Will slower, more slippery All-Star Race bring thrill back in Charlotte?

The Sprint All-Star Race is one of NASCAR’s signature events. But after a lack of drama in recent years, changes are coming for Saturday’s race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

In addition to a format change announced two weeks ago, NASCAR said earlier this week that cars will be set up differently in the hopes of providing more competitive racing.

To that, the drivers say, bring it on.

“There is probably an argument to be made that it’s a little bit gimmicky, and that’s fair,” said Brad Keselowski, who came up with the format change idea. “But it’s the all-star race, and I feel like the all-star race gets a free pass on gimmicks to some extent. It should be a short, fun, amazing race. I’m feeling pretty optimistic that it’s going to be the best race of the year.”

Here’s what’s been changed:

▪  The race will be set up in three segments of 50, 50 and 13 laps.

▪  Before the final segment, a random draw will determine whether the first nine, 10 or 11 cars will have to come in for a four-tire change. The remainder of the field will stay on the track, with the cars with new tires behind them on the restart.

▪  Cars will be set up with less downforce and sideforce. There will also be a reduction in the number of cooling fans, which added to downforce in the cars.

The format change means there will be cars with fresh tires in the rear of the field trying to move up against cars with older tires at the front.

The tire issue – how quickly the Goodyears “fall-off,” or wear down – will be paramount.

“There are so many questions,” said Martin Truex Jr. “What’s the tire going to be like? Is there going to be a lot of fall-off, a little fall-off? When we talk about at the end where guys are going to have to pit, some guys are going to have to stay out, it’s all going to really matter what the tire does.

“So, if the tire falls off a lot that last 10 laps where the top-10 have to pit, I’m not sure exactly even how it’s going to work. But, that’s going to get exciting at the end with guys running for their lives on old tires and guys trying to get to the front on new tires.”

Said Jimmie Johnson: “The rules are pretty interesting. For the teams that are required to pit based on where they finish, hopefully there’s a ton of tire fall-off and you can make up those positions lost in a very short final segment.”

NASCAR has already lowered the downforce on cars this season, a move that has made for more compelling racing. Taking more off from the top and side for Saturday will likely slow the cars, but will also make them more challenging to handle. The drivers like that.

“I think from the fan standpoint, they won’t see physically anything different with the cars,” said Denny Hamlin, who won last season’s all-star race. “The teams are probably trying the most economical way to slow these cars down in the center of the corner. It’s just kind of an effort to keep going down the path that we started this year of taking downforce away. Most of these changes are going to take side force away, which to a fan may not mean much, but it’s all really an effort to take the center of the corner speed down.

“Ultimately we can take more chances when the speeds are down and the person in front of us is lifting off the throttle. It allows us to carry it in there. Any time you slow the speeds down, racing will always be better.”

This story was originally published May 18, 2016 at 5:01 PM with the headline "Will slower, more slippery All-Star Race bring thrill back in Charlotte?."