The NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race once more offers a slightly altered format this year, one that has drivers competing in four 25-lap segments to make the individual races more equal.

While that lengthens the event and makes all the individual races more equal, it still leaves drivers in an all-out, winner-take-all format for the lone time this season. And drivers applaud that.

Last season, drivers competed in four 20-lap segments. This year's event has been lengthened within each segment, but that won't make too much difference in the long run.

The annual event at Lowe's Motor Speedway offers a unique kind of racing in NASCAR. While some scoff at the concept of an all-star race in a sport where all the drivers race against one another all the time, there's no doubt that the lack of points combined with the short bursts of racing brings something unique to the fans.

Universally, drivers say that is a good thing. Twenty-one drivers have already earned a berth in the field through a formula that includes 2007 and 2008 race winners, past all-star race winners from the previous 10 years and past Cup champions. Another 28 teams will compete in the qualifying race, trying to earn one of the two berths that come from that race. Yet another driver will earn the fan vote into the race.

Then, the real excitement begins.

"My mindset going into this race is totally different than any other," said Hendrick Motorsports' Casey Mears, who earned a berth in last year's race based on his team having a previous win, but is in this year by virtue of his own victory in the Coca-Cola 600. "There's no points on the line here. And the hype is just incredible. The only reason we're there is to win. That's it. There's nothing I'm thinking about but winning that night."

Joe Gibbs Racing's Tony Stewart agrees.

Stewart said that drivers are willing to be a little riskier when making moves - but that one shouldn't go too far.

While everyone wants to win and is willing to drive more aggressively to do so, drivers still want to protect their cars.

“The mindset going into it is that you don’t have to worry about points and you know that everybody is going to be on the edge a little more," Stewart said. "I’m not going to say it’s acceptable to crash cars, but I think a lot of people go into that race knowing that there’s a good possibility that you can get wrecked because guys are going to take more chances than they normally would.”

Yet, it would be easy to overstate the impact of that.

JGR's Denny Hamlin said that a little too much is sometimes made of that desire to win at all costs.

After all, these are still safety-minded drivers who would like to win but also would like to keep the car intact.

So while this is a race where drivers go hard from the drop of the flag, where the shortened distance and lack of penalty toward a championship run come into play, it's not a demolition derby.

It's just a chance for drivers to throw any thoughts of points racing out the window, an event where settling for second instead of taking a risk making a move to win simply doesn't exist.

Still, it's a race - and one drivers plan to drive their cars away from.

"The fact that we aren’t racing for points really changes the race," Hamlin said. "But I think the whole idea that you are throwing caution to the wind is played up a little too much - it almost makes it seem like we are all out there taking it easy on the average weekend. Coming off of Darlington last weekend, I can assure there was nothing easy about it. The fact that we are not racing for points makes a difference when it comes to taking little risks here and there over the course of the race.

"On the average weekend you are on a knife edge a lot, but you have to keep in mind that a DNF will undo a lot of progress. Here you might purposely put the car in a riskier situation, but I can assure you - and all the guys at the shop and [President] J.D. [Gibbs] too - that we’re not in the business of tearing up equipment."