CNHI
6-2-10 — Kurt Busch survived two late cautions and held off Martin Truex Jr. to
win the Sprint All-Star Race for the first time.
"Way to go boys!" Busch shouted on the radio after taking the checkered
flag. "A million cool one's‹whoo!'
"Man, this car was a rocket ship at the end. This is huge. This is one
of the big marquee events. We were able to dodge the wrecks and, ultimately,
we had the fastest car when it counted."
Most of the action in the Saturday night extravaganza was packed into
the final 10-lap segment, in which only green flag laps counted toward the
total.
Joey Logano ran third, followed by Hamlin and Tony Stewart. Kevin
Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle and Bobby Labonte
completed the top 10 in the non-points race that paid $1,028,309 to the
winner.
Kurt Busch was well on his way to victory after completing Lap 98 of
100, but Kyle Busch bounced off the wall at the end of the tri-oval and
clipped Kasey Kahne's Ford to cause the fifth caution of the night.
On the restart with two laps to go, Kurt Busch picked the outside lane
and took the green flag with Jimmie Johnson beside him, followed by Logano
and Hamlin. Busch pulled away again, but before the cars got back to the
finish line, Johnson spun across the infield grass to put the race under
yellow for the sixth time.
Busch then put the race away in the final two-lap dash.
Hamlin and Kyle Busch were battling on Lap 93, with Busch getting a
strong run to the outside of the No. 11 Toyota. Hamlin moved up the track in
front of his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, and Busch hit the outside wall after
running out of room.
After a blown tire sent Kyle Busch into the wall and then into Kahne, he
drove to the garage, telling his crew on the radio that they needed to keep
him away from Hamlin. After the race, Hamlin, Busch and team owner Joe Gibbs
were closeted in the No. 11 transporter, according to a Twitter post from
SceneDaily.com's Bob Pockrass.
After a 10-minute break between the third and final segments‹during
which crews could work on the cars but were not allowed to change
tires‹Johnson led the field back on the track and then to the pits for
mandatory four-tire pit stops.
Hamlin was first off pit road, followed by Kyle Busch and Johnson. Mark
Martin, Logano and Jamie McMurray followed in the next three positions when
the field took the green flag for the final 10-lap shootout.
A wreck in the first corner, however, damaged eight cars and eliminated
Martin, McMurray, David Reutimann, Jeff Gordon and Carl Edwards.