Denny Hamln pits during the Sprint All-Star Race at Lowe's Motor Speedway. (John Harrelson/Getty Images Photo) » More Photos

ENGINES DOOM JGR All three of the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camrys suffered engine failures this weekend, with Tony Stewart having to change motors after practice Friday, and Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin both losing motors while in the lead of NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race XXIV. The JGR teams were running experimental engine combinations, which produced prodigious horsepower levels, but ultimately failed.

“This is definitely experimental ‘All-Star only’ racing,” said Hamlin. “We came out here with our guns loaded and unfortunately our gun went off a little bit before the end of the race. It just wasn’t enough. We knew this engine wasn’t going to go 500 miles. It was built for just a few more laps past 100 and it just didn’t make it.”

“You want to go out there and you want to win and with a car that good that was capable of winning,” said Busch. “If we were running second or third to somebody that was dominating like us or running like us that wouldn’t have hurt as bad. It’s just unfortunate for all of us. Not just me but the team. These guys wanted to win just as bad. We missed out tonight. It just wasn’t our night and hopefully we can come back for the 600.”

’DINGER THRILLED While Kasey Kahne was the big winner in the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race XXIV, the second-happiest man at Lowe’s Motor Speedway on Saturday night had to be AJ Allmendinger, who won the Sprint Showdown qualifying race. Allmendinger, who began the year with three consecutive DNQs and was replaced for five races by Mike Skinner before being reinstated to the No. 84 Red Bull Racing Toyota, was positively giddy after winning the prelim race.

“I feel like I won the Daytona 500,” said Allmendinger. “Nobody understands how much this means to me after what we went through as a team. It may be just an All-Star Showdown, but this means the world to me. These guys – everybody at Red Bull Racing Team and Toyota – they’ve stuck behind me.”

GLAD TO BE HERE Juan Pablo Montoya is an Indianapolis 500 winner and his car owner Chip Ganassi swept the top two qualifying spots for this year’s Indy classic. But Montoya is still convinced that moving to NASCAR was the right decision for him. “I only ran (Indy) once,” Montoya said Saturday at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. “I’d rather be here than there to tell you the truth.”

Montoya said a lot of open-wheel adherents are coming around to realizing what kind of environment NASCAR offers racers. “When Chip hired me, that showed people that anyone is really welcome here,” said Montoya. “If you perform, you’re welcome here. Everybody received me with arms open and it’s been an awesome experience. I think people want to try it. They see grandstands here every week are full. The racing itself is so good. I think that everything that I lived and done has been a lot of fun. But right now, for where I am, I wouldn’t change it for anything.”

NOT QUITE ENOUGH David Ragan arguably has been the most improved driver in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series this year, but he came up heartbreakingly short of transferring into the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race XXIV by finishing third in the Sprint Showdown race. Only the top-two finishers in the showdown transferred into the main event.

“When it counted we just weren’t that good,” said a clearly disappointed Ragan. “We just got tight. We started out just a hair on the free side and we thought that would be pretty good. … I was having to slow down way too much to get the car turned, so it’s something we can learn from and, hopefully, some of our teammates can benefit tonight. … Third on any weekend would be great, but tonight it might as well be dead last.”