Here's what we learned after Saturday's all-star race: Fans make a difference; Joe Gibbs Racing's experiment failed and next week's Coca-Cola 600 could look like a race we've already seen.
# Pat yourself on the back if you voted for Kasey Kahne to make the all-star race. Without you, he doesn't win the race and a paycheck for $1,012,975. Can't imagine Kahne would ever have a right to complain about signing extra autographs or spending extra time with fans after this gift.
While some will question if Kahne had any business being in this race -- he hadn't won a Cup race since 2006 and couldn't even advance from the Sprint Showdown by finishing in the top two (he was fifth) -- hey, this event is for the fans and it's only right fans can vote a driver into the all-star race. Fan votes determine who starts all-star games in other sports even if there are better players more deserving to start.
"Good thing we've got great fans,'' Kahne radioed his team after the Showdown when he failed to race his way into the all-star event.
Yes, good thing.
# Kahne's win is a bright spot for Dodge, which sorely needs something good. After winning the Daytona 500 with Ryan Newman, Dodge has done very little and even had a few races where it failed to place a car in the top 10.
Just as important is the confidence it gives Kahne and his team, Kahne was frustrated Friday after practice and not very cheery about his prospects of making the all-star race. So what about the 600 now?
"As far as us coming out and winning the 600, we've got some work to do,'' he said. "We have to keep working hard and doing the right things. But it shows that our cars are not as far off as I made it sound (Friday).''
# As I wrote here Friday, Joe Gibbs Racing used experimental engines for this weekend. The team gets its motors from Toyota Racing Development but also has been developing its own version of the Toyota engine. With this being a non-points race, it was the perfect time to see how well those engines would do.
Mark Cronquist, who heads the engine program at Gibbs, told me he hoped to have the Gibbs engines in the cars by Chicago or Indy. That timetable seems unrealistic after this weekend. Tony Stewart had to make an engine change Friday. Then Kyle Busch broke a rocker arm after leading the first 38 laps, and Denny Hamlin suffered engine problems while leading with 17 laps to go. Hamlin's problems allowed Kahne to take the lead and go on to the win.
"We had a problem with it braking when we were here at testing but they put over 800 miles on these things, so they felt pretty safe about it when they fixed the problem that we had before,'' Busch said. "Eveidently we had something else happen about the same. It's a new package that we've come out with in the recent weeks but for some reason it has broken rocker arms.''
# Track position was critical in Saturday's race. Once a driver took the lead, he typically held it. Some of the things guys said after the race reminded me of a few years ago when they talked about the aero push and how a car running behind the leader was not very good but once it got out in front in clean air it was magically transformed into a fast car.
Said Kahne: "My car was the best it had been all night out front. But it also passed cars all night and we worked our way up there one by one.''
A key for Kahne was the mandatory pit stop before the final segment. He took no tires and vaulted from seventh to second behind Jimmie Johnson, who also took no tires. That gave Kahne the track position at the front. Greg Biffle, who changed two tires couldn't get by Kahne late in the race and that had Biffle muttering expletives on his radio after the race as to why he could lose to a car that didn't change tires.
Said Johnson: "That track position is everything. We didn't make any adjustment and picked up half a second in speed (at the front).''
That means the 600 could look like what the Texas race looked like last month -- drawn out and one where the leader runs away from the field in a less than exciting event.
"I think there will be passing,'' Biffle said of the 600, "just not probably a lot, I guess.''
We'll see.
# Dale Earnhardt Jr. looked to have a strong car in the middle of the 100-lap event and then he faded and finished eighth.
"That last run I thought we did the right thing getting (four) tires and I still think we did the right thing,'' he said. "Our car wasn't quite as good as it needed to be at the end and even if I had been up front, I don't know how the car would have reacted.
"I'll tell you one thing, I was surprised about how much my car changed from the start of the run to th end of the run in 25 laps. I would go from real tight to real, real loose and we're going to have to run 60 laps in the 600 on gas and you will be hanging on for dear life. It should be a real tough, tough 600. Probably tougher than any other one any of us has ever ran.''
# The all-star race was caution free for the 100 laps (other than in between segments).
"Unbelievable,'' Jeff Gordon said. "I'm shocked. I'm absolutely shocked because I thought I was going to be the first caution in the first corner. I was completely sideways off turn 2 for the first half of the first segment. I had my hands full. I thought for sure other guys would as well.''