Joey Logano is $1 million richer after winning his first NASCAR All-Star Race on Saturday at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
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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.
Note: The Sprint All-Star race is a 113-lap nonpoints event run in three stages, with the victor taking home $1 million.
While leaving Charlotte Motor Speedway, Olsen found the ideal opportunity to have a little fun with the situation.
Stewart, who missed the first eight races of this season with a back injury and also crashed hard last weekend at Dover, seemed fine as he climbed from his smoking vehicle. “It promoted a lot of racing, hard racing, and I thought it was great”.
The incident resulted in angry and confused drivers, because NASCAR did not let the cars Kenseth had trapped one lap down return to the lead lap with the typical wave-around policy. But a late caution meant closed pits and Kenseth, the only driver who had not pitted, became a lame duck leader at the end of 50 laps.
“I tell you, Larson is a hard racer”.
Logano called the final laps “a insane battle”.
“I hope everybody understands this race better than I did from the cockpit because ever since the first tire pit in that first segment, I have no idea what was going on”, Kenseth said. There would be two 50-lap segments followed by a final 13-lag segment to decide the victor.
Because he failed to stop, Kenseth was penalized one lap, which then created a scoring snafu with some drivers unexpectedly a lap down but still permitted to pit with those on the lead lap during the break between Segment 1 and 2.
It’s the first time in his career Crafton has won back-to-back races.
“I’ve never been this confused in a race vehicle my entire life”, Kenseth said, per Pockrass.
Unfortunately, the complex race format – and NASCAR’s officiating of a fluke circumstance – overshadowed what was actually good racing. With rain throughout the All-Star Race weekend, the 15 heading into the weekend already in the All-Star Race only got 14 minutes of practice time Saturday morning.
“Awesome race”, Logano said, per Gluck. Larson took the lead from Keselowski with about five laps remaining in the second segment. Several drivers were heard on radio asking their crew chiefs for clarification on what was happening on the track and only met with a “wish we knew” type of answer.
INDYCAR: James Hinchcliffe, a Canadian driver who almost died last year from a leg injury sustained during practice for the Indianapolis 500, survived two challenges in the final 25 minutes of qualifying for this year’s race and barely held onto the top seed with a speed of 230.946 miles per hour.
Larson brought his damaged vehicle to pit road as Logano sped to the win. He said the sanctioning body was “disappointed” that it didn’t anticipate a scenario like the one that developed with Kenseth.
In the end, drivers, competitors, viewers and even commentators on occasion were perplexed in trying to figure out the proceedings of the race.
Then there was no way to undo the misstep, and the race format – which had counted on as many as 20 cars on the lead lap heading into the final segment – didn’t go according to plan (there were only 13 lead-lap cars). Kyle Larson was second, less than two-tenths of a second short of his first Sprint Cup victory. He wound finish 16th in the 2016 Sprint All-Star Race.
Earlier it was Larson, the kid who now sports a waifish beard, emerging victorious in a showdown with young counterpart Elliott in one of the afternoon’s qualifying races, postponed from Friday due to rain. It is fair to say that most drivers and teams hadn’t quite grasped the new format.
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The lineup for Segment 1 is determined by qualifying run earlier Saturday night.
