on rules that greatly reduced downforce this season.

“Man, if we were running the ’14 or ’15 package, (Larson) could have went wherever (Logano) was going and kept him about 10 car lengths behind him the whole time,” third-place finisher Dale Earnhardt Jr. said. “He didn’t ever have to worry about it. The fact that (Logano) can drive up there right to him, we’re going down the right direction.”

The ill-begotten format merely was a byproduct of a NASCAR industry furiously trying to lurch toward something better.

Saturday showed all options must stay on the table in remaining vigilant to ensure Sprint Cup – really, all of racing – keeps striving for relevance.

It’s why the Indianapolis Motor Speedway jazzed up its qualifying format this weekend in the absence of any Bump Day drama. Purists might hate waiting until the final hour to determine the fastest qualifier among nine drivers, but it’s driven by desperation to hold interest (which it certainly did via feel-good pole-sitter James Hinchcliffe).

The same factors are at play in NASCAR.

Saturday night proved some ideas quickly should be cleaved.

Mandatory pit stops that must happen by a certain lap? Meh.

There is a fine line here between being innovative and asinine.

“Gimmicks and all that stuff is going down the wrong path,” Earnhardt said. “The way to make the racing exciting is to make the cars exciting.”

Or help put them in situations engendering excitement. How about shorter races (50 laps still is too long for an All-Star segment, by the way)? De-emphasizing aerodynamics without shunning technology? Incentivizing racing with no quarter as much as possible (which Larson sublimely has managed the past two weeks)?

Don’t stop devising ways to make the on-track product scintillating.

Keep generating creative suggestions … but aggressively eradicate those that don’t work.

That’s a concept that’s simple to understand.