Who gets paid what in the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race

 Purse breakdown for 2015 NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race

   Racing Purse Breakdown (by race finishing position):
   Total $3,150,588 

   1st-$1,033,535
   2nd-$238,310
   3rd-$138,285
   4th-$108,255
   5th-$103,255
   6th-$97,255
   7th-$91,105
   8th-$90,105
   9th-$89,105
   10th-$88,105
   11th-$87,080
   12th-$86,080
   13th-$85,080
   14th-$84,580
   15th-$83,980
   16th-$83,705
   17th-$83,580
   18th-$83,480
   19th-$83,380
   20th-$83,280
   21st-$82,548
   22nd-$75,750
   23rd-$70,750

   NOTE: In the event any of these awards are not paid, remaining money will be distributed evenly among the field of competing eligible drivers for the NASCAR
Sprint All-Star Race awards.

Dale Junior's philosophy on life: 'You want to love what you do.'

   NASCAR's most popular driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr., was asked Friday at Kansas Speedway whether he was finding himself getting more involved in all of the business opportunities outside racing that he and companies owned by him represent.

   Earnhardt, who has a propensity to take difficult issues and communicate them in a straight-forward, effective manner, did it again, offering a poignant insight to his approach at getting older and closer to the day his career isn't encompassed by driving a race car.

   Here was his response:

   “Yeah, I think so especially as I get older and get closer to understanding that driving race cars won’t last forever. I mean I knew that, but you get closer and closer to the day when you won’t be in the race car anymore. Not only do I need things to keep me busy or keep me excited and motivated to get out of bed every day. You want to love what you do right? Because I’ve had so much fun driving race cars it is going to be a real challenge to find something that I enjoy as much," he said.

   "That is sort of something I take a little more seriously now as I’m getting older. I think the dealerships in Tallahassee (Florida) will be a fun exciting challenge. That was really my career path if I hadn’t been a race car driver, was as a mechanic and into the service department and maybe eventually if it all worked out a general manager or something like that at a store. It’s funny to think about it now, but that was the reality of the situation when I was younger. I feel comfortable there and feel like I understand that business better than anything else."

   It has become evident the care and concern Earnhardt puts into his outside ventures of late matches that on ensuring he is competitive in the race car each week.

   "I’m taking those things very seriously because that is going to be my source of income one day when driving race cars is no longer an opportunity. Definitely take it more seriously and want to make sure that we are doing things right," he said.

   "The production company does really good there are just so many things that we have so much potential with that are looking really good. Hopefully all that stuff works out. Everybody is looking for the (George) Foreman grill and hopefully I’ve got a couple of them in the works.”

Leavine Family Racing shop in Concord, N.C., suffers 'significant damage'

  

   According to a statement from Leavine Family Racing, an early morning fire in its race shop on Concord, N.C., on Friday did "significant damage" to the back area of the shop where several of its Sprint Cup Series cars were located. 

   "We can confirm there was a fire at our Concord, N.C., shop. Luckily no one was injured," said a statement provided by a team spokesperson. "We are working with the fire department and local officials to determine what happened."

   Late Friday, team officials said the structural damage to the shop may cause the organization to move its racing operations, however they did not believe the change would alter the team's competitive schedule.

    The fire was first reported around 7 a.m. and was brought under control by 8:30 a.m. Four race cars in the building - primarily backup cars - were destroyed, located in an 8,000-square foot section of the shop. A complete investigation of the fire continues by local authorities.  

   Most of the team members were already at Kansas Speedway this weekend as driver Michael McDowell will compete in Saturday night's SpongeBob SquarePants 400.  

Statement from Richard Childress on losing final appeal of NASCAR tire penalty

   Statement from Richard Childress regarding final appeal ruling on the No. 31 Chevrolet team

   "We do not agree with the final appeal ruling. We feel we had a compelling case and still felt we were in the right and the facts presented today would have proved that. We do appreciate the opportunity to be heard. 

