Larson Claims Second All-Star Race Victory

The NASCAR All-Star race is a race like no other in the season. It is a non-points-paying, exhibition race that features only the best drivers from the NASCAR Cup Series. These include only full-time drivers that have either won a championship, won the All-Star race in the past, or won a race in 2020 or 2021. The final 4 positions are reserved for 3 drivers to race their way in during the ‘open’ heat and 1 driver voted in by the fans. This year, it was Ross Chastain, Tyler Reddick, and Aric Almirola who raced in, while Matt DiBenedetto scored the fan vote. The format and rules change every season to keep the race new and exciting, but the one thing that remains the same is the $1,000,000 prize awarded to the winner.

This year, the race format was more confusing than ever:

• After Round 1: The top 12 finishers were inverted.
• After Round 2: The entire field was inverted.
• After Round 3: The top 9 finishers were inverted.
• After Round 4: The field was set by cumulative finish from the first four rounds. The driver with the best/lowest cumulative finish started Round 5 from the pole.
• After Round 5: The field remained in finishing order from Round 4

LAP 1: Kyle Larson started in pole position and led the field to green. Second-place starter, Kyle Busch, was side-by-side with Larson past the start-finish line, however Larson eventually pulled ahead.

CAUTION – LAP 6: The #20 Toyota of Christopher Bell spun in Turn 1, but managed to save the car before picking up any damage or involving other drivers. Nevertheless, the caution was thrown.

ROUND 1 END – LAP 15: Larson won the first round but restarted 12th due to the inversion. Instead, the #12 of Ryan Blaney was in the top spot for the restart.

ROUND 2 END – LAP 30: Blaney managed to hold on the lead for the entirety of the round. However, as per this year’s rules, the whole field was inverted, which put Blaney in 21st and Aric Almirola in P1.

LAP 35: Alex Bowman in the #48 got past Almirola and Michael McDowell to take the lead.

ROUND 3 END – LAP 45: Bowman held on to win the 3rd round. When th top 9 drivers inverted, it was Bowman’s teammate, William Byron, in the lead to start Round 4.

ROUND 4 END – LAP 60: Byron won the segment without much of a challenge. As previously mentioned, the starting lineup for the 5th round was determined by the lowest cumulative finish, which allowed Byron to stay in the lead, followed by his teammates Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott in 2nd and 3rd respectively.

LAP 76: As per this year’s rules, all 21 teams had to make a mandatory green-flag pit stop consisting of 4-tires and fuel. When the Hendrick Motorsports drivers of Byron, Larson, Elliott, and Bowman came down pit road, it was Elliott’s #9 team who made the fastest stop of the night and put him out ahead of his teammates.

CAUTION – LAP 79: The yellow flag waved for the #42 of Ross Chastain, who was turned by the #6 of Ryan Newman while racing for position.

ROUND 5 END – LAP 90: Chase Elliott held on to the top spot, despite William Byron’s aggressive attempts to overtake him, and won the round. There was no lineup change for the 10-lap shootout to the end of the race, meaning Elliott and Byron restarted on the front row with Larson and the #2 of Brad Keselowski behind them.

CHECKERED FLAG – LAP 100: Kyle Larson was able to hustle past Elliott and Byron in the opening laps of the final round, and hold off Keselowski to claim his second All-Star Race victory of his career, having won the event in 2019.

RESULTS:

1. Kyle Larson
2. Brad Keselowski
3. Chase Elliott
4. Joey Logano
5. Ryan Blaney
6. Alex Bowman
7. William Byron
8. Aric Almirola
9. Kyle Busch
10. Kurt Busch
11. Christopher Bell
12. Michael McDowell
13. Martin Truex Jr
14. Cole Custer
15. Kevin Harvick
16. Tyler Reddick
17. Matt DiBenedetto
18. Ross Chastain
19. Austin Dillon
20. Ryan Newman
21. Denny Hamlin