Joey Logano passed fellow competitor Kyle Larson and his #42 Target Ford Fusion in the final laps of in NASCAR’s All-Star racing showdown on Saturday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The victory notched the #22 Shell Penzoil Ford Fusion’s team a $1,000,000 dollar cash out. The only problem is that confusion hung over the new race format like a dark cloud for all of the drivers in the 20 car field.
The Sprint Cup Series went to a new format of two 50 lap segments that required mandatory green flag pit stops during the segments. That caused mass confusion when the caution flag flew near the end of the first segment. Many experienced and seasoned drivers voiced their opinion after the event was completed. Including the outspoken Tony Stewart.
“It’s the dumbest damn thing I’ve ever been a part of,” three-time Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart said, after getting caught up in an accident where he felt he should have been higher in the field if not for how NASCAR scored him.
Even race winner Joey Logano expressed his thoughts on the confusing rules that attempted to bring more action to the NASCAR fans.
“I was confused,” Joey Logano said. “All I know is if there is a car in front of me, I probably should pass him. That’s kind of where my head was. It doesn’t have to be as complicated as you think it is.”
Confusion once again reared it’s angry head late into the race. Many NASCAR enthusiasts speculated that Kyle Busch sped on pit road on purpose so he would be one of the drivers not allowed to pit before the 13 lap race to finish. He looked at such a suggestion as if it were a crazy notion, but it was obvious that Jimmy Johnson actually sandbagged so he would have used tires at the end of the segment.
Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch’s strategy back-fired on them when both racers restarted the last 13 lap segment in front of the drivers with four newer tires. The top 11 drivers were told they had to come into the pits and get those fresh tires before that final segment. The Sprint Cup officials had told the drivers it would either be the first nine, 10 or 11 drivers who would have to pit for fresh tires.
When NASCAR eventually got to the point of its final 13 circuits showdown, everything was a mess in the contest that included only 20 Sprint Cup Series drivers. The Drivers were required to pit under green flag conditions in the first 50 lap opening segment before the last three laps remained.
When the caution came out with four to go, the #20 Dollar General driven by Matt Kenseth had not pitted and ended up being held a lap back for not doing the stop. The Joe Gibbs owned Toyota Camry had lapped so many cars by not pitting, eight cars were already a lap down at the start of the second segment.
“I’ve never been this confused in a race car my entire life,” Kenseth said. “So I hope everybody watching understands because I have no idea what happened ever since the first car pitted. … I can’t say I don’t like this format. I don’t just don’t know what the heck was going on.”
NASCAR’s senior vice president for competition, Scott Miller, said NASCAR tried to anticipate all the on-track scenarios but didn’t anticipate that a racer would want to stay out until the last moment in the first segment and trapping other drivers a lap down. The competitors who stayed out eventually had to serve a penalty themselves.
“It’s something that we certainly, if we continue on with this format, we have to look at,” Miller said. “But you have to expect that certain circumstances are going to happen in this type of race, and we had one crop up tonight that maybe we could have been a little bit more ready for and weren’t. It was a very unique situation, and we did not in our race procedures have a mechanism to correct that.”
After all the dust cleared and the cars were re-started with 13 turns around the track to go, it was Kyle Larson who found himself out front of the field. Larson was doing his best to block the faster car of Joey Logano in the closing laps of the final segment of the race.
With two to go, Larson drove his car deep into Turn 1 as Joey Logano edged ahead. Larson’s No. 42 Chevrolet got loose and moved it’s way up the track into the outside wall with a little less than two circuits left. Logano then took the lead for good and drove on to victory.
The Target sponsored hot-rod of Kyle Larson’s contact with the wall on the second to last lap opened the door for Logano’s Team Penske teammate, Brad Keselowski. The # 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion finished second just 1.142 seconds behind the race winner. Dale Earnhardt Jr. came home third, followed by Joe Gibbs Racing’s Carl Edwards in fourth and , Kurt Busch finished in fifth place.
Final Running Order for the All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway:
1. (8) Joey Logano, Ford, 113.
2. (6) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 113.
3. (10) Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Chevrolet, 113.
4. (4) Carl Edwards, Toyota, 113.
5. (3) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 113.
6. (7) Chase Elliott ‥, Chevrolet, 113.
7. (15) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 113.
8. (20) Greg Biffle, Ford, 113.
9. (12) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 113.
10. (2) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 113.
11. (1) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 113.
12. (5) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 113.
13. (14) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 113.
14. (9) Martin Truex, Jr., Toyota, 113.
15. (19) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, 113.
16. (18) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, Accident, 111.
17. (13) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 110.
18. (11) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, Accident, 71.
19. (16) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, Accident, 71.
20. (17) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, Accident, 70.
