Chase Elliott took a long path to a berth in Saturday night’s NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race. Playing tire strategy perfectly, Biffle started third at the beginning of segment two, passed Austin Dillon for the top spot on lap 26 and pulled away to win by 1.525 seconds. After the Showdown ended it was announced that Elliott and Danica Patrick would advance to the Sprint All-Star Race via the Sprint Fan Vote.
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In Segment 2, Biffle became the second Roush Fenway Racing driver to transfer into the All-Star Race. However, NASCAR penalized Blaney for jumping the restart and the No. 21 Ford was forced to restart 23rd for the second segment.
Danica Patrick didn’t have the greatest morning Saturday at Charlotte Motor Speedway, but it was good enough for her to race again Saturday night. Larson got off pit road after a mandatory two-tire stop before the start before the final 10-lap sprint to the finish.
“There was a tiny hole and we got a good restart”, Bayne said. “I thought that would be our best shot”, Bayne said, who made his second All-Star appearance”.
“Good to get some laps and know what not to do”, he said. He led the opening segment until Trevor Bayne caught him at the line and was now running down Kyle Larson in the third. He jumped out clear of the field, but as the closing laps wound down, Elliott, on four fresh tires after his pit stop, was coming.
“Brian Pattie is a very, very smart veteran crew chief in this sport and it was his call”, Biffle said. Only two rookies have ever won the all-star race – Dale Earnhardt Jr.in 2000 and Ryan Newman in 2002. “It is really nice to have a teammate like that that will choose to work with you when it may not be in his best interest, so I really appreciate”. “Obviously wish I could’ve gotten us in racing our way, but fortunately have some great fans to do that for us”.
Elliott wasn’t mad at Larson, but was visibly frustrated with himself for making mistakes during the course of the Showdown. At one point, he made a top to bottom slice, narrowly squeezing between Blaney and Allmendinger to gain a position. Elliott moved to Larson’s outside, then was slammed between Larson’s vehicle and the wall.
Chase got to my inside there with two (laps) to go and I was able to run him pretty hard there … was hoping I could hold him because I knew he was going to get the fan vote.
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“I’m sure Chase is upset with me and has all of the reason in the world to be, but hey, we are racing for a million bucks and I haven’t had a chance to do that before”, Larson said. “I had a really good run off of four”. After leading 19 – and the most laps of any of the 25 cars, Gustafson replied, “Yeah, that’s of little consolation”. For the final lap, Elliott chose the outside and as the two raced off the fourth turn the cars banged several times, rubbing sheet metal, smoke flying the entire way before Larson edged Elliott at the flag.
