Chase Elliott Wins 2020 NASCAR All-Star Race!
A lot of things make the All-Star race an important race. It’s selective, not everyone can get in, NASCAR uses this race to test out new aero/rule packages… oh and of course the chance for a driver to win a million dollars! Drivers don’t actually get all one million dollars - the prize is split between the team.
Chase Elliott won his first ever All-Star Race this Wednesday. The event looked a little different this year as it was held at Bristol Motor Speedway instead of Charlotte Motor Speedway. This was only the second time the All-Star event was hosted at a track other than Charlotte. The only other track the prestigious race had been held was at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Another interesting addition for the race … the cars had an added underglow for the first time ever. Blue for the Fords, red for Toyotas and orange for the Chevys.
Elliott was qualified to race thanks to his three wins last year at Talladega, Watkins Glen and the Charlotte Roval and his one win at Charlotte this year in May. His All-Star win does not grant him any points (nor do the stage finishes) for the playoffs this fall. The All-Star is a pointsless (but not pointless!) race.
Elliott won three stages of the All-Star. Stage two, three and the final stage of the race. The first stage was won by Elliott’s friend and competitor Ryan Blaney. This is what Elliott said he’ll be doing with his share of the million dollars after the race:
Bristol hosted over thirty thousand fans in the stands Wednesday night. That’s the most fans that have been at any track so far this season. Not every track is allowing fans to be back in the stands just yet. Prior to the All-Star the most fans NASCAR had seen at the track was five hundred.
Three drivers had the opportunity to race their way into the main event. The All-Star Open is a short, three stage race and whoever is in first when a stage ends gets to race in the All-Star. Aric Almirola, William Byron and Matt DiBenedetto all won stages (in that order) to qualify themselves for the All-Star. One driver also gets to be voted in and this year the fan favorite was Clint Bowyer. The four drivers unfortunately did not have underglow on their race cars since it was a toss up was going to win stages in the Open.
This was the final NASCAR race (other than the Gander Outdoor Truck Series) playing on Fox television stations this year! Don’t forget to tune into NBC/NBCSN for the remainder of the 2020 NASCAR season.
The Cup Series is tackling Texas Motor Speedway this weekend July 19th at 3pm EST on NBCSN, don’t be late!
Top-Five at the All-Star! (Via NASCAR.com)
1 Chase Elliott
2 Kyle Busch
3 Kevin Harvick
4 Brad Keselowski
5 Denny Hamlin
After the race Jeff Burton from the NBC crew did a fantastic job breaking down how the choose cone worked during the All-Star. What are your thoughts on it? Should NASCAR implement the choose cone full time or have you not seen enough of it to decide yet?
