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Kyle Busch earns first NASCAR All-Star Race win

“Finally,” screamed Kyle Busch as he won his first All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in his 12th start.

Race winner Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Race winner Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Matthew T. Thacker / NKP / Motorsport Images

Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, takes the checkered flag
Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, Kyle Larson, Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet
Race winner Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Race winner Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Race winner Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

“Awesome win team,” Busch added after crossing the line by 1.274-seconds over Kyle Larson on Saturday night. 

Busch, the king of restarts, went to the inside of Brad Keselowski to take the lead when the race returned to green for the final 10 laps. He never relinquished the point. 

“We’ve never won at Charlotte in a Cup car and we finally achieved that goal tonight,” Busch said. “I won the All-Star Race. I won a million bucks. There’s reason to celebrate and reason to celebrate big.

“I can’t say enough about this team. I can’t say enough about (crew chief) Adam Stevens and these guys on the pit box. You can rely on them all day long. We weren’t quite the fastest car, but we made the right moves when it mattered most. We made the most out of it tonight and got to Victory Lane. Just so relieved, elated, proud and excited all at the same time.”

Larson, who started from the pole and led a race-high 40 laps, put a slide job on Jimmie Johnson coming out of the final corner for second-place. Johnson finished third followed by Kurt Busch, Jamie McMurray, Kevin Harvick, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano and Keselowski. Denny Hamlin, who had damaged after contact with Ryan Newman, made multiple trips to pit road for repairs and finished 10th, three laps off the pace. 

When Johnson watched Busch take the lead on the restart, he realized he was watching the win slip away.

“I was really hopeful of old tires and being on the bottom,” Johnson said of Busch lining up behind Keselowski. “They’d be able to hold that lane back, especially Kyle (Busch) and how good he is on race starts. And it just didn’t happen. He got in there. “I had a decent start. They weren’t able to push me and get me going. And I had a couple of shots at him. He wasn’t handling too well at the start of the run, but I just drove too hard. I could see a million dollars out the windshield and I just drove this Lowe’s Chevy way too hard in the corner a couple of times and gave up some ground.”

There were three cautions — but only during the stage breaks. The only driver with option tires remaining for the final segment was Dale Earnhardt Jr., who failed to transfer to the 10-lap shootout in his final All-Star Race. 

Stage 3

Jimmie Johnson won the third stage of the All-Star race by 0.506-seconds over Kevin Harvick. 

Kyle Larson, Kurt Busch, Jamie McMurray, Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top 10.

Johnson restarted fourth on option tires. He passed Kyle Larson on the restart then moved by Clint Bowyer and Ryan Blaney — who took two tires on the pit stops between the stages — for the lead on Lap 42. 

Johnson had extended his lead by 1.327-seconds over Blaney in the first five laps. On option tires, the Stewart-Haas Fords of Kurt Busch and Kevin Harvick also passed Blaney by Lap 47. Two laps later, Dale Earnhardt Jr. scraped the Turn 2 wall. He finished 18th, 

Harvick passed Busch for second on Lap 52. Six laps later, Ryan Newman made contact with Denny Hamlin, cut a tire and retired. 

Under the All-Star rules, stage winners — Larson and Johnson — automatically advanced — along with the next eight drivers with the best average finishes. 

Brad Keselowski, who ran out of tires, stayed out on the track while the leaders pit. Johnson was the first car out of the pits with clean tires for the final restart followed by Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson. 

Stage 2

Kyle Larson dominated the first two stages of the All-Star Race. 

Larson’s advantage over Jimmie Johnson was 2.994-seconds after the first 40 laps.

“I feel loose, like the back is unloading on entry,” Larson told the crew. 

Johnson restarted fourth on the option tire and passed Kyle Busch for second after four laps. Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch and Jamie McMurray rounded out the top-five. 

After the first 10 laps, Larson had already extended his lead over Johnson by 1.084-seconds. 

Denny Hamlin, who restarted sixth, elected to take option tires and climbed up to fourth but dropped back to sixth at the end of the stage. Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer (option tires) and Chase Elliott rounded out the top 10. 

Chris Buescher, who restarted 18th on option tires, finished 17th. Martin Truex Jr., who was running at the back of the pack, also took option tires. He received a penalty for his jackman coming over the wall too soon for service and restarted 19th. He raced up to 13th by the end of the stage.

Stage 1

Kyle Larson won Stage 1 by 2.1-seconds over Kyle Busch. 

“I’m a little loose off of 4, and 2,” Larson told the team. “At the beginning of that run I was loose for a couple of laps, then tight on landing.” 

Larson, the polesitter, led all 20 laps in the first segment.

Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Brad Keselowski, Matt Kenseth, Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin, Jamie McMurray and Kasey Kahne rounded out the top 10. 

Daniel Suarez, who won the 10-lap shootout in the Open, used his option tires in the first segment and came from 19th to 11th by Lap 8. 

Ryan Blaney, the second stage open winner, also had the option tire and gained three spots. After Chase Elliott won the fan vote and started last, he finished 13th in the round with the option tires. Clint Bowyer, winner of the first stage in the Open, finished 12th

Despite finishing sixth, Kenseth developed an oil leak. He returned to pit road for service. After the team lifted the hood, they decided to take the car behind the wall. 

"I got a hole in my oil cooler somehow,” Kenseth said. “When I came to pit road, something must have hit the oil cooler or something happened there and it just got a hole in it and started smoking.”

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