Jarrett/Motorsport Images
Chastain among four drivers to advance from Open, complete All-Star Race field
The 21-driver field for the All-Star Race (8 p.m. ET, Fox Sports 1) is set at Texas Motor Speedway.
Three drivers, Ross Chastain, Tyler Reddick, and Aric Almirola, advanced through stage wins in the 50-lap All-Star Open. Matt DiBenedetto won the Fan Vote.
The opening 20-lap stage was a messy one.
Chris Buescher was penalized for jumping the initial start on pole-sitter Reddick, while Austin Cindric was penalized for changing lanes before the start/finish line. Then three cautions interrupted the action.
Darrell Wallace Jr. and Buescher both saved their cars from disaster after spinning and continued. Wallace spun in Turn 2 on lap 4 and Buescher in Turn 4 on lap 9.
Erik Jones and Daniel Suarez were knocked out of the race in a crash on lap 13. Jones spun in Turn 4 while fighting underneath Chase Briscoe, and Suarez had nowhere to go and hit Jones’s Chevrolet.
Reddick led the field to the green flag for a two-lap dash to end the stage. Chastain restarted to Reddick’s outside and hung on Reddick’s right-rear to pull ahead at the white flag. Then Chastain cleared Reddick in Turn 1 and won the first stage to advance into the All-Star Race for the first time.
Reddick and Cindric were on the front row for the start of the second 20-lap stage, which went green from flag to flag. Reddick led the entire way to advance, holding off Almirola. It is the first time Reddick will compete in the All-Star Race.
https://twitter.com/TXMotorSpeedway/status/1404211083007700992
Almirola and Matt DiBenedetto started on the front row for the final stage, and that is how they finished. The last 10 laps went caution-free, with Almirola driving away after clearing DiBenedetto. It will be Almirola’s fourth appearance in the All-Star Race.
DiBenedetto was named the All-Star Fan Vote winner. He will compete in the All-Star Race for the second consecutive year.
The four drivers who advanced into the All-Start Race will start 18th, 19th, 20th, and 21st, respectively.
Kelly Crandall
Kelly has been on the NASCAR beat full-time since 2013, and joined RACER as chief NASCAR writer in 2017. Her work has also appeared in NASCAR.com, the NASCAR Illustrated magazine, and NBC Sports. A corporate communications graduate from Central Penn College, Crandall is a two-time George Cunningham Writer of the Year recipient from the National Motorsports Press Association.
Read Kelly Crandall's articles
Latest News
Comments
Comments are disabled until you accept Social Networking Cookies. Update cookie preferences
If the dialog doesn't appear, ad-blockers are often the cause; try disabling yours or see our Social Features Support.
