RELATED: Full race results
CONCORD, N.C. – Kyle Larson nearly became the latest driver to go from the preliminary event to the winner’s circle of the annual NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race.
But a loose-handling car and a hard-charging Joey Logano proved to be his undoing Saturday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
It’s a familiar feeling for the young driver of Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates’ No. 42 Chevrolet, who has finished second four times in points-paying races in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series.
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Saturday night’s 113-lap show wasn’t for points, but there was a $1 million payday waiting at the checkered flag.
And when the 23-year-old shot the gap on the race’s final restart, he zoomed from third to first with less than 13 laps remaining.
But Logano (Team Penske) was able to track the leader down and after a side-by-side battle, Larson slipped up and into the wall less than three laps from the finish.
Logano held on for the victory; Larson limped to the garage, 16th in the final rundown.
“I definitely didn’t over-correct,” a dejected Larson said afterward. “I was just going fast, got loose, lost control and hit the wall. I’m disappointed. I feel like I keep letting my guys down.”
Larson had qualified for the Sprint All-Star Race by winning a sheetmetal swapping, last-lap battle with Chase Elliott (Hendrick Motorsports) in the final segment of the Sprint Showdown preliminary event earlier in the day. The damage done to his car kept his team busy throughout the afternoon, but by the time the red-and-white entry rolled through pre-race inspection for the main event, it looked good as new. And it ran that way, too.
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“They worked their tails off after I got all the damage in the Showdown,” he said. “We had a really, really good Target Chevy and were able to get to the front pretty quick there to be in the best position possible there for the last restart.”
After starting the race 18th, Larson ended the first 50-lap segment inside the top 10. He eventually took the lead on Lap 94 and was the race leader after 100 laps had been completed to end the second segment.
He restarted third for the final 13-lap dash after only two drivers, Jimmie Johnson (Hendrick Motorsports) and Kyle Busch (Joe Gibbs Racing), running 12th and 13th respectively, were re-slotted to the front. The top 11 were required to pit.
“I was getting looser throughout the race,” Larson said. “We were making adjustments but weren’t making big enough ones. I just got loose and Joey caught me.
“He did a really good job side-drafting me. I tried to hang on his quarter panel like I did with Chase earlier today. I got really loose as soon as I got in the corner.”
Logano said he knew Larson would “try to suck me around from the outside and I knew I had to drive in to make sure he didn’t do that.
“Just good hard racing there at the end. It was a lot of fun. He’s a heck of a racer. He’s going to win a lot of races, that’s for sure.”
Kasey Kahne (Hendrick Motorsports) was the last driver to win the Sprint All-Star Race despite not automatically qualifying for it (and having to race in the preliminary event) heading into the weekend, accomplishing the feat in 2008. (Kahne won the Sprint Fan Vote that year.)
“I thought clean air would be everything there on four tires,” Larson said. “Joey was just really good there that last run; I thought I was better than him most of the race. I don’t know, I feel bad. But it’s good that we have fast race cars right now.
“Just really, really proud of everybody on this team. We were pretty down earlier in the year but we’ve got cars now and confidence and one of these days it will all come together.”