Team Penske’s Joey Logano got the better of Kyle Larson to secure his maiden win at the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race in Charlotte.
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The cars with four new tyres lined up behind those with older tyres, and while the format was supposed to entice a wreck, or come-from-behind victories, Johnson and Kyle Busch among others were quickly out of the race lead on the older tyres by the time the field reached the backstretch.
If nothing else, it will be an All-Star race that will be remembered for years to come, although not necessarily for the right reasons.
Logano didn’t get the hole shot on the final 13-lap shootout, but he would track down the very fast Kyle Larson and make the race-winning pass with just 2 laps to go.
The Stewart-Haas Racing driver said the body of her vehicle hit the pavement too much during the race, which was run without any practice and then rescheduled from Friday night because of rain.
Think about it! It was the incentive of being in The All-Star race that caused Trevor Bayne to go three wide and force the issue for the surprise win in the first segment and it was the added incentive that had Chase Elliot and Kyle Larson to bang doors to the finish line in the third segment.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. ridiculed NASCAR early in the race. “It’s an exhibition event where we lay everything on the line for a million bucks, so any format will make the drivers get up on the wheel and throw caution to the wind”. But then somebody brought up the fact that the complete chaos that’s going to ensue when they drop the green flag, you might be better off being in the back with fresher tires because I believe some people are going to be wrecking. They were just doing it unlike any other way I’d seen them do it before. “He had a big run on me (on turn four)”.
“It’s the dumbest damn thing I’ve ever been a part of”, Tony Stewart said after crashing out. Most editions of the event over the last few years turned into a race to Turn 1; whoever snatched the lead in the final segment used clean air and hard tires to zoom off for an uncontested victory.
“I don’t know how you can get much more compelling racing than what we saw today, so they need to get unconfused and enjoy the racing”, Keselowski said.
Those scenarios Junior mentioned happened in the first segment of the race.
Most drivers who pitted halfway through the segment took four on their second mandatory stop and, as a result, came off pit road behind those who took two.
Matt Kenseth waited too long.
The caution flag meant the segment ended under yellow and since Kenseth didn’t pit under green, he was penalized a lap by the rules of the race.
The scoring confusion is the only explanation for the craziness that ensued.
While NASCAR did a great job of creating excitement and intense action in the final 13 lap segment of the race, which was in large part due to the inversion of the field and the new mandatory pit stop rule, The Showdown still put on a better overall racing product then the Sprint All Star race did.
Speaking after the race Scott Miller, NASCAR senior vice president of competition, admitted that the caution that led to Kenseth’s penalty is something that could have been address with different rules. “It’s something we have to look at if we continue on with this format”.
Biffle made it two-for-two for Roush-Fenway Fords before the thrilling, fender-bending finish in the finale. A green-flag pit stop was required during each of the first two, 50-lap segments. There will then be a draw to determine whether the first nine, 10 or 11 cars will have to do a four-tire pit stop during the break while the remaining cars will not be allowed to pit. “We had one crop up (Saturday night) that maybe we could have been more ready for”. The smart play, it seemed, was to wait until late in the segment, stop for two tires, finish it off and then pit between segments for the other two, thus entering the next segment with nearly new rubber all the way around the auto.
“It was a lot of fun as a driver tonight to be able to move up the racetrack and find speed”.
Three segment-winning drivers – Trevor Bayne, Greg Biffle and Kyle Larson – advanced out of the Showdown as well as fan vote victor Chase Elliott and runner-up Patrick. Had McMurray not spun, there’s probably minimal complaints.
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There were several passes for the lead. The sport where the wackiest and most freakish scenarios nearly always seem to come true.
