The race won't influence the Winston Cup Series point standings, so drivers don't have to be on their best behavior. There will be crashes and cussing, bold moves and dumb moves, tension and, most importantly, surprises. Just to make it interesting. The sport has become too involved with a points system that doesn't fairly distinguish between winning and finishing second. When there's so little difference between finishing first and fifth 20 points in a season where the champion will garner more than 5,000 points there's no incentive to race hard.
Drivers are content with riding along in the top five without thinking about what it takes to win.
The Winston changes that mind-set. With these kind of rules, it should be no surprise that Dale Earnhardt, the man with the intimidating demeanor, holds the record for the most all-star victories at three. Saturday's race won't be the same without him. But 21 other drivers will try to create enough sparks and excitement to make up the difference. Just to make it interesting.