CONCORD, N.C. --- Part of the festivities during Saturday night's Sprint All-Star Race is a special burnout competition among selected drivers.

Younger drivers love to do doughnuts and spin their tires after wins, but most veterans still like to make traditional victory laps.

Oddly enough, the man credited with starting the burnout craze is 49-year-old truck racer Ron Hornaday Jr .

"I think Hornaday probably started it back in about '98," said burnout contestant Kevin Harvick .

"The first one I remember was probably in Memphis, and then (Dale ) Earnhardt banned him from doing it because it was tearing everything up."

Harvick said drivers should get bonus points for blowing out tires or, better yet, setting them on fire.

"Really the only one that's really impressed me, probably the best one that I've seen is probably the (Jack ) Sprague burnout. It was probably 2001 when all the tires caught on fire. I think it was 2001 at Richmond," Harvick said. "That was probably the coolest one that I've seen."

Mark Martin said burnouts are disrespectful to the people who build the cars and engines.

"I slid a little bit in the grass at Charlotte in 2002 when we won the Coke 600 over the Coke logo that was in the grass," he said. "I don't see me doing a burnout ever."

Therefore, he won't be in the contest.

HAMLIN ON THE MEND: Denny Hamlin 's hip hurts.

And it's not the result of a crash.

Hamlin hurt his leg playing basketball.

Although he has clauses in his contract that prohibit him from doing anything else dangerous away from racing, he said he's allowed to play basketball.

"I think (car owner Joe Gibbs ) accepts it all right," Hamlin said. "It's kind of one of those deals: if you're going to do and be dumb, you've got to be tough."

Hamlin said he was hurt after getting his legs cut from under him while driving to the basket.

"I play aggressive just like I do anything else that I do. I'm competitive, so I want to win. I think in that particular situation my team was down a couple of points, so I'm going to give it all I got to try to get a win," he said.

HOME SWEET HOME: Most drivers live within 90 minutes of Lowe's Motor Speedway, so most will be staying home the next two weeks.

That includes Martin, who lives in Daytona Beach, Fla.

Martin plans to fly his jet between Lowe's Motor Speedway and his home every day.

"I'll go back," he said. "It's only an hour and a half to my house. For me it's just like someone else jumping in their car and driving up to Greensboro (N.C.)."