By Jake Mosbach.
When the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series returns to its adopted home of the Charlotte, N.C. area for “10 Days of Thunder,” anything can happen. The more than weeklong celebration of speed at the Charlotte Motor Speedway began this weekend, and was highlighted by the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race; the 110-lap dash for $1 million and absolutely no points, and this year’s running featured a myriad of firsts.
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Denny Hamlin earned his, Toyota’s, and Joe Gibbs Racing’s first All-Star Race win
Denny Hamlin held off hard-charging Kevin Harvick in the final 10-lap segment on Saturday night to earn his first career All-Star Race win. Hamlin’s win also gave manufacturer Toyota and owner Joe Gibbs each their first All-Star wins ever. Hamlin started from the pole and led 26 laps throughout the night, using a lightning fast pit stop before the final segment to ultimately seal the victory. Before we look ahead to next Sunday night’s Coca Cola 600 from Charlotte, here are a few takeaways from the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race.
Busch made his first start of the 2015 season at Charlotte on Saturday night, earning a sixth-place finish
Kyle Busch has a solid return
Busch made his long-awaited return to the Sprint Cup Series on Saturday night after being sidelined for nearly three months. The Las Vegas native was injured in the Xfinity Series race at Daytona to begin the season. Many wondered if Charlotte, a 1.5-mile speedway featuring speeds nearing 200 miles per hour, was an appropriate track for Busch to choose for his return, but the Joe Gibbs Racing driver proved doubters wrong at the All-Star Race. His #18 M&Ms Toyota came home in sixth-place, and while it wasn’t a victory, it might as well have been for Busch. He avoided trouble on-track and on pit road, and he should be feeling confident heading in to Sunday night’s Coca Cola 600.
Brad Keselowski
Brad Keselowski (probably) should’ve won the race
Keselowski dominated the event, leading nearly half of the laps and winning the second and third 25-lap segments of the race. He had taken advantage of clean air (something that multiple leaders throughout the night did) after making a surprising two-tire pit stop at the end of the first segment to grab a stranglehold on the middle portion of the night. Keselowski finished fourth in the final 25-lap segment heading in to the 10-lap dash for the checkered flag, and based on the race’s format (the position in which each driver entered pit road before the final 10-lap dash was determined by their average finish of the first four segments), entered pit road first. That’s where it all went wrong. Keselowski was caught speeding off pit road after exiting in first, sending him to the back. While it’s impossible to say that Keselowski would have won the race, it’s safe to say that he gave it away.
The Coca Cola 600 might be a snoozer
There’s no way to get around it…the Sprint All-Star Race was very underwhelming. It was once again proved that track position and clean air are far more important than a good-handling race car, and race leaders were continually able to pull away from the rest of the field. As mentioned above, Brad Keselowski was able to dominate the second segment of the race on only two fresh tires, leaving those with four fresh Goodyears in his dust, something that is rarely ever seen. What looked like it might be an intense battle between eventual winner Hamlin and Kevin Harvick in the final 10-lap segment was quickly extinguished after Hamlin began to mirror Harvick’s high line, disturbing the air on Harvick’s nose and taking him out of contention. Single-file racing was prevalent, as has been the case with a few of the 1.5-mile tracks this year, and the aero-dependancy produced by the 2015 rule package is likely to blame. With 600 more miles at Charlotte ahead on Sunday, fans might be in for a long night.
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