NASCAR All-Star Race 2016: Five takeaways from Charlotte

There was plenty of chaos and Joey Logano became a whole lot richer at the 2016 NASCAR All-Star Race.

If NASCAR is going to implement new rules to change up the NASCAR All-Star Race, the rules used at the 2016 NASCAR All-Star Race are not it. It was a night of chaos, drivers furious with the sport and Joey Logano becoming a very rich individual.

It was the rules and governing hand of the sport that ultimately played the biggest role in the disaster that was Saturday.

Rule changes led to drivers not understanding what was going on in the race and that led to some big wrecks on the track. Drivers who had just been in the front were suddenly scored a lap down and nobody had any clue what was going on.

The fans were confused as well, but was known is at the end of the race, it came down to Logano and Kyle Larson for the win.

Logano would move Larson enough for the win and he’d finally pick up a win on the season. Instead of a spot in the Chase, Logano won $1 million which isn’t a bad trade off. Here are five takeaways from a bad night for the sport.

1. Joey Logano is a rich man

After a strong season last year, Joey Logano has had a car that has battled him all year. In the NASCAR All-Star Race, Logano was as comfortable as he ever looked.

He was aggressive on the track and he made the moves necessary to win, including pushing Kyle Larson out of the way.

Even better, he gets a million dollars for his troubles and a spot in next year’s All-Star race.

2. The rain was a real drag on the weekend

Just about every event at All-Star Weekend was canceled because of rain. With NASCAR rolling out a new style of racing this year, they wanted the perfect weekend for everyone.

Instead, qualifying got rained out, Friday got rained out and it was basically trial by fire on the track for everyone. Essentially, this entire weekend was doomed from the very beginning.

3. The rules implemented ruined the race

The teams in NASCAR weren’t given the rule changes to the 2016 NASCAR All-Star Race not long before the race this week and that created plenty of confusion as teams had to quickly devise strategies and figure out the rules.

Instead of playing out the way NASCAR wanted these rules to, it left plenty of drivers behind and not in a position to win because nothing made sense on the track. Plenty of drivers were furious with the rules and didn’t hold back.

If NASCAR was going to completely change up the rules, they should have given notice in advance and not as late as they did. Perhaps it would have made more sense, but in the end, these new rule changes have to go. Whether it was the mandatory pit stop, order reversal or tire rules, they all caused issues.

4. Kyle Larson has arrived

What Kyle Larson is doing on the track is no fluke this year. After almost winning at Dover last week in an intense battle with Matt Kenseth, Larson got to battle with Joey Logano for all the money on Saturday night.

If it wasn’t for Logano pushing him out of the way, Larson would have won a lot of money. Still it was a strong showing for one of the bright futures of the sport and he has plenty to be proud of.

5. Tony Stewart rightfully sounded off

To cap off a night that left more people angry than happy, Tony Stewart really sounded off after he was involved in a wreck during the All-Star Race. As an elder statesman of the sport, Stewart was well within his right to sound off on the new changes to the race and just about everything about it.

It truly was the most screwed up All-Star Race as Stewart put it.

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