CUP: Reed Sorenson first driver to sweep Showdown and 600 last-place finishes

SOURCE: NASCAR

Reed Sorenson picked up the 13th last-place finish of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career in Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway when his #55 World Record Striper Company Chevrolet fell out with clutch issues after he completed 200 of the race’s 400 laps.

The finish, which came in Sorenson’s 241st series start, was his series-leading third of the year and first in a points race since Richmond, four races ago.

Pfc. Jason Hill Estopinal, USMC (1988-2010)

Following his last-place run in the Sprint Showdown, Sorenson and his bright blue Chevrolet returned to the Charlotte track, this time as a participant in NASCAR’s second-annual “600 Miles of Remembrance” campaign.  The name above Sorenson’s windshield honored the life of Pfc. Jason Hill Estopinal of the U.S. Marine Corps.  Born in Sorenson’s home state of Georgia, Pfc. Estopinal joined the Marines in February 2009 and was a rifleman assigned to 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marines.  He was killed in action in Afghanistan on February 15, 2010.  He was just 21 years old.

Sorenson ran just one lap in Thursday’s opening practice, and was slowest of the 40 entrants by nearly nine-tenths of a second.  He found a little more speed in qualifying, turning in a lap of 179.432 mph, but still could only start last in the field.  He was slowest again in Saturday’s second session and, along with Premium Motorsports teammate Cole Whitt, did not participate in Happy Hour.

On Sunday, Sorenson was joined at the back of the field by Matt DiBenedetto, Saturday’s last-placer of the XFINITY Series race, whose team changed the transmission on his #83 Hope For The Warriors / Cosmo Motors Toyota, and Tony Stewart, whose team made unapproved adjustments to his #14 Mobil 1 Chevrolet.  By the end of Lap 1, Sorenson retook 40th from both drivers.

In the early laps, Sorenson’s #55 had trouble keeping up with the pack.  On Lap 3, he was 9.7 seconds behind the leaders and 1.9 seconds behind 39th-place Jeffrey Earnhardt in the new-look #32 Can-Am Ford for Go FAS Racing.  On Lap 9, those intervals expanded to 20.2 and 2.89.  Sorenson was about to lose a lap to the leaders when Kasey Kahne’s #5 LiftMaster Chevrolet slowed off Turn 2 and made an unscheduled pit stop for a flat right-front tire.  Reports indicated the wheel was too close to the ball joint, causing a rub that later required a spacer.  Kahne hoped to get one of his laps back on the Lap 26 competition caution, but by then, Sorenson, Earnhardt, and the #30 Curtis Key Pluming Chevrolet of Josh Wise had all lost a lap with Wise gaining the Lucky Dog.

Under the caution, Sorenson stayed out to get the wave-around, putting him back on the lead lap.  However, by Lap 40, nine laps after the restart, he was again losing ground, 4.5 seconds behind the next car, and he lost the lap once more.  Around Lap 53, without a timely caution, Sorenson made his pit stop and lost two laps, dropping him behind Kahne for 40th.  Jeffrey Earnhardt took it on Lap 82 during green-flag stops, but Sorenson retook it on Lap 93 and held it the rest of the night.  On Lap 205, Sorenson was 10 laps behind when he pulled into the garage.  He returned at least one more time, completing another five circuits before he exited the race for good, citing clutch issues.  He ended up the only retiree from the race.

In a result sheet similar to Atlanta in February, the remaining 39 starters all finished within eighteen laps of Martin Truex, Jr.’s dominant Toyota.  39th went to Jeffrey Earnhardt, who brought out a caution on Lap 205 when he rode the wall in Turn 4, followed five laps later by Josh Wise’s #30.  37th belonged to Chris Buescher, whose #34 CSX - Play It Safe Ford slammed the wall on Lap 234 and made an unscheduled stop, ultimately costing him 12 laps.  36th went to Michael Annett, his fourth bottom-five finish in the last five races driving the #46 Pilot / Flying J Chevrolet.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was the first last-place finish for the #55 in a Cup race at Charlotte since May 26, 1985, when new Hall of Fame inductee Benny Parsons lost the engine on his Copenhagen Chevrolet after 8 laps of the Coca-Cola World 600.  It was the 6th of Parsons’ 7 Cup last-place finishes.
*Sorenson is the first driver to finish last in both the Sprint Showdown and the Coca-Cola 600 in the same year.  This includes the inaugural Showdown - then the Atlanta Invitational - held at the Atlanta Motor Speedway in 1986.
*The 200 laps Sorenson completed were the most by any last-place finisher of the Coca-Cola 600.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
40) #55-Reed Sorenson / 200 laps / clutch
39) #32-Jeffrey Earnhardt / 382 laps / running
38) #30-Josh Wise / 387 laps / running
37) #34-Chris Buescher / 388 laps / running
36) #46-Michael Annett / 390 laps / running

