Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott mount epic battle for Sprint Showdown segment win

Rea White

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Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott mount epic battle for Sprint Showdown segment win image

Three segments. Three chances to be an all-star. Literally.

Twenty-five NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers raced in the rain-delayed Sprint Showdown on Saturday morning at Charlotte Motor Speedway — three knew they had a chance to be in the main event later Saturday. All it took was a win in one of the three segments.

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It wasn't as easy as that sounds, especially not in the door-to-door battle to the line in the final 10-lap segment in which Chase Elliott ended up as the runner-up in a segment for the second time. With nothing but money on the line - especially the $1 million prize for the All-Star Race winner - drivers certainly didn't hold back as they battled to make that premier event.

The first to win a segment was Trevor Bayne after a bold move late in the opening segment. The second segment was taken by Greg Biffle, giving Roush Fenway an early sweep in the Showdown. Kyle Larson won the third after a heated battle with Elliott. 

In the opening segment, Bayne took Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott three-wide for the lead on the restart after the lone caution in the segment.

Elliott led from the pole position with fellow rookie Blaney running about half a second behind him in the opening laps as there was little movement among the leaders. Kyle Larson made contact with the wall midway through the opening segment, but easily remained in the top 10.

The caution came out on Lap 15 as Michael McDowell slid across the grass and came to a stop on the frontstretch after getting loose coming off Turn 4. Several drivers pitted for two tires, a strategy move made with an eye on the second segment. AJ Allmendinger, a previous Showdown winner, was among those.

Blaney, who had run in the top three throughout the race, was posted for a restart violation after battling three wide with Bayne and Elliott for the win, putting him at the tail end of the field to start the second segment.

"He was spinning his tires on the bottom and [Bayne] was pushing me, and I was half-throttle on the brakes and I don’t know what to do," he said. "I’ve got someone driving me forward and the [Elliott] is spinning his tires. I don’t know what I could have done to stop. I really don’t, and we maybe beat him by two feet. I don’t know. It’s such a weird and tricky call to make. It’s a judgment call and it’s unfortunate it bit us, but I think one thing we can look back and be proud of is how fast our car was."

Brian Scott was assessed a penalty for a lug-nut violation after the mandatory pit stop following the segment and Cole Whitt was penalized for having too many men over the wall, so they joined Blaney at the rear of the field. 

“That was pretty cool," Bayne said. "That takes me back to Texas in 2011 in the Xfinity race when I restarted fourth and pushed Carl [Edwards] out before winning the race. I was thinking about what I could do and I timed the restart really good and got right to [Ryan Blaney's] bumper at the line and was able to get three-wide off of Turn 2. The car was pretty good there. In clean air I was alright. I was a little concerned with dirty air, but I got a run and went through the middle.  

"It was a little sketchy squeezing through that hole, but it worked.” 

Elliott, stunned at the line in the opening segment, started the second segment from the pole position as well, with Austin Dillon also on the front row and Biffle and Larson on the second row. 

Soon it became a showdown between Biffle and Dillon. On Lap 25, Biffle – who had pitted during the opening segment for tires, then changed two on the mandatory stop – stormed alongside Dillon and eased past him to the inside for the lead.

On Lap 28, Dillon seemed to slow and dropped back, quickly falling to sixth, one spot behind Elliott. Blaney, for his part, was also trying to work back into contention and was eighth on Lap 34. 

Biffle was lapping cars by the end of the segment as he pulled away from Larson by more than two seconds, handily winning the segment. 

“[Crew chief] Brian Pattie is a very, very smart veteran crew chief in this sport and it was his call," Biffle said. "I was skeptical of it, trust me, but I tell you what, what really made the difference was we made a chassis adjustment, two left side tires, the car was really fast the last single lap that we made under green and I was able to pass four cars in one lap. Then we came down and the guys ripped off a great two-tire stop like a lot of other cars did and got us out third.  

"Really, that’s what did it. I was being as aggressive as I could be, and I knew it was 20 laps and I knew that was my chance. {Austin Dillon's] car was a little bit loose and so was I, but I made some adjustments on my driving style and was able to get by him.” 

In the third segment, Elliott stormed through the field from the restart after opting to give up some position to change four tires on the pit stop prior to the segment. Elliott shifted up near the wall, racing past cars easily and weaving his way to third. 

He took a little longer to get to second, passing Allmendinger to take the spot and setting his sights on leader Larson. 

With two to go, Elliott jumped to the inside of Larson. He looked like he would make the pass, but Elliott slid sideways, giving up the battle briefly. With Blaney closing on his rear, Elliott made the move once more. He moved to the outside of Larson. Larson and he made contact, with Elliott slammed between Larson and the wall. They stayed together, wobbling toward the finish but somehow maintaining control.

Larson held off Elliott at the line to take the win as Elliott’s smashed car came to a rest in its stall. 

“Chase got to my inside there with 2 [laps] to go and I was able to run him pretty hard there and get him loose and was hoping I could hold him off to the checkered," Larson said. "I knew he’d get close. I didn’t know he would get that close there coming to the line. I had to squeeze him because I knew he was going to get the fan vote. He has a lot of fans. I knew Danica [Patrick] was going to get the fan vote also. And if Chase was to win, I wouldn’t be in. So, I had to do everything I could do to get to the start/finish line in first and luckily it paid off.”

Moments later, it was announced that Elliott was one of the two Fan Vote winners and will make the All-Star field as well. Danica Patrick also earned a berth through the voting.

The Showdown was scheduled for Friday night but rain throughout the day and night forced it to be postponed until Saturday morning. The winners now face two non-points races in one day, as do the winners of the Sprint Fan Vote.

No driver has ever made the field for the All-Star race via the Showdown and gone on to win the All-Star Race.

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The premier event (9 p.m. ET, FS1) totals 113 laps. There are two 50-lap segments with mandatory green-flag pit stops followed by the final 13-lap run for the $1 million prize.

Entering the final run, a random draw determined whether the top nine, 10 or 11 cars will enter pit road for a mandatory four-tire pit stop. The rest of the field will move to the front, but race on older tires.

According to Weather.com, there was a 35 percent chance that rain returned to the track area at 4 p.m. ET Saturday. The forecast hovered between 40-50 percent chance of rain from 5 to 10 p.m., but then decreased quickly.

Rea White