By: Cathy Brown

So itâs Saturday night and itâs the race that we all have been waiting for, some even call it âA race bigger than the Daytona 500â. Why? Because there are no points, just cash and checkers or wreckers.Â This is the NASCAR Sprint All Star Race!

This race is unlike any other, to race in the big show all you have to do is one of the following:

Be a driver that has won NASCAR Sprint Cup races in the current and preceding year. If a driver leaves a team with which he has won a race, he or she remains eligible (through the last race before the all-star race), however, the team does not

Be a driver who is a Â past NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race winner(s) in the past 10 years

Be a driver who is past NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion(s) in the last 10 years

Or be one of the top two finishers in the Sprint Showdown, the 40-lap race that precedes the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race

Last Chance way in is to win the top Sprint Fan Vote, finish on the lead lap of the Showdown and whose car is in âraceableâ condition as determined by the series director.

Sounds easy right?

So it was Martin Truex Jr. who took the pole for the Sprint Showdown and Jamie McMurray started second for what is NASCARâs biggest night the Sprint All Star Race.Â But for Truex Jr. the pole was all he was going to be able to claim Saturday night under the lights at Charlotte Motor Speedway.Â McMurray took the lead and never looked back taking the checkers in the first 20 laps that determined who would transfer into the segment races.Â Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished a very impressive second racing his way into the big show. Truex Jr. ended up in fifth, but still had the fan vote as a chance to get in and race.

During the race break I took to Twitter to see what social media was saying about the all important fan vote, and low and behold there was a war brewing between the Danica Patrick fans and well, everyone else.Â It was getting downright ruthless, some of the language I saw would make a sailor blush.Â But when Sprint announced who indeed had won it was Patrick getting the fanâs vote and the right to race in the big race.

This is where the controversy started, 100âs of people tweeting that the vote was âriggedâ, and their evidence was how many âbooâsâ she received when her name was announced.Â Some on twitter said âThanks Sprint for not voting in a driver that can actually winâ, to âThis was nothing more than a publicity stunt by Sprint to get more ratingsâ.

Going into the 1st segment Brad Keselowski blew a transmission on the third lap and quickly went into the garage area for repair, but to Keselowskiâs detriment the rain began to fall and on lap 13 a red flag was out and the crew working on the Blue Deuce had to stop their work per NASCARâs rules.

After a 41 minute 26 second delay for rain the race, finally restarted and Kurt Busch, the man of late with something to prove, went out there and commandingly won the first segment. This made him the only driver that was eligible to win the extra one million dollars that track owner Bruton Smith had out on the table.

However, little brother Kyle Busch dashed big broâs dreams, taking the win in the next two segments.Â But Ku. Busch with something still to prove, came back in fine fashion to win the fourth segment going into the final 10 lap dash for cash.

This is where the confusion came in, when they lined up the field by their average finishes to come in for the mandatory pit stop.Â Fox did the math and stated that Jimmie Johnson would be lining up 11th coming into the pits, but as the pits were open Johnson was lined up fourth. Ok, I know I wasnât the only one at this point confused.

After the four tire mandatory pit stop Ku. Busch came out a disappointing fifth. Kasey Kahne, Johnson, Ky. Busch and Joey Logano all came out ahead of his No. 78 that had been so dominant throughout the night.

This is where I think NASCAR got it wrong with the averages, after the pit stop the averages didnât matter anymore. In my opinion I think NASCAR needs to re-think this for next year.

When the final green flag dropped for the 10 lap shootout it was Johnson taking the lead over teammate Kahne. Â Kahne would lose his hold onto second to Logano and third to Ky. Busch, but Kahne had a very strong night finishing fourth with Ku. Busch winding up in the fifth spot.

Amidst booâs and cheerâs, it was Johnson taking the checkers and the nightâs one million dollar pay out.

This was Johnsonâs fourth All Star Race race win and he is the second driver to win back-to-back, the first being the late Davey Allison in 1991-92.

As for Patrick, she finished 20th, only placing higher to Mark Martin, three laps down due to a crash, and Keselowski who never returned after a transmission failure.Â So was the fan vote rigged?Â If Martin and Keselowski wouldnât have suffered any issues would Patrick have finished last?

What do you think?Â Do you think the voting was nothing more than a publicity stunt by Sprint? Should someone else been voted in? And if voted in would that person had a better chance to win?Â I welcome your thoughts.

Please leave your comments on our Facebook page.