Kyle Larson Races His Way To $1 Million In All-Star Race At Charlotte Motor Speedway

Kyle Larson Races His Way To $1 Million In All-Star Race At Charlotte Motor Speedway

by May 18, 2019 1 comment

CONCORD, N.C. – Kyle Larson won $1 million in Saturday night’s Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway after advancing through the All-Star Open in order to qualify for the event.

Larson held off a hard charging Kevin Harvick through the final laps around Charlotte Motor Speedway to earn the major win. Larson’s win in the No. 42 Advent Health Chevrolet for Chip Ganassi Racing comes following a season of struggle thus far.

How will Larson spend his $1 million?

“Oh, I don’t know,” said Larson. “I didn’t really have any plans, so this is unbelievable. This whole day was up and down, you know, from the Open we were in, to getting a little bit of damage and having to repair the car. We had some great restarts there in the last few and (Kevin) Harvick gave me a heck of a push to get to the lead from the third row and that was huge. And then again, to get by the No. 18 (Kyle Busch) in that final restart. And I just had to guess what he was going to do behind me and try to take his air away. The No. 18 surprised me with how good he was. Man, this is amazing.”

Larson added, “I’ve been close a couple times. I feel like every time I’ve been in the All-Star race, I’ve been close to winning. It’s neat to finally close it out. Thanks to Advent Health, Credit One Bank, McDonald’s, and everybody who helps out on this Chip Ganassi Racing team and everybody back at the shop. There are a lot of people from the shop here today, so we get to do some celebrating and I’m excited about that.”

Drivers who had not already qualified for the All-Star Race started the All-Star Open prior to the event. Stage winners William Byron, Bubba Wallace and race winner Larson qualified through the Open. Alex Bowman won the fan vote.

Kevin Harvick finished in the second position following a heated battle throughout the night. Harvick overcame a loose wheel and made his way back to the front of the field to keep his No. 4 Busch Beer Millennial Car Ford in the mix. Harvick led 33 laps in the race that totaled 88 laps.

“I mean, we shot both of our feet off with the absolute dominant car,” Harvick said. “The guys did a great job preparing the race car and we just weren’t ready to make a pit stop on pit road tonight.”

Kyle Busch earned the third finishing position on Saturday night after several instances of contact on the track.

Joey Logano finished in the fourth position, followed by Wallace in the fifth position. Aric Almirola, Austin Dillon, Bowman, Byron and Martin Truex, Jr. finished in the top-10.

Saturday’s Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race saw a breakdown of 30 laps, 20 laps, 20 laps and a final 15-lap race to the finish.

With $1 million on the line, drivers were aggressive in making their way to the front, going four-wide and knocking other cars out of the way. Following a dust-up on the track, Clint Bowyer approached Ryan Newman’s car after the race and began to swing his fist into the window, inciting a scuffle between the two.

As for the drama on the track, the short race saw eight cautions for a total of 17 laps under yellow. With heavy contact between competitors, damaged fenders and nudges into the wall sparked excitement throughout the event.

The drivers of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series return to Charlotte Motor Speedway next weekend for the longest race of the season in the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday, May 26 at 6 p.m. ET. Live coverage of the race will broadcast on FOX and the Performance Racing Network (PRN).

Photo Credit: Hunter Thomas/TheFourthTurn.com

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