Kyle Larson Wins All-Star Race

Originally written for CLNS Media.

Kyle Larson won the Monster Energy All-Star Race from Charlotte Motor Speedway on Saturday night.

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Larson did not have an easy trip to the main event on Saturday, as he had to race his way in from the Monster Energy Open.  The Open is a “last chance” race for all the drivers not already qualified for the All-Star Race.  Larson won the final stage in the Open to secure his spot in the All-Star Race.

Larson said his crew had to work hard before the All-Star Race to get the car ready after winning the Open.

“This whole day was up and down,” Larson said.  “From the B-Main we were in, to getting a little bit of damage we had to repair.”

Larson took the lead on the final restart, and was able to hold off Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch over the final 10-lap run to win the race and $1 Million.

Larson said he used a push from Harvick on the final restart to clear the leaders.

“Harvick gave me a heck of a push to get to the lead from the third row, and that was huge,” Larson said.  “To get by the 18 [of Busch] that final restart…just had to guess what he was going to do behind me and try to take his air away.”

Harvick had the fastest car throughout the race, but miscues on pit road forced him to restart back in the pack late in the race.

Harvick said he was disappointed he couldn’t come up with the victory on Saturday.

“It was just unfortunate the way that pit road went tonight, because it wasn’t even close to anybody having a good car like we had tonight,” Harvick said.  “Just a great night for performance; just a bad night for pit road.”

“That’s how you take the fastest car and don’t win the race with it; you spot them the whole field.”

Unofficial results:

1. Kyle Larson

2. Kevin Harvick

3. Kyle Busch

4. Joey Logano

5. Bubba Wallace

6. Aric Almirola

7. Austin Dillon

8. Alex Bowman

9. William Byron

10. Martin Truex Jr.

11. Brad Keselowski

12. Clint Bowyer

13. Ryan Newman

14. Chase Elliott

15. Jimmie Johnson

16. Ryan Blaney

17. Kurt Busch

18. Denny Hamlin

19. Erik Jones

Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

Truex Wins at Dover

Originally written for CLNS Media.

Martin Truex Jr. won the Gander RV 400 from Dover International Speedway on Monday afternoon.

Originally scheduled for Sunday, the race was postponed due to rain after cars began their pace laps on Sunday afternoon.

Chris Trotman/Getty Images

Truex started in the back after failing pre-race inspection, but he was able to work his way through the field on a track that is notoriously hard to pass.

Truex said his team brought a new setup that allowed them to work his way through traffic.

“We came here with a new setup this time, because we had kind of an older setup that we won with in 2016,” Truex said.  “We’ve been good but not good enough.”

Truex switched teams in the offseason, and he believes they are finally getting comfortable with each other, leading to two wins in the last three races.

“So thankful for this team…it feels incredible,” Truex said.  “Without Talladega, we’d have two in a row.”

Alex Bowman was also penalized and started in the rear, and had a fast enough to drive up to the front during the race.  Bowman picked up his second-consecutive runner-up finish on Monday.

Bowman said his team has started to turn a corner and seems to be headed in the right direction.

“We had a miserable start to the season; we did a really good job resetting over the off-week, and we’ve been strong since then,” Bowman said.  “It’d be better if we had a trophy, but we needed this for sure.”

Unofficial results:

1. Martin Truex Jr.

2. Alex Bowman

3. Kyle Larson

4. Kevin Harvick

5. Chase Elliott

6. Erik Jones

7. Joey Logano

8. William Byron

9. Clint Bowyer

10. Kyle Busch

11. Daniel Suarez

12. Brad Keselowski

13. Kurt Busch

14. Jimmie Johnson

15. Ryan Blaney

16. Aric Almirola

17. Paul Menard

18. Ryan Newman

19. Austin Dillon

20. Matt DiBenedetto

21. Denny Hamlin

22. Ty Dillon

23. Chris Buescher

24. Michael McDowell

25. Daniel Hemric

26. David Ragan

27. Bubba Wallace

28. Ryan Preece

29. Corey LaJoie

30. Ross Chastain

31. Landon Cassill

32. Matt Tifft

33. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

34. Cody Ware

35. Reed Sorenson

36. Quin Houff

37. BJ McLeod

Matt Sullivan/Getty Images