2016 LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Reed Sorenson (3)
2nd) Matt DiBenedetto, Josh Wise (2)
3rd) Aric Almirola, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Kyle Larson, Paul Menard, Ryan Newman, Cole Whitt (1)

2016 LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Premium Motorsports (4)
2nd) BK Racing, Richard Childress Racing, The Motorsports Group (2)
3rd) Chip Ganassi Racing, Hendrick Motorsports, Richard Petty Motorsports (1)

2016 LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (10)
2nd) Toyota (2)
3rd) Ford (1)

XFINITY: Matt DiBenedetto scores Toyota’s 100th XFINITY Series last-place finish

SOURCE: Rubbin's Racin' Forums

Matt DiBenedetto picked up the 5th last-place finish of his NASCAR XFINITY Series career in Saturday’s Hisense 300 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway when his unsponsored #10 TriStar Motorsports Toyota fell out with a vibration after he completed 3 of 206 laps.

The finish, which came in DiBenedetto’s 54th series start, was his third of the season and first since Bristol, four races ago.

Charlotte marked DiBenedetto’s first XFINITY start since Dover two weeks ago, where he came home 38th in front of Ryan Preece and last-placer Justin Marks.  He and Josh Wise, again driving the second car #93 from the RSS Racing stables, were the only two drivers who did not participate in Thursday’s opening practice.  Both returned in Happy Hour that afternoon with DiBenedetto 27th and Wise 30th.  They also qualified on speed - DiBenedetto secured the 24th spot at 177.526 mph and Wise 28th at 175.661 mph.  DiBenedetto was actually 19th-best in Round 1, then stood on his time in Round 2.

Two drivers missed the race.  T.J. Bell was looking to make his first series start since Phoenix in March, where he came home 26th for JGL Racing, but his #40 OCR Gaz Bar Dodge for Motorsports Business Management was two-tenths of a second off the pace.  Joining him was Morgan Shepherd, slowest overall in his #89 Racing With Jesus / Courtney Construction Chevrolet, his fourth DNQ of the year and first since Bristol.

In Saturday’s race, 40th-place starter Harrison Rhodes and his patriotic #97 NC State University / Vroom! Brands Chevrolet trailed the field along with Timmy Hill and Jeb Burton, sent to the rear from 36th and 27th for unapproved adjustments.  Burton suffered some damage to his right-rear after spinning off Turn 4 in qualifying.  DiBenedetto pulled behind the wall after three laps, followed two circuits later by Wise.  Hill and Burton finished 33rd and 11th, respectively.

38th went to Cody Ware, who brought out the first caution of the afternoon when his #15 JJ Aim Right Gun Shop Ford crashed on Lap 14.  37th went to Ray Black, Jr., whose #07 ScubaLife / CDA.edu Chevlet broke an oil line after 27 circuits.  Rounding out the Bottom Five was Joey Gase in Jimmy Means’ black #52 Agri Supply Chevrolet, which broke the transmission after 84 laps.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked Toyota’s 100th XFINITY Series last-place finish.
*This is TriStar Motorsports’ third-straight last-place finish in an XFINITY race at Charlotte.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
40) #10-Matt DiBenedetto / 3 laps / vibration
39) #93-Josh Wise / 5 laps / rear gear
38) #15-Cody Ware / 12 laps / crash
37) #07-Ray Black, Jr. / 27 laps / oil line
36) #52-Joey Gase / 84 laps / transmission

2016 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Jeff Green (4)
2nd) Matt DiBenedetto (3)
3rd) Josh Wise (2)
4th) Justin Marks, Ryan Preece (1)

2016 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) TriStar Motorsports (7)
2nd) RSS Racing (2)
3rd) Chip Ganassi Racing, JD Motorsports (1)

2016 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Toyota (7)
2nd) Chevrolet (4)

LASTCAR EXTRA: The Indianapolis 500 (1911-present)

Salt Walther, 1973
SOURCE: IndyMotorSpeedway.com

Coming into the 100th running of the “Greatest Spectacle In Racing,” Salt Walther stands alone as the all-time leader in Indy 500 last-place finishes with three (1972, 1973, and 1975).  Walther also joins Howdy Wilcox (1921, 1922) and Andy Linden (1952, 1953) as the only three drivers to finish last in consecutive 500s.

