As fireworks illuminate the sky, Carl Edwards destroyed the No. 99 while spinning through the infield grass in pure excitement. His back flip and jubilant celebration landed a perfect 10. As Edwards is the eighth different driver to win the All-Star race in recent years. To celebrate the win, Edwards climbed into the grandstands to celebrate as his Aflac Ford Fusion sat idle in the grass. It was officially a checkers or wreckers moment for Edwards who couldn’t contain his excitement.

[media-credit name=”Brad Keppel” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]Edwards’s machine struck a man-hole in the front-lawn destroying the machine. This is Edwards’s first win in the All-Star race. In an impromptu victory lane due to the car’s post-race condition, Edwards exclaimed ‘We just won a million dollars! It’s unbelievable!” And while the team celebrates Jack Roush offered Edwards a chance to work on the car, after all “anytime you have grass on the windshield after the race it’s not good.” Edwards said. He will also be declining Roush’s offer as he heads to Iowa to compete in Sunday’s Nationwide race.

Kyle Busch came home in second place and flat out admits the team just got beat. “There at the end, we just ran out of time,” he said with grin. When asked how frustrating second place would be, he reminded the media that this high-powered weapon will be his back-up arsenal in next week’s 600 mile gunfight.

David Reutimann finished third, after his pit crew performed extraordinarily well on that final stop. Smiling from ear to ear, in post race interviews Reutimann said “We didn’t start very good, we just kept plugging away on it. The deciding factor was that last pitstop.” Credit was given to the Toyota team for their strong performance.

Ford dominated the All-Star event, and became the only winning manufacture racing under the lights Saturday night.

In the first 50-lap segment, Greg Biffle took the lead from resident Bad Boy and polesitter Kyle Busch on lap four. Biffle’s Roush Fenway Ford was joined at the front of the field with teammate Carl Edwards. Following lap 25, teams were required to make a green-flag pitstop vetting the pit crews against each other once again. A few adjustments, a change of tires and some gasoline and just as quickly the cars returned to the track in an almost identical order.

The remainder of the first segment went without incident. Biffle led 46 laps and earned $25,000 at the segments conclusion. Kurt Busch, while complaining about his cars handling earned the lucky dog position. Pit strategy under caution placed Carl Edwards at the front of the field with Kasey Kahne to the outside.

On the move was RFR teammate David Ragan, who transferred in from the Showdown. The first caution for an on-track incident flew when Kasey Kahne struck the wall in turn one. Another round of pit stops saw only the back half of the field hit pit road.

Back to green, Jimmie Johnson lined up to the inside of Edwards in his No. 5 machine celebrating the Lowe’s promotion of an everyday 5% discount for cardholder’s. And just like that, Johnson led the field at a track where he had great success. But Edwards wasn’t allowing Johnson to steal his thunder. He charged back to the front and reclaimed the top spot at the end of the second segment.

Ready for the third race segment, another 20-laps, Edwards, who did not pit will lead the field to the green with Kyle Busch to his outside. ‘Big Daddy’ Jeff Gordon was in third while Biffle held down fourth.

Kyle ‘Rowdy’ Busch jumped out front, while Edwards fell to third. Gordon claimed second place temporarily. Reagan Smith delivered a crowd pleasing spin to bring out the caution. His No. 78 machine went high on the track, and spun downward. He did not collect any others cars, but kissed the inside wall ever so slightly. This was Smith’s first appearance in the All-Star event.

With $125,000 to the winner of the third segment on the table, Busch lined up with three-time All-Star winner Jeff Gordon to his outside. With only 12 laps remaining in the third segment, Busch pulled away from the field while Gordon backed up. Tony Stewart brought his Burger King Chevrolet into the top 5.

Carl Edwards powered his way to the inside of Busch and took the lead without question. Edwards would lead Busch through the end of the third segment. After a 10-minute break, the final segment showcased the pit crew talents. A mandatory four-tire stop determined the final line-up for a 10-lap dash to the cash. Out of the pits, Edwards retained the top spot, followed by Busch, Biffle, Matt Kenseth and David Reutimann. With three Fords in the top five, it is important to note that the Showdown winner, David Ragan held court and restarted 11th.

