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Wednesday, May. 21, 2008

Kahne's victory needs an asterisk by it

Kasey Kahne and Barry Bonds are two people who, on the surface, would not be expected to have very much in common. But there is one thing that links the record-setting slugger and fresh-faced NASCAR driver.

Both Bonds and Kahne have accomplishments that deserve to have an asterisk placed by them. The controversy about Bonds' home run record being tainted because of his alleged steroids use has been very well documented.

Kahne, on the other hand, is coming off the biggest victory of his career in the All-Star race on Saturday at Lowe's Motor Speedway, and it deserves to be tainted.

Kahne, who has seen his fortunes go up and down since moving into NASCAR, won thanks to some brilliant pit strategy by crew chief Kenny Francis. For Kahne's Gillett Evernham Motorsports team, which has struggled for most of the past year, the win could be what it needs to turn its season around.

As exciting as it was to see Kahne win, it is a trophy and moment that should have a black mark placed beside it in the record books, because Kahne had no business being in the All-Star race, no matter how many fans he might have.

To get into the All-Star race, a driver (or the owner of the car's owners points) has to have either won the event or the Sprint Cup Series title in the past 10 years, won a race within the past year or be among the top two finishers in the Sprint Showdown, a race for drivers not yet qualified for the All-Star race.

Kahne did none of these things, but he got into the All-Star race through an absurd loophole - one driver not yet qualified for the All-Star race can sneak in by having the most fan votes. The fan vote is a device allowing one driver into a race against drivers who have earned a spot on what is probably the biggest stage in NASCAR other than the Daytona 500.

Voting a driver in through a popularity contest, however, goes against the concept of the All-Star race, an event of drivers who have rightfully earned a spot in it. Kahne, along with Kyle Petty, Kenny Wallace and Ken Schrader in recent years, did nothing to earn a spot in a race of the sport's biggest and brightest stars.

Sure, there are drivers who haven't won in the past year who have a sizeable number of fans. But the number of fans a driver has should not give them a free pass into a race. Their accomplishments should, and if they cannot get the job done, they don't deserve to be in the All-Star race, period.

NASCAR fans already have one popularity contest to obsess about and attempt to manipulate through the Most Popular Driver contest. The silliness should stop there and not put a driver in position to win $1 million because of a driver's appeal to his fan base.