   "We stand behind our suspended team members and look forward to their return. We will now move on and continue or goals of winning races and making the Chase for the Champion."

Chase Elliott could be a NASCAR all-star before he's a fulltime Sprint Cup driver

   Is it really possible Chase Elliott could be a NASCAR all-star before he's even a fulltime Sprint Cup Series driver?

   We found out Tuesday the answer to that question is "yes."

   During a news conference at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Hendrick Motorsports announced Elliott would enter the May 15 Sprint Showdown preliminary race during all-star weekend. The winner of each 20-lap segment of the race gains entry into the May 16 main event with a chance to earn the $1 million top prize.

   "I couldn't be more excited about the opportunity to run the Showdown. It allows me to gain more experience before we race again at Charlotte a week later," Elliott said in a statement provided by the team. "I'm grateful to Mr. Hendrick and everyone at NAPA for the chance to do it."

   Elliott, who is attempting to win his second consecutive Xfinity Series championship with JR Motorsports this season, is running a partial Cup schedule in preparation for taking over the driving duties of Jeff Gordon's No. 24 Chevrolet next season. Elliott was already scheduled to compete in the May 24 Coca-Cola 600.

   The Xfinity Series is competing next weekend at Iowa Speedway so Elliott will be pulling double-duty while traveling between North Carolina and Iowa.

NASCAR's Steve O'Donnell talks about the caution 'no-call' at Talladega

   While it doesn't appear a caution on the final lap of Sunday's GEICO 500 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway would have changed the winner - which ended up being Dale Earnhardt Jr. - NASCAR's decision not to throw one as cars were wrecking didn't sit well with some of the drivers involved in the incident, namely Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth.

   On Monday morning NASCAR Executive Vice President Steve O'Donnell addressed the issue during a weekly appearance on SiriusXM Satellite Radio's "The Morning Drive" show.

   Here are O'Donnell's remarks:
   
   “It’s going to be a judgment call. We’ve stated that we’re going to make every effort to try to finish a race under green-flag conditions. That’s what the fans want to see. We’ve got to be obviously mindful of what’s occurring on the race track. It’s a split-second decision. So, I think if you go back to Daytona and you saw a driver hit the wall what we thought was fairly hard and wanted to dispatch our emergency crews quickly, we elected to throw the caution. I think yesterday if you look at the circumstances that played out with Carl, when we initially saw him get loose, he was down on the apron. As we made that quick decision, it was ‘OK, he’s clear, we can go.’ Just as you make that, his car slides up across the track. 

   "That’s something you don’t want to see green- or yellow-flag conditions, but, at the time, if we would have thrown the yellow, then it’s too late because he’s already up and across the track. So, we elected to let it play out. We certainly didn’t like to see how Carl came across the track but ultimately we were able to come back under green-flag conditions.

   “People want to point to who’s leading, who’s not leading, what could have happened, what didn’t happen. I know it’s hard to believe for some folks, we don’t think about that. We look at the circumstances of the incident. We’ve got to make that call - just like a 99 mph fastball. The umpire can't think about it for a couple minutes. We’re not always going to be right. We know with each decision we open it up for debate. That’s sports. We’ll talk to Carl and the competitors about that but did like seeing us being able to finish under green."

When your back’s against the wall, call for reinforcements. 'Dale Call' to be exact.

   The roaring duck call mimicking the sound of the engine from NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s No. 88 Chevrolet shot to fame in a Diet Mountain Dew TV commercial that began airing during Super Bowl XLVIII. 

   A few months later, Dew noticed a lot of chatter on social media from consumers begging for the brand to make the Dale Call widely available. So, they unveiled the Dale Call on Amazon late last year and the entire inventory sold out in less than a day.

   Dew is bringing back the popular Dale Call to e-commerce for $24.99 while supplies last. To celebrate this momentous occasion, Dew has created a brand new ad which will air during the race at Talladega this Sunday immediately following the original Diet Dew ad that made this unique product so popular.