Among the 41 drivers eligible for the wildcard spot are a number of fan favorites, including Jeff Burton, Kasey Kahne, Sterling Marlin, Jamie McMurray, Kyle Petty and Ken Schraeder.

The ballot also includes several drivers not currently racing full-time in the Cup series. This category includes John Andretti, Ward Burton, Ricky Craven, Bill Elliott, Brendan Gaughan, Jimmy Spencer, Martin Truex, Jr., and Kenny Wallace.

In addition, Carl Edwards and Kevin Harvick are listed on the official ballot, although both have qualified for this year's event by virtue of a 2005 Cup victory.

By including fan voting in the All-Star Challenge, NASCAR follows in the footsteps of other high-profile sports such as Major League Baseball and NBA basketball, who have involved fans in the process of choosing all-star participants for years.

Fans who vote will also gain entry into a sweepstakes sponsored by Nextel. One grand-prize winner will receive a dream prize package for four to the 2005 Nextel All-Star challenge event weekend in Charlotte. This includes four tickets to the All-Star race, four tickets to the Craftsman Truck Series race, VIP access to pre-and post-race events and $50,000 cash. The grand-prize winner will fly in a helicopter to the track, ride in the pace car, wave the green flag as the honorary starter and meet some of the drivers. There are also thousands of instant-win prizes, including Nextel camera phones, gift bags including a hat, souvenir pin and t-shirt, and NASCAR 2005 Record and Fact Books.

New this year is a Pit Crew Challenge to be held May 19th at the Charlotte Coliseum. The event will match up several of NASCAR's top crews in a fast-paced skills competition involving seven different tasks.

Ken Schrader won the All-Star Challenge fan vote last year and competed in the race, finishing 13th after a 24th-place qualifying run. As is the case for many celebrities who win a fan vote, Schrader expressed both surprise and gratitude for his selection. "What an honor it was to be voted into the Nextel All-Star Challenge," he stated. "It just caught me off guard."

Interestingly, every winner of the past five All-Star races was involved in the inaugural Chase for the Championship last year. These include Matt Kenseth (2004), Jimmie Johnson (2003), Ryan Newman (2002), Jeff Gordon (2001) and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (2000). The 2005 All-Star Challenge provides an exciting lead-in to the Coca-Cola 600 race, which follows at the same track on Memorial Day weekend. It may also foreshadow at least one of this year's Chase contenders.

There are several ways to participate in the All-Star voting and sweepstakes. Fans may log onto www.nextel.com/allstar and after registering, may return once per day to enter. You may also obtain an official voting ballot at Nextel retail locations, the Nextel Experience at track, or at Nextel Racing Experience events. In addition, Nextel customers may text message their vote over their Nextel phones. Complete details and contest rules are available at the above website.

The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN. Although we may not always agree with what is said, we do feel it's our duty to give a voice to those who have something relevant to say about the sport of auto racing.