The first last-place finisher of the Indy 500 was Arthur Greiner, whose #44 Amplex started 38th in the 40-car field and crashed on the backstretch after 12 laps.  Greiner suffered a concussion and broken ribs.  His ride-along mechanic, S.P. Dickson, was killed.  1958 last-placer Art Bisch was involved in the multi-car wreck that claimed the life of driver Pat O’Connor.  1964 last-placer Norm Hall spun to avoid the tragic accident that killed Eddie Sachs and Dave MacDonald.

Mario Andretti finished last in the 1968 Indianapolis 500, one year before his only win.  The other 500 winners to also finish last in the event are Howdy Wilcox (1921, 1922), Louis Schneider (1933), Bill Cummings (1936), Sam Hanks (1941), Jimmy Bryan (1959), Bobby Unser (1963), Johnny Rutherford (1977), Tom Sneva (1986), Buddy Lazier (1991), and Danny Sullivan (1993).  Hanks did not start the 1941 race due to an injury suffered earlier in the weekend and his car was withdrawn.

UPDATE (5/29/16): Juan Pablo Montoya (2016) becomes the 12th different 500 winner to also finish last.

In 2000, Greg Ray led the most laps of any Indy 500 last-placer with 26 - no last-placer has led a single lap since.  The only other 500 last-placers with at least one lap led are Russ Snowberger (11 in 1928), Paul Russo (11 in 1956), and Tony Stewart (1 in 1998).  Ray was also one of only five polesitters to finish last in the 500.  The most recent was Scott Sharp in 2001.  Joining Ray and Sharp on this list are Cliff Woodbury (1929), Pancho Carter (1985), and Roberto Guerrero (1992).

Tony and Gary Bettenhausen finished last in consecutive 500s in 1988 and 1989.  A.J. Foyt IV and Larry Foyt trailed the 500 fields of 2004 and 2005.

In 2012, Jean Alesi became the first Indy 500 last-place finisher to be flagged off the track for not maintaining minimum speed.  He was joined a lap later by fellow Lotus driver Simona de Silvestro.  Alesi joins Dempsey Wilson (1960) and Ronnie Duman (1966) as the only three last-place starters of the 500 to finish last.

Last year, Conor Daly’s exhaust fire during the pace laps marked the 25th time the last-place finisher of the 500 failed to complete the opening lap.  It first happened in 1936, when Bill Cummings’ clutch gave out on his Miller FD / Offy.  On Sunday, Daly will be one of only five past Indy 500 last-placers in the field, joining Takuma Sato (2011), Graham Rahal (2008, 2014), J.R. Hildebrand (2013), and 1996 winner Buddy Lazier (1991).

UPDATE (5/29/16): INDY 500 LAST-PLACE STANDINGS THROUGH 2016

1st) Salt Walther (3)

2nd) Roberto Guerrero, Andy Linden, Harry McQuinn, Graham Rahal, Greg Ray, Paul Russo, George Snider, Howdy Wilcox (2)

