One of the unique activities race fans can participate in throughout race week in Charlotte is the annual Sprint Cup Fan Vote. This allows the fans to vote a driver into the All-Star Race if that driver didn’t make the All-Star Race through the criteria set by NASCAR, or didn’t finish in the top two of the Sprint Showdown race. The fan vote played a major role in the outcome of the 2008 All-Star Race.

A.J. Allmendinger and Sam Hornish, Jr. transferred into the 2008 All-Star Race by virtue of their first and second-place finishes in the Sprint Showdown. Then the announcement came that Kasey Kahne had won the fan vote and would be in the million dollar event.

Kahne started 24th and methodically worked his way through the field, taking fuel only on the last stop. Holding off Greg Biffle for the checkered flag, Kahne became the first, and so far only, driver to win the prestigious All-Star Race after getting in the show based on the fan vote.

We'll have to wait until later tonight to see if the fans select the winner in 2011.

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