CONCORD, N.C. --- Until series sponsor Sprint, NASCAR and Lowe's Motor Speedway come up with the perfect balance between competition and entertainment, stock car's all-star event will continue to tinker with its format.

Saturday night's Sprint All-Star Race will be the 23rd time NASCAR has invited former race and series champions. With the move to a four-segment race, it marks at least 15 changes to the format.

Most still don't know what changes were scheduled for this year. For drivers, no matter how many ways race organizers change the way it picks an all-star winner, their job never changes. The only real strategy is to drive like a madman.

"I don't care if they change the format," said Jeff Burton, one of 21 automatic qualifiers into Saturday's main event (9 p.m., SPEED).

"However, I think the format should produce good racing. When I say good racing, I think it needs to be a reasonable-length race so the fans and drivers can see some exciting racing. I think that a driver that has one bad lap should have a chance to come back and still win. I think shorter races create more excitement because the longer the runs, the more the cars get spread out. At the same time, you have to be careful and not make the segments too short."

Not too long; not too short. Just right.

The race started in 1985 and it's been a work in progress since. It's been divided into segments. There have been timeouts, inversions and rock concerts breaking up the action. Drivers have been added to the all-star lineup based on results of a special qualifying race among nonqualifiers. Others have been included based on fan votes.

The top two finishers from the Sprint Showdown for nonwinners will get into the all-star race, as will the winner of a fan vote.

Once they're on the track, the race will have four 25-lap segments. If drivers pit after the first segment, they will lose their track position. Everyone will stop after the second segment and retain their spots in the running order. Every car is required to stop to change at least two tires after the third segment, and the running order will be based on the order cars leave pit road.

The driver out front after the fourth segment will earn at least $1 million.

"I have no idea what this year's format is," Kyle Busch said. "I don't know if it changed from last year. It's always different. Something always changes."

No matter the format, drivers seem to like the all-star race. First, it's within an hour to most of their homes and race shops. Second, the results don't count in the Sprint Cup standings. Third, it's a big payday.

"The All-Star race is all about the money; there are no points on the line," Greg Biffle said. "So, we'll take a little more risk for reward, because we know that there's not a lot on the line. Let's face it, we have 26 opportunities to make the Chase (for the Championship), and we have to take every one of those very seriously. This doesn't count as that.

"This is a Saturday night race, what we've all done our whole career, lots of money on the line. ... So, you'll take a little more risk. You'll drive it on the edge. Look at the length of the race. It's not that 500-mile race. It's go from the green to checkered."

Kevin Harvick won last year's race. Jeff Gordon is tied with Dale Earnhardt with three all-star wins. His wins came in 1995, 1997 and 2001 -- years he also won the series championship.

"You just go out there and have fun and race hard," he said. "You hope it puts on a great race for the fans because that is really what it is all about, it's sort of giving back to the fans for their support and everything that they do for us."