The final ten laps were run caution-free. As a win continues to elude Joe Gibbs Racing in this event, Kyle Busch brought home a respectable runner-up finish. David Reutimann driving for Michael Waltrip Racing found himself in third. Tony Stewart finishes fourth and lap leader Greg Biffle finished out the top-five.

Finishing inside the top-ten were Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin, Showdown winner David Ragan, Kevin Harvick and Ryan Newman.

Unofficial Race Results
All-Star Race
May 21, 2011 | Exhibition
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Pos. Driver
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1 Carl Edwards
2 Kyle Busch
3 David Reutimann
4 Tony Stewart
5 Greg Biffle
6 Matt Kenseth
7 Denny Hamlin
8 David Ragan
9 Kevin Harvick
10 Ryan Newman
11 Jimmie Johnson
12 Juan Montoya
13 Kurt Busch
14 Dale Earnhardt Jr.
15 Jeff Gordon
16 Clint Bowyer
17 Jamie McMurray
18 Brad Keselowski
19 Mark Martin
20 Regan Smith
21 Kasey Kahne

Saturday nights preliminary action kicked off the evening with a big bang. In the early laps of the Sprint Showdown a caution flew to end any chances that Landon Cassill and Derrike Cope would have of advancing into the main event. Cassill’s Chevrolet had tire issues and threw his machine into the outside line collecting Cope. Cassill’s car took a hard hit to the driver’s door area, but due to great safety strides, both drivers walked away unscathed.

[media-credit name=”Brad Keppel” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]Two Ford drivers that have never been in an All-Star event, David Ragan and Paul Menard lead the pack at the mid-point of the All-Star Showdown. And while some teams decided to pit and service the cars, a few notable drivers stayed out, including race leaders Ragan and Menard as well as the hometown kid Dale Earnhardt Jr.

On the start of the second segment, Brad Keselowski made it three wide on the front stretch jumping to the inside of Ragan to steal the front position.

The second caution flew for the No. 30 car of David Stremme after hitting the wall in turn 1. Stremme was running in the 17th position at the time of his incident. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was among the drivers taking the time to pit under this caution.

The second restart in the final showdown segment saw Joey Lagano push his way through the middle, when the frontrunners dud bit get on the gas fast enough. The field behind the leaders stacked up. Brian Vickers in the silver Red Bull machine became the lone victim of the back up as he spun out in traffic. Because caution laps do not count in this segment, the restart order was reverted to the previous lap.

Green flags laps concluded the second segment as David Ragan brought Brad Keselowski to the checkered flag, both drivers advanced into the main event. This is the third appearance for Keselowski.

“Everything is a lot easier if you’ve got a fast race car, so I just tried not to make any mistakes those last few runs,” said Ragan. “It’ll give us some extra confidence to be out here in this All-Star Race.” Not only did Ragan score his first non-points win, but with the win he will make his first appearance in the All-Star event.

Brad Keselowski transferred the second Penske machine into the main race. “Our goal was to transfer,” Keselowski said, “But we wanted to win the Showdown too. We just need a little more speed and we can win these things.”

And while Dale Earnhardt Jr. didn’t take the Sprint Fan Vote for granted, he was given the final transfer spot. The fan favorite of many, Earnhardt solely believes there was no guarantee. “My fans worked really hard. They deserve all the credit, they do the work, “ Earnhardt added.

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The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series returns to the famed Charlotte Motor Speedway for the prestigious 600 mile Memorial Day Weekend Event. The winner of the Sprint All-Star has won the longest Sprint Cup race on the schedule seven times. The most recent driver to accomplish this feat was Kurt Busch in 2010. The other men who have swept the May events at CMS include the late Dale Earnhardt Sr., the late Davey Allison, veteran driver Darrell Waltrip, five-time champion Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Kasey Kahne.

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The NASCAR Nationwide Series is live from Iowa Speedway on Sunday May 22. Two historic moments to note include the first time that three women will compete in a Nationwide race. Sisters Angela and Amber Cope will join Jennifer Jo Cobb in the record books. The second big event at Iowa is the celebration of Kenny Wallace’s 500th career start. Wallace will start the race in the 14th starting position. The field was set on Owner points after rain washed out qualifying.

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