3rd) Jean Alesi, Martin de Alzaga, Mario Andretti, Ernie Ansterburg, Gary Bettenhausen, Tony Bettenhausen, Jr., Art Bisch, Andre Boillot, Geoff Brabham, Don Branson, S.F. Brock, Jimmy Bryan, Larry Cannon, Shorty Cantlon, Pancho Carter, P.J. Chesson, Charles Cox, Bill Cummings, Conor Daly, Duke Dinsmore, Ronnie Duman, Jules Ellingboe, Bill Endicott, Chet Fillip, Stan Fox, A.J. Foyt IV, Larry Foyt, Aldo Franchi, Milt Frankhouser, Chet Gardner, Spike Gehlhausen, Elmer George, Felipe Giaffone, Al Gordon, Arthur Greiner, Carlos Guerrero, Albert Guyot, Norm Hall, Davey Hamilton, Sam Hanks, J.R. Hildebrand, Bill Homeier, Cliff Hucul, Jim Hurtubise, Joe James, Buddy Lazier, Dave Lewis, Deacon Litz, Jim Malloy, Rex Mays, Jim McElreath, Chet Miller, Juan Pablo Montoya, Mario Moraes, Roberto Moreno, Mike Mosley, Len Ormsby, Francis Quinn, Jimmy Reece, Raul Riganti, Lloyd Ruby, Johnny Rutherford, Eliseo Salazar, Rosco Sarles, Takuma Sato, Louis Schneider, Scott Sharp, Dick Simon, Tom Sneva, Russ Snowberger, Danny Sullivan, Tony Stewart, Bobby Unser, Johnny Unser, Bob Veith, Bruce Walkup, Spider Webb, Dale Whittington, Dempsey Wilson, Cliff Woodbury, Alessandro Zampedri (1)

5/25/97: Todd Bodine, in relief of brother Geoffrey, ends up with #7 team’s third-straight last-place finish

SOURCE: TBS Sports

On May 25, 1997, Todd Bodine picked up the 3rd last-place finish of his NASCAR Winston Cup Series career in the Coca-Cola 600 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway when his #7 QVC Ford lost an engine after 47 of 333 laps.  The finish came in Bodine’s 81st series start.

Todd Bodine was participating in his sixth season on the Winston Cup tour.  The youngest of the three Bodine brothers from Chemung, New York (joining Geoffrey and Brett) was a standout in what is today the NASCAR XFINITY Series, scoring seven wins in his first five seasons, including a 3rd-place spot in the 1992 championship behind Joe Nemechek and Bobby Labonte.

Frank Cicci, his XFINITY Series owner, also gave Todd his first Cup start at Watkins Glen that year.  Though an early crash left his #34 Diet Pepsi Ford 37th, it marked the first time since Rusty, Mike, and Kenny Wallace raced together at Phoenix the previous fall that three brothers raced against each other in a Cup event, and the Bodines did so at their home track.

The next time the Cup Series came to Watkins Glen, Todd took over for Dick Trickle in the #75 Factory Stores Ford fielded by longtime Cup owner Butch Mock.  After a ten-race stretch through the end of the 1993 season, Bodine signed with Mock for a full-year run in 1994.  That year, Todd earned his first Top Ten - a 6th in the spring race at Martinsville - and his first Top Five - a 5th at Loudon in July.  He finished the year with a career-best 3rd in the Atlanta finale, putting a ribbon on a 20th-place showing in the series standings, also the best of his career.  In 1995, Todd took his first Cup victory - in a non-points race - winning the Winton Open and finishing 17th in the main event.

By 1997, however, all three Bodine brothers were starting to struggle in Cup.  Todd was released by Mock at the end of the 1995 season, and for the next two years made a few starts as a journeyman, driving in relief of Bill Elliott, Robert Pressley, and Ricky Craven in addition to a three-race stint with Blair Motorsports.  Brett Bodine bought Junior Johnson’s #11 team in 1996, but after losing sponsor Lowe’s to Richard Childress Racing, was trying to make ends meet with funds from the Close Call Phone Card company.  Oldest brother Geoffrey also had a team of his own - having purchased Alan Kulwicki’s team after the owner-driver’s untimely death in 1993 - and had full-time sponsorship from the QVC home shopping network.  In 1996, Geoffrey scored the 18th Cup victory at Watkins Glen.  It would be the last of his career.

For years, engine failures and crashes had been the bane of Geoffrey’s team, preventing him from a run at the championship.  Those problems grew worse during the spring of 1997, when his team failed to finish six races in a row.  The streak began with back-to-back crashes at Bristol and Martinville, where he started 8th and 3rd but went home 33rd and 29th.  It continued with back-to-back last-place finishes, starting with Sonoma on May 4.  Again, Geoffrey qualified well - 7th on the grid - but the engine let go after just 10 of 74 laps.  It was also the last time a Cup driver finished worse than 43rd in a race - the field allowed a 44th starter for the top-qualifying Winston West competitor, Larry Gunselman.  The next week at Talladega, the engine let go at Talladega, leaving the #7 in 43rd.

