Denny Hamlin wins All-Star Race, $1 million

Denny Hamlin took the #11 Toyota to his first win in the Sprint All-Star Race on Saturday evening at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. It was also the first All-Star win for his team, Joe Gibbs Racing as well as Toyota. He won from the pole, having turned the fastest laps during qualifying earlier in the evening, and got $1 million for his win, as is customary for the All-Star Race. Hamlin inherited the lead when Brad Keselowski, driving a throwback scheme on his #2 Team Penske Ford that resembled the 1997-2000 variation of Rusty Wallace's "Blue Deuce" Miller Lite machine in honor of the 25 years of the Miller-Penske partnership, was caught speeding on pit road during the last set of pit stops, along with Hamlin's teammate, Carl Edwards in the #19 Toyota.

Keselowski led the most laps in the 110-lap, five segment event, which also saw Kasey Kahne, Kurt Busch and Kevin Harvick out front for long stretches. Second-place starter Greg Biffle and defending race winner Jamie McMurray also led a couple of circuits around the 1.5-mile quad-oval. The first four segments consisted of 25 laps, with a final ten-lap sprint to the finish to close it out. After segment 1, all drivers made pit stops, with some drivers such as Dale Earnhardt Jr., with a special Mountain Dew Baja Blast scheme on his #88 Chevrolet, opting for two tires instead of four, and consequently getting shuffled back several spots when the green flag came out for segment 2. Earnhardt's teammate Kahne led at the end of segment 1, Keselowski after segment 2 and 3, and Kurt Busch after segment 4. During segment 3, fan vote winner Danica Patrick lost power on her #10 Stewart-Haas Racing Mobil 1/Aspen Dental Chevrolet and lost 32 laps getting repairs in the garage. Early in the fourth segment, Joey Logano nearly spun the #22 Team Penske Ford and fell from sixth to 16th. There were no cautions during any of the 110 scheduled laps.

Next week, the Sprint Cup Series remains at Charlotte, where many of the sport's top teams are based, for the equally prestigious Coca-Cola 600, held the Sunday before Memorial Day, May 24 in the evening after IndyCar's Indianapolis 500. It is the longest race in any NASCAR series at any level and is considered a real test of skill and endurance, and just like the All-Star Race is not to be missed.

Race Results:

1. (1) 11-Denny Hamlin - Toyota - 110 laps, led 26 laps
2. (20) 4-Kevin Harvick - Chevrolet - 110 laps
3. (16) 41-Kurt Busch - Chevrolet - 110 laps, led 24 laps
4. (9) 24-Jeff Gordon - Chevrolet - 110 laps
5. (17) 20-Matt Kenseth - Toyota - 110 laps
6. (19) 18-Kyle Busch - Toyota - 110 laps
7. (5) 5-Kasey Kahne - Chevrolet - 110 laps, led 11 laps
8. (11) 22-Joey Logano - Ford - 110 laps
9. (3) 2-Brad Keselowski - Ford - 110 laps, led 49 laps
10. (7) 88-Dale Earnhardt Jr. - Chevrolet - 110 laps
11. (13) 47-A.J. Allmendinger - Chevrolet - 110 laps
12. (4) 15-Clint Bowyer - Toyota - 110 laps
13. (2) 16-Greg Biffle - Ford - 110 laps
14. (8) 43-Aric Almirola - Ford - 110 laps
15. (12) 48-Jimmie Johnson - Chevrolet - 110 laps
16. (14) 1-Jamie McMurray - Chevrolet - 110 laps
17. (10) 19-Carl Edwards - Toyota - 110 laps
18. (18) 31-Ryan Newman - Chevrolet - 110 laps
19. (15) 14-Tony Stewart - Chevrolet - 110 laps
20. (6) 10-Danica Patrick - Chevrolet - 78 laps (32 laps down)