It took a determined drive in Stage Two of the preliminary Monster Energy Open at Charlotte Motor Speedway to do it, but by winning that segment Ryan Blaney put his No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane team back in NASCAR’s All-Star race for the first time since 2012.
It took Kyle Busch 12 years to win the Monster Energy All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, but one move on Brad Keselowski in Saturday's final segment did the job.
After securing a spot in the Monster Energy All-Star race with his victory at Talladega, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. battled with an ill-handling machine ultimately forcing him to settle with a 14th-place finish in Saturday night’s feature.
Ryan Newman Cuts Down Right-Front Tire Costing Caterpillar/Grainger Team a Transfer Spot in Final Stage of the All-Star Race "It was a mixed bag for us tonight in the Caterpillar/Grainger Chevrolet. In the first stage, I was making my way up through the field when I messed up a lap and it cost us a few spots. We needed to start making a move to the front in Stage 2 to help our chances of making it into the final stage 10-car shootout."
In his first All-Star appearance, Kyle Larson won two race segments in his No. 42 Target Chevrolet SS en route to a second-place finish in the 34th annual All-Star race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Larson won two of the four-race segments in the event, but got mired on the final restart and was unable to make it back to the top spot.
Recap: Brad Keselowski and the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion team started seventh and finished ninth in Saturday night’s NASCAR All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The 2012 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion fought a loose racecar during the first 20-lap segment while having a fierce battle with the No. 41 of Kurt Busch and the No. 20 of Matt Kenseth in the opening laps.
Toyota driver Kyle Busch won his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Saturday’s NASCAR All-Star race. It was also his first All-Star race victory.
A handling problem with the No. 78 5-hour ENERGY Extra Strength Toyota Camry in the first of the four-stage NASCAR All-Star race Saturday night prevented Martin Truex Jr. from transferring to the 10-driver, 10-lap final stage and a chance to win the $1 million prize.
RYAN BLANEY – No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion – YOU TRIED TWO TIRES AT THE END OF STAGE 2. “It’s really the only strategy we’ve got. You can’t pass anywhere. It’s not great track conditions, to be honest with you. It’s just on the bottom. We had to try something to get our average up or try to win a stage and that’s what we tried.” YOU STARTED WITH THE OPTION TIRES. HOW DID THAT WORK? “We got a few rows on the start and then things got jumbled up and we went back to where we started. That was kind of the end of it.”
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET SS – Finished 2nd: WAS THE RESTART THE DIFFERENCE AT THE FINISH? “No, I think the difference. My pit crew has been awesome all year and I don’t want to take anything away from them. We came down pit road the leader and three people passed us, that was pretty much the difference there. But, in ten laps, track position is huge."
Josh Berry and the No. 21 eero team return to EchoPark Speedway this weekend for the Quaker State 400 after producing several strong performances at the track in recent seasons.
The event highlighted the history of North Wilkesboro Speedway as the first points Cup series race in 30 years returns to the historic track next weekend
The 2020 Cup Series champion from Dawsonville, Georgia, will make his first Truck start in three years and drive the No. 7 entry for Spire Motorsports at North Wilkesboro Speedway (July 18).
Noah Gragson and the No. 4 team head to the EchoPark Speedway in Hampton, Georgia, hoping to improve from a 27th-place finish at Chicagoland Speedway last week.
For the first time this season, the NASCAR Cup and O’Reilly Auto Parts Series will make a return visit to a venue as the sport’s top-two divisions head back south for a pair of events under the lights at EchoPark Speedway.