Geoffrey was slated to run the next round at the Coca-Cola 600, having finished 11th in The Winston all-star race the week before, but he was injured in a crash during Wednesday’s practice.  Todd, who finished 7th in the Busch Series race at Charlotte, was tabbed as his replacement.  Todd put the backup car 41st on the grid for the 42-car race.  Five drivers missed the show: Chad Little in the green-and-gold #97 John Deere Pontiac then owned by Greg Pollex, Mike Wallace for current part-owner Joe Falk, Ed Berrier for the Sadler Brothers, Bobby Hillin, Jr. In Doug Bawel’s #77 Jasper Engines / Federal Mogul Ford, and Dave Marcis’ #71 RealTree Camouflage Chevrolet.

Starting at the back of the field was Hut Stricklin in the #8 Circuit City Ford for the Stavola Brothers.  Todd fell to the rear after the first couple laps, then caught back up and marched his way to 36th.  Jeremy Mayfield took a turn at the back in th #37 K-Mart / RC Cola Ford owned by Michael Kranefuss, who the next year would align with Roger Penske to expand Penske’s Cup team to its current two cars.  Suddenly, coming off Turn 2, Todd slowed with smoke trailing behind the #7.  Geoffrey, just about to be interviewed by the TBS reporters at the time of the incident, was visibly dejected.

Finishing 41st was Robby Gordon, attempting his first full season in Felix Sabates’ #40 Coors Light Silver Bullet Chevrolet, who crashed on Lap 184.  40th-place Sterling Marlin in the Morgan-McClure owned #4 Kodak Film Chevrolet wrcked on the backstretch on Lap 149.  Kenny Wallace in 39th wrecked on Lap 113 in his #81 Square D Ford, returned along with Marlin to the track, but fell out four circuits after Marlin.  38th-place Ken Schrader led 15 of the first 42 laps, but lost several laps and wound up a disappointing 38th.  Persistent rains shortened the 600 to just under 500 miles with Jeff Gordon taking a narrow victory over Rusty Wallace.

The next week at Dover, Geoffrey returned to the #7 team, but his bad luck continued.  A three-car crash on Lap 241 with Bobby Hillin, Jr. and Dick Trickle took all three cars out of the race.  This time, Hillin was credited with the 43rd and final position, narrowly edging Geoffrey for his team’s fourth-straight last-place showing.

That August, Todd reunited with Frank Cicci at Watkins Glen and surprised everyone by winning the pole - the first of five in Todd’s career.  He signed on for another full-time ride in 1998, the Bob Hancher-owned #35 Tabasco Pontiac, but the turmoil within the team led to him leaving the car at mid-season.  Again, Todd impressed as a journeyman, finishing the year with another 5th-place run at Atlanta driving for Joe Falk.  Another full-time ride came in 2001, when Todd replaced the retiring Darrell Waltrip in Travis Carter’s #66 K-Mart Blue Light Special Ford.  He scored three more poles that season and a pair of Top Fives, but when K-Mart filed for bankruptcy in early 2002, he was left without a sponsor for Las Vegas.  Still, Todd prevailed, putting his blank blue Ford on the pole for the 400-miler.  Following his 2004 LASTCAR Cup Championship, Todd made just more 16 Cup starts, the most recent of which at Michigan in August 2011 for HP Racing LLC.

Todd found his greatest on-track success in the Truck Series.  He’d already scored top-ten finishes in all of his five starts in the series in 1995, and in 2004, was ready to give it another try.  He crossed paths with owner Bob Germain at Richmond, and right away finished 4th, followed by wins at Fontana and Texas.  For the next nine years, Bodine would score two championships in 2006 and 2010 and 22 wins, all but one of which coming with Germain Racing.  Now a TV analyst, Bodine has made a total of 241 Cup starts, most recently at Michigan in 2011, 331 XFINITY starts, including Darlington just last year, and 220 Truck starts.

