Larson owns the pole as drivers to race for $1 million

On one level, it would be a shame to see the All-Star Race leave its longtime home at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Suarez held the lead for the final three laps to qualify for his first All-Star Race.

Kyle Larson, victor of the first two 20-lap segments and the clear driver to beat, finished second.

The all-star race, with $1 million on the line for the winning driver, will get underway shortly after 8 p.m.

There would not be much down time for the competitors, though, as the Open began less than an hour later.

Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyle Larson missed out on first place at the race for the second consecutive season, passing Jimmie Johnson late on.

“The goal at hand is a million bucks”, Bowyer said. You know you’re not gonna get many people from the West Coast to fly out here for the All-Star race, I don’t think.

Larson wasn’t the leader at the start of the second segment because Clint Bowyer and Blaney took only two tires on the pit stop to jump to the lead.

“You can’t pass anywhere”, said Ryan Blaney, who finished 11th. From ever-changing formats and elimination processes, to adding money incentives and field sizes; the sport has never shied away from trying new ideas.

In the end, despite focus on the tires, the night was all about clean air.

Meanwhile, there will be a new driver behind the wheel of the No. 43 Ford at Charlotte.

They elected for two tyres, replacing his right-side soft tyres with regular tyres and leaving the soft tyres on the other half of the vehicle. We weren’t quite the fastest auto but we made the right changes when it mattered most and we made the right moves when it mattered most. “Track position is key and you try to do something to get track position and you don’t have the upper hand”. But now perhaps the thing to do is go the opposite way and just make the race 70 laps. That put us in a good position in Segment 2, then we won Segment 3.

Or if you wanted to go the other way … “We learned quite a bit in the first 50 laps”.

Yes, we know we cover hockey, but we have a NASCAR-related request. The All-Star Race may still be limited to the sport’s top drivers, but that still translates to 20 drivers in a 40-car field under the current rules. “This means a lot”, Elliot said.

What we saw at Richmond was that no team used them when the race started to matter. More importantly, his 143 fastest laps run rank second, and he is the only driver to record double-digit fastest laps in all every race at the mile-and-a-half tracks, logging 18-plus in all four events.

This year’s All-Star race will feature four stages: Three 20 lap stages and one final 10-lap 10-car round to crown a champ. The “bonus” tire is softer and built for the short runs.

Johnson would become the only other stage victor, as he held off Kevin Harvick and Larson to guarantee his spot in the final.

That’s what set up the final chaotic restart.

Busch dove low around Brad Keselowski and Jimmie Johnson on the restart to take the lead on the final 10-lap sprint. And many more after the second.

“I went into turn three a little bit hesitant to try to just see what was going on with the vehicle and it just – it was backward as soon as I let out of the gas – really weird”, Hamlin said. Brad Keselowski elected not to pit and stayed out and three teams beat Larson off pit road.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. qualified sixth, missing the cutoff for the final five by.092 second.