Kyle Larson held off a strong late run from Brad Keselowski to score his second career NASCAR All Star race on Sunday night at Texas Motor Speedway.
Larson continues the run he has on the NCS competition the last two week after winning races in dominating fashion at Charlotte Motor Speedway and Sonoma Raceway.
While the win doesn’t count towards his season win total – he has three so far – it does mean a one million dollar payday for the Elk Grove, California native.
Larson also won the event the last time it was held at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 2019.
“Honestly, I can’t believe it,” said Larson. “That second run there, we were really bad and I was like, ‘man, we’re in trouble’. I went backwards that round, so I was like we’ve got an uphill battle. I did not imagine seeing myself winning this race today. Cliff (Daniels, crew chief) and everybody works so hard on this thing and made some good adjustments throughout the first, second and third rounds and got us in position.”
After winning the first segment of the event, Larson found himself deep in the field thanks to a 12 car invert.
From there, he worked to get himself back to the front. After finishing outside of the top 10 in the second segment, Larson finished sixth in segment three, second in segment four and third in segment five.
With no invert on the final 10 lap segment, Larson battled teammate Chase Elliott on the start, only to see a hard charge from Brad Keselowski take the leaders three wide. But Keselowski couldn’t clear Larson’s car, allowing Larson to pull back to the outside.
Moments later, Larson powered past Keselowski’s Ford to retake the point.
Keselowski would try several times to get a run for the lead, but Larson was just too strong as he held him off for the victory.
“That last restart worked out exactly how I needed it to,” Larson said. “I wanted Chase (Elliott) to not get a good run down the back. Thankfully, I think the No. 12 (Ryan Blaney) got to his inside. I just shoved him down the back and he probably thought I was going to just follow him. I thought there had to be enough grip above where we’d been running for one corner. It was a little slick up there, but I was able to get it and hold him off from there. I can’t believe it.”
Keselowski had the lead with a handful of laps to go in the fifth segment after a caution flew just as he left pit road for his mandatory pit stop. He was able to get back on track in front of Chase Elliott, but fell back under the power of the Hendrick Motorsports juggernaut, as teammates Elliott, William Byron, Larson drove past soon after the restart, along with his teammate Ryan Blaney.
But his car came to life on the final restart, as he briefly held the lead with that three-wide maneuver on Elliott and Larson. In the end, despite a strong rally, he had to settle for a second place finish.
“It feels like running second to the Hendrick cars right now is an accomplishment. They are just stupid fast,” said Keselowski. “I had him off turn 4 but they just have so much speed. He just motored right back by me, like damn! It feels like a first-in-class day with the Discount Tired Ford. The team did a great job of executing and getting us in position, we just didn’t have enough speed to make the most of it. It was good execution day though and I am proud of that.”
For Elliott, it looked like everything was going to go the Dawsonville, Georgia driver’s way. Speedy work by his crew during the mandatory four tire pit stop under green during the fifth segment had him at the front, putting him in position to win the fifth segment.
But after being bypassed by Larson and Keselowski, Elliott fell back behind the lead duo, rolling home to a third place finish.
“Kyle (Larson) got to my outside and that was the end of it, really,” said Elliott. “Just got beat. Appreciate the effort today by Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) and everybody on our NAPA team. I’m super proud of everybody at Hendrick Motorsports and Chevrolet. We’ll keep it rolling and try to find another spot or two when it counts.”
That fastest green flag pit stop earned his pit crew a $100,000 bonus, had Elliott in contention to contend for his second straight All Star victory.
“I knew when they dropped the jack that it was close,” Elliot said. “They did a really good job and I’m proud of them for that. Hopefully, we’ll carry some of that momentum forward and try to get to victory lane.”
Joey Logano finished in fourth, followed by Blaney – who won the second segment of the race – in fifth.
Segment three winner Alex Bowman finished sixth, with segment four winner William Byron, Aric Almirola, Kyle Busch, and Kurt Busch rounded out the top 10.
Almirola was the highest finishing winner to transfer in from the All Star Open earlier in the night. Almirola won the third segment of the Open to make the cut, while Ross Chastain won the first and Tyler Reddick won the second. Matt DiBenedetto made the All Star Race field by winning the fan vote.
NASCAR Cup Series
Texas Motor Speedway – Fort Worth, TX
NASCAR All Star Race – June 13, 2021
1. (1) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 100.
2. (9) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 100.
3. (6) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 100.
4. (7) Joey Logano, Ford, 100.
5. (17) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 100.
6. (15) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 100.
7. (8) William Byron, Chevrolet, 100.
8. (20) Aric Almirola, Ford, 100.
9. (2) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 100.
10. (13) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 100.
11. (3) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 100.
12. (11) Michael McDowell, Ford, 100.
13. (10) Martin Truex, Jr., Toyota, 100.
14. (4) Cole Custer, Ford, 100.
15. (12) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 100.
16. (19) Tyler Reddick, Chevrolet, 100.
17. (21) Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, 100.
18. (18) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 100.
19. (5) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 100.
20. (14) Ryan Newman, Ford, 100.
21. (16) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 100.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 84.919 mph.
Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 45 Mins, 59 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.206 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 7 for 0 laps.
Lead Changes: 10 among 8 drivers.
Lap Leaders: K. Busch 1-6;K. Larson 7-15;R. Blaney 16-30;M. DiBenedetto 31-36;A. Bowman 37-45;W. Byron 46-75;B. Keselowski 76-79;C. Elliott 80-91;B. Keselowski 92;K. Larson 93-100.
Leaders Summary: (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led) William Byron 1 time for 30 laps; Kyle Larson 2 times for 17 laps; Ryan Blaney 1 time for 15 laps; Chase Elliott 1 time for 12 laps; Alex Bowman 1 time for 9 laps; Kyle Busch 1 time for 6 laps; Matt DiBenedetto 1 time for 6 laps; Brad Keselowski 2 times for 5 laps.