Of his 37 combined victories in NASCAR’s top three divisions, perhaps the most memorable of Todd’s career came at Darlington in 2003, when he and Jamie McMurray tangled off Turn 4 racing for the lead.  Just as in several of his other strongest runs, the #92 Chevrolet Todd drove that day did not have a primary sponsor.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked the first last-place finish for both Todd Bodine and the #7 in a Cup race at Charlotte.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
42) #7-Todd Bodine / 47 laps / enigne
41) #40-Robby Gordon / 186 laps / crash
40) #4-Sterling Marlin / 188 laps / crash
39) #81-Kenny Wallace / 192 laps / crash
38) #33-Ken Schrader / 231 laps / running / led 15 laps

CUP: Tony Stewart’s final All-Star Race cut short by hard crash

SOURCE: @MRNRadio

Tony Stewart finished last in Saturday’s NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway when his #14 Bass Pro Shops / Tracker Chevrolet was involved in a multi-car crash after he completed 70 of 113 laps.

Stewart’s struggles this year have been well-documented.  After announcing that 2016 would be his final season in Cup before handing his ride to Clint Bowyer, the three-time series champion was critically injured in an off-road accident on January 31, making him miss the first eight races of the season.  He returned to competition at Richmond, finishing 19th, handed his #14 Chevrolet to Ty Dillon at Talladega who then finished 6th, then returned to run 11th at Kansas and 34th at Dover.  He came into the All-Star break 37th in driver points, still searching for a victory to get him into his final Chase.

In Saturday’s postponed practice session, Stewart was the slowest of 15 qualifiers for the All-Star Race, managing just 188.627 mph to Brad Keselowski’s session-topping speed of 192.027.  With qualifying and all remaining practices washed out, Stewart was set to roll off 17th.  The session was deemed too short to set the field, so owner points were used instead.  Stewart’s spot was buoyed slightly by the relief driving work of Ty Dillon and Brian Vickers.

Starting in the 20th and last position for Saturday’s main event was Greg Biffle, who wheeled his #16 Cheez-It Ford to his second-consecutive win in the Showdown by claiming Segment 2.  Biffle held the spot until Lap 24, when Denny Hamlin’s mandated green-flag stop began the night’s flurry of conflicting rules and strategy new to this year’s race.  Danica Patrick was the first to lose a lap on the 28th circuit in her #10 Nature’s Bakery Chevrolet, gave the spot back to Biffle on Lap 30.  Jamie McMurray’s #1 Bas Pro Shops / NWTF.org Chevrolet had it on Lap 32, followed by Danica again on Lap 44.

The first on-track incident to shuffle the order took place on Lap 47.  McMurray’s ill-handling #1 spun off Turn 2, drawing the caution that trapped drivers down a lap and penalized Matt Kenseth. Under the ensuing caution, smoke puffed from beneath McMurray’s right-rear fender.  It wasn’t until Lap 73 that the battle for last actually ended.

Coming off Turn 4, Stewart was running near the back of the pack, still trying to make up a lap he’d lost during the McMurray caution.  At that moment, Chase Elliott slowed his #24 3M Chevrolet from a battle for the lead and plummeted through the pack, apparently headed to pit road.  In a move apparently to avoid Elliott, Matt Kenseth cut right, side-swiping Stewart and shoving the #14 directly into the wall.  Stewart bounced off the SAFER barrier, then slid into the grass, where his nose dug the grass as he was hit again by Kasey Kahne’s #5 Hendrick & Quicken Loans Drive Home A Winner Chevrolet.

Stewart, furious over the night’s chaos and conflicting rules, was done for the night.  He came home one lap behind of Kahne and Kenseth, both also eliminated in the wreck.  McMurray’s #1 never handled right after his spin, leaving him 17th, followed by his disappointed teammate Kyle Larson.  That morning, Larson literally raced Elliott door-to-door for the final transfer spot into the All-Star Race.  With Elliott the fan vote winner, both teams got their cars fixed up in time for the race, and Larson found himself leading the final 13-lap segment.  However, with just two laps to go, a fast-closing Joey Logano found his way by as Larson slid into the outside wall, ending his night.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked the first last-place finish for both Stewart and the #14 in the All-Star Race.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
20) #14-Tony Stewart / 70 laps / crash
19) #5-Kasey Kahne / 71 laps / crash
18) #20-Matt Kenseth / 71 laps / crash
17) #1-Jamie McMurray / 110 laps / running
16) #42-Kyle Larson / 111 laps / crash