Blaney wins All Star race, $ 1 million in 2 laps after thinking he won

FORT WORTH, Texas – Ryan Blaney needed two extra laps after thinking he had already won the NASCAR all-star race and $ 1 million, staying ahead through the green-and-white cage after the precaution went a few yards before as he got to the race line for the first time.

Blaney’s crew was already celebrating a boxing victory, and the driver had already lowered the window net of his Ford № 12 after crossing the start-finish line.

“Everyone thought the race was over,” said Blaney, who then had to get together and return the window net to finish the race.

The all-star race is set to end on the green flag, and the precautionary flag originally appeared just before Blaney crossed the rice because Ricky Stanhouse Jr. crashed into an outside wall while walking on a stretch.

Pushed by his teammate from Pinsk Austin Sindrik at the restart, Blaney was able to stay ahead and hold Danny Hamlin, who finished in 0.266 seconds.

Cindric was third and Joey Lagana, another Team Penske pilot, was fourth. Daniel Suarez, who got into the main event as Stanhouse, through a 16-car open qualifier earlier that day, finished fifth.

Former NASCAR all-star winners Kyle Bush, Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson failed in the second leg.

It was the fourth victory in the All-Star Race for Roger Penske’s team. The last was Logano in 2016.

Bush, the polester and winner of 2017, took the lead when he was punched in the right rear tire, which came out of the fourth turn on the 48th lap at the end of the second stage. He was slowing down and walking to the bottom of the front section when he was hit from behind by Ross Chastain, who was driving about 185 miles per hour.

Chastain’s car № 1 drove almost all the way to the left after a roaring collision before crashing into all four tires and then drove off the side of the track and hit the winner of the 2020 Eliot Star Match.

“I saw that Kyle had a problem with flat tires. I guessed to the left and had to guess to the right, ”Chastain said.

Elliott said he saw Bush feel the difficulty, and saw Chastain hit him hard.

“I just didn’t give him a place. I knew he would go straight, but didn’t realize he would go right so fast. “I just misjudged it,” Elliott said.

Bush was a polester and led all but one, the first 48 laps before the crash. His car № 18 swerved, coming out of the fourth turn due to a missed right rear tire before slowing down on the front section.

It came just a few laps in the second stage after Larson, who won two previous All-Star starts (2019 and 2021), broke out in the fourth turn and slammed into a wall before slipping through a grassy stretch. Larson did not change the tires, and the right front tire went down.

“It just let go in the center and took off,” Larson said. “I hate that it happened. I feel like our car was good enough, depending on the restart, because you can’t drive at all, especially the leader anyway. ”

Bush led all 25 laps in the first stage without precaution after starting from the pole.

Cindric was first at the end of the second segment. Ryan Blaney was second, as was the end of the first stage after the start of the race. Blaney won the third stage in 25 laps and started the final race 50 laps ahead with teammates Cindric and Joey Lagan, whose team had the fastest pit stop between the second and third stages.

Texas Stanhouse native James Buscher and Suarez entered the all-star race earlier Sunday in the open qualifiers. Eric Jones, in car № 43 for Petty GMS Motorsports, got the final place in the field with 24 cars by a fan vote and crashed in the final stage to finish 20th.

Stanhouse and Buscher won the first two stages of 20 laps in the qualifying race. Suarez finished ahead in the final 10-round shooting, the third time the Mexican rider performed at the All-Star Game.

Texas is the fourth track to host the annual show, but only the second, where the All-Star Race has been held several times. The first All-Star Race was held in Charlotte in 1985, and Atlanta hosted in 1985 up to 33 in a row in Charlotte. The race was moved to Bristol in 2020, when North Carolina did not allow spectators due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Next

The Coca-Cola 600 on the Charlotte Motor Speedway next Sunday will begin the second half of the regular season with 26 races before the start of the 10-race playoffs. It will be the 14th points race this season.