The only thing that mattered on Saturday night was winning. Points, cars nothing else mattered and that is exactly what Jimmie Johnson did driving his No. 48 car to a win in the Sprint All-Star race.
NASCAR’s annual All-Star race is made up of five segments with a mandatory pit stop before the last. The first four segments are twenty laps with the last being a ten lap mad dash with only green laps counted. The final pit stop order onto pit road was determined by average finish in the first four segments.
Carl Edwards began the race on the pole but Kurt Busch stormed to the front of the field to lead the first lap. On lap three the transmission of Brad Keselowski broke ending his night. On lap eight ran began to fall on the track and cars made pit-stops. By lap 11 the red flag dropped. Kurt Busch would lead the remainder of the segment before a caution at the completion of the 20th lap.
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Clint Bowyer snuck past Busch on lap 22 for the lead. The third caution came out after Ricky Stenhouse bounced off the wall and forced Mark Martin down the track. Kyle Busch would eventually cruise to the segment win. While the majority of cars hit pit road Edwards, Bowyer and Martin stayed out moving to the front of the field for the start of segment three.
Martin, Edwards and Bowyer all faded to the back as Kyle Busch re-assumed the lead early in the third segment and won the segment ahead of brother Kurt.
After pit stops Kasey Kahne started the fourth segment in the lead. Contact between Greg Biffle and Dale Earnhardt forced Biffle to the pits and brought out a caution.Kurt Busch would go on to win the segment ahead of Kahne and Johnson. Kurt Busch would lead the field onto pit road for the final pit stop ahead of Kyle Busch.
Kasey Kahne would lead the field out of the pits for the final segment. Kahne and Johnson traded barbs for the lead but in the end it was Johnson first to the line winning his second consecutive All-Star race. He becomes the second driver (Davey Allison) to win the event back-to-back. He has a record four All-Star wins
Unofficial Results for the Sprint All-Star Race
Pos | Driver | Car # | Make | Started |
1 | Jimmie Johnson | 48 | Chevrolet | 18 |
2 | Joey Logano | 22 | Ford | 5 |
3 | Kyle Busch | 18 | Toyota | 4 |
4 | Kasey Kahne | 5 | Chevrolet | 9 |
5 | Kurt Busch | 78 | Chevrolet | 2 |
6 | Denny Hamlin | 11 | Toyota | 7 |
7 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | 88 | Chevrolet | 15 |
8 | Jamie McMurray | 1 | Chevrolet | 20 |
9 | Matt Kenseth | 20 | Toyota | 16 |
10 | Carl Edwards | 99 | Ford | 1 |
11 | Kevin Harvick | 29 | Chevrolet | 19 |
12 | Jeff Gordon | 24 | Chevrolet | 10 |
13 | Ryan Newman | 39 | Chevrolet | 11 |
14 | Tony Stewart | 14 | Chevrolet | 13 |
15 | Greg Biffle | 16 | Ford | 3 |
16 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 17 | Ford | 21 |
17 | Marcos Ambrose | 9 | Ford | 17 |
18 | Clint Bowyer | 15 | Toyota | 6 |
19 | David Ragan | 34 | Ford | 14 |
20 | Danica Patrick | 10 | Chevrolet | 22 |
21 | Mark Martin | 55 | Toyota | 8 |
22 | Brad Keselowski | 2 | Ford | 12 |