With the benefit of taking four fresh tires during the midway break in the 40-lap Showdown, Bowyer made a gutsy dive to the inside of both Truex and Larson in a 24th-lap restart and drove away. Truex held on for third place, just behind fellow pole-starter Paul Menard, while Larson faded to a 24th-place finish, two laps down after contact with Sam Hornish Jr. sent him skidding into a brush with the Turn 4 retaining wall.
Larson and Truex both gained track position by taking just two tires during the intermission, but Bowyer’s powerful move on four new Goodyears made the difference. Even then, Larson wasn’t about to second-guess the decision.
"I kind of knew," Larson said as he strode back to the Sprint Cup garage. "We had to do something, though, because after the first segment, we were like a seventh-place car, I thought. So I thought a two-tire call was good, probably not good enough to win, but there was nothing I thought we really could’ve done to win. That restart, though, was a lot of fun. We were trying really hard to get out front and get in clean air, but the 15 (Bowyer) was just so good on four tires."
Larson and Truex struggled for grip, but fought gamely to keep Bowyer from escaping, forcing a prolonged three-wide formation and a brilliant scrap for the next few laps after the restart. Though Bowyer’s move could be classified as bold, neither driver was surprised by it, given the short distance and impending deadline.
"It’s time to go," Truex said. "His car was faster than ours. Bottom line."
Said Larson: "I mean, they’re short races, so you have to do it, especially when you have to win to get in. He had to be aggressive there, for sure."
Truex’s lament with his the handling of his Furniture Row Racing No. 78 Chevy had plenty to do with the lack of grip in the speedway’s top groove, a racing line that never truly came into play in Friday’s early evening hours. It’s why he picked the lower lane for the race’s final restart, and why Bowyer’s move even lower proved to be the race winner.
"This place is weird like that," Truex said of Charlotte’s finicky characteristics. "Sometimes the top will be great and there’s no rhyme or reason for it, and today it just wasn’t. Everybody on the bottom, it’s just hard to pass."
After the checkered flag, Truex — a two-time winner of the Showdown preliminary — had one last chance to qualify for his sixth NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race. But Truex, despite the endorsement from former teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr., finished second to Danica Patrick in the closest Sprint Fan Vote in the program’s history.
With their fates sealed, Larson tweeted that he’d be cheering on Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Jamie McMurray — last year’s All-Star champ — from his couch Saturday night with his infant son, Owen, in his lap. Truex’s Saturday night plans were less specific.
"I hadn’t even thought about it, to be honest with you," Truex said when asked whether he’d be at the track Saturday night. "I’d say probably not."
