All-Star Race Weekend Recap
NASCARWagers, NASCAR Handicapping Service
A full field of Nationwide Series regulars helped cap off an exciting race weekend earlier today at Iowa Speedway. Sam Hornish Jr, driving the #54 Monster Toyota normally driven by Kyle Busch, earned his first win of the season by holding off Ryan Blaney in the final laps of the 4Th Annual Get To Know Newton 250 Presented By Sherwin-Williams. Blaney and Hornish Jr dominated the event from their front row starting spots to lead all but 3 of the scheduled 250 laps. However, in the end a familiar car number 54 was in victory lane. Only this time, it was Sam Hornish Jr that was behind the wheel.
Hornish’s win today was one of those ‘feel good stories’ of the weekend. After just barely missing out on the Nationwide Series Championship last season, Hornish lost his ride at Penske Racing due to a lack of primary sponsorships. In his limited role with Joe Gibbs Racing this season, Hornish’s venture paid off today with his 3rd career win in the Nationwide Series. For a guy that has battled through a lot of adversity, Hornish’s win today was a good story considering the unfortunate and sometimes unjust struggles throughout his NASCAR career.
Still, Hornish’s win may not have even been the biggest ‘feel good story’ of the weekend. Just about 16 hours prior to the #54 crossing the finish line first at Iowa, Jamie McMurray had stunned the sport with his shocking win in the Sprint All-Star Race. The All-Star Race started off in familiar fashion with Kyle Busch winning the first segment of the night. Busch who also dominated the Camping World Truck Series race at Charlotte on Friday picked up where he left off by dominating the first 20 lap segment.
However, things would quickly change in the 2nd segment as the first of many cautions waved. The first caution of the night come out when Kyle Busch got into the back of Clint Bowyer as he attempted to race through the field after the first round of pit stops between the 1st and 2nd segments. Once Busch got into Bowyer, he attempted to go low but Bowyer tried to save the car and door slammed Busch to send him spinning down the back stretch. Joey Logano ran into Busch’s #18 car as it slid down the track which heavily damaged both cars and ended their night.
Afterwards, it appeared the All-Star Race would come down to a battle between Kasey Kahne and Kevin Harvick. Kahne dominated both the 2nd and 3rd segments with Harvick closely behind finishing 2nd. However, in the final 20 lap segment Kahne blew out a right front tire and hit the wall as the 4th segment came to a close with Kevin Harvick crossing the finish line first. Kahne was forced to pit several times to try and fix the #5 car which took him out of contention. Once the field was aligned according to their average finishing position through the first 4 segments, Harvick was the clear favorite over the field. However, a mandatory 4 tire pit stop before the final segment would shake things up again.
Due to several wrecks and problems amongst the leaders from the early segments, a few other drivers emerged towards the front based on their average finishing position including Carl Edwards and Jamie McMurray. Edwards appeared to be the only driver that could remotely contend with Harvick while McMurray had taken advantage of a two tire pit strategy for most of the night that attributed to his strong finishes. In the race off pit road, Edwards and McMurray both beat Harvick out of the pits to start on the front row for the final 10 lap segment.
In what appeared to be a race between Edwards and Harvick, things quickly changed once the green flag dropped for the final 10 laps. Edwards failed to clear McMurray who started on the high side. The two drivers banged doors and raced side by side for several laps. Eventually McMurray’s aggressive driving surprisingly paid off as he cleared Edwards and held off a closing Kevin Harvick in the final circuits to stun a packed house at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Despite being a former two time winner at Charlotte, McMurray had never finished better than 8th in the All-Star Race. However, McMurray proved once again he can win on NASCAR’s biggest stages in yet another unpredictable night of racing. If those events did not set the stage for an exciting speed week at Charlotte Motor Speedway, then you are obviously not a big racing fan. Next week Charlotte Motor Speedway will host the Nationwide Series History 300 on Saturday followed by the 55th running of the Coca Cola 600 on Sunday.
