2021 NASCAR All-Star Race explained

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2021 NASCAR All-Star Race
Headerstyle:background:#efefef
Header1:Race details[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]
Label3:Date
Label4:Location
Data4:Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas
Label5:Course
Data5:Permanent racing facility
1.5 mi (2.4 km)
Label6:Distance
Data6:Open: 50 laps, 75miles
Stage 1: 20 laps
Stage 2: 20 laps
Stage 3: 10 laps
All-Star Race: 100 Laps, 150miles
Stage 1: 15 laps
Stage 2: 15 laps
Stage 3: 15 laps
Stage 4: 15 laps
Stage 5: 30 laps
Stage 6: 10 laps[8]
Label7:Avg Speed
Data7:Open: 94.67mph
All-Star Race: 84.919mph
Label8:Weather
Header9:NASCAR All Star Open
Label10:Pole
Data10:Tyler Reddick (Richard Childress Racing)
Label11:Time
Data11:N/A
Label12:Winner (segment 1)
Data12:Ross Chastain (Chip Ganassi Racing)
Label13:Winner (segment 2)
Data13:Tyler Reddick (Richard Childress Racing)
Label14:Winner (segment 3)
Data14:Aric Almirola (Stewart Haas Racing)
Label15:Fan Vote winners
Data15:Matt DiBenedetto (Wood Brothers Racing)
Header16:NASCAR All-Star Race
Label17:Pole
Data17:Kyle Larson (Hendrick Motorsports)
Label18:Time
Data18:N/A
Label19:Most laps led
Data19:William Byron (Hendrick Motorsports)
Label20:Laps led
Data20:30
Label21:Winner
Data21:Kyle Larson (Hendrick Motorsports)
Header22:Television
Label23:Network
Data23:FS1
Label24:Announcers
Data24:Mike Joy, Jeff Gordon and Clint Bowyer
Label25:Nielsen ratings
Header26:Radio
Label27:Network
Data27:Motor Racing Network
Label28:Announcers
Data28:Alex Hayden and Jeff Striegle (Booth)
Dave Moody (1 & 2)
Mike Bagley (3 & 4) (Turns)

The 2021 NASCAR All-Star Race (XXXVII) was a NASCAR Cup Series stock car exhibition race held on June 13, 2021, at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. Contested over 100 laps, it was the second exhibition race of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season.

Report

Background

The All-Star Race is open to race winners from last season through the 2021 Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway, all previous All-Star race winners, NASCAR Cup champions who had attempted to qualify for every race in 2021, the winner of each stage of the All-Star Open, and the winner of the All-Star fan vote are eligible to compete in the All-Star Race.

In 2020, the race was moved to Bristol Motor Speedway in July, as the COVID-19 pandemic prevented Charlotte from accommodating fans.[9] The venue changed again in 2021 to Texas Motor Speedway, which replaced its spring date with the All-Star Race.[10]

Entry list

NASCAR All Star Open
DriverTeamManufacturer
00 Chevrolet
7 Chevrolet
8 Chevrolet
10 Ford
13 David Starr (i) Toyota
14 Chase Briscoe (R) Ford
15 Chevrolet
17 Ford
21 Ford
23 Toyota
33 Austin Cindric (i) Ford
38 Anthony Alfredo (R) Ford
42 Chevrolet
43 Chevrolet
47 Chevrolet
51 Cody Ware (i) Chevrolet
52 Ford
53 Garrett Smithley (i) Chevrolet
66 Timmy Hill (i) Toyota
77 Justin Haley (i) Chevrolet
78 B. J. McLeod (i) Ford
99 Chevrolet
Official entry list
NASCAR All-Star Race
DriverTeamManufacturer
1 Chevrolet
2 Ford
3 Chevrolet
4 Ford
5 Chevrolet
6 Ford
9 Chevrolet
11 Toyota
12 Ford
18 Toyota
19 Toyota
20 Toyota
22 Ford
24 Chevrolet
34 Ford
41 Ford
48 Chevrolet
Official entry list

Qualifying (Open)

Tyler Reddick was awarded the pole for the open as it was determined by current driver points.

Open Starting Lineup

PosDriverTeamManufacturer
18 Chevrolet
217 Ford
321 Ford
447 Chevrolet
542 Chevrolet
623 Toyota
799 Chevrolet
843 Chevrolet
914 Chase Briscoe (R) Ford
1010 Ford
117 Chevrolet
1238 Anthony Alfredo (R) Ford
1300 Chevrolet
1415 Chevrolet
1552 Ford
1633 Austin Cindric (i) Ford
1751 Cody Ware (i) Chevrolet
1878 B. J. McLeod (i) Ford
1977 Justin Haley (i)
2053 Garrett Smithley (i) Chevrolet
2166 Timmy Hill (i) Toyota
2213 David Starr (i) Toyota
Official Open starting lineup

Race recap

For pre race ceremonies, Brigadier General Lisa M. Craig would give out the command to start engines. Austin Cindric (multiple inspection failures), Ross Chastain (aero duct not conforming to NASCAR regulations), and David Starr (unapproved adjustments) were forced to start at the back.

On the start of the race, Chris Buescher was found to had jumped the restart over Tyler Reddick, and thus was given a pass through penalty. Austin Cindric was also given a pass through penalty because NASCAR determined he had switched lanes before the start-finish line. 6 laps into the 20 lap Round 1, Bubba Wallace would spin in Turn 2, causing the first caution of the day. On the ensuing restart on lap 10, Stenhouse drifted up high in Turn 3, spinning out Chris Buescher, causing the second caution of the day. Once again, on the restart on lap 14, Erik Jones would spin after hitting Chase Briscoe and spinning out, causing a major stackup within the field. Daniel Suarez would hit Jones, causing major damage to both cars. After a hard fought battle, Ross Chastain would win Round 1.

In Round 2, after a relatively less chaotic race, Tyler Reddick would successfully defend against Aric Almirola to win Round 2.

In the final round, Aric Almirola would redeem himself, pulling away to win Round 3.

Matt DiBenedetto would win the fan vote.

Qualifying (All-Star Race)

Kyle Larson was awarded the pole for the race as determined by a random draw.

All-Star Race Starting Lineup

PosDriverTeamManufacturer
15 Chevrolet
218 Toyota
320 Toyota
441 Ford
53 Chevrolet
69
722 Ford
824 Chevrolet
92 Ford
1019 Toyota
1134 Ford
124 Ford
131 Chevrolet
146 Ford
1548 Chevrolet
1611 Toyota
1712 Ford
1842 Chevrolet
198 Chevrolet
2010 Ford
2121 Ford
Official All-Star starting lineup

Race recap

For driver introductions, Jamie Little and Adam Alexander announced each driver in order of the starting lineup, being accompanied by the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders and music played by local cover band, the Clayton Foghat Band.

For pre race ceremonies, Norm Miller, chairman of Interstate Batteries gave the invocation, and the Side Deal gave an acapella version of the national anthem. Joe Gibbs and Tom Landry, Jr. would give out the command. While cars were doing warm up laps, Sammy Hagar would perform “I Can't Drive 55”.

The race would start with Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson fighting for the lead, but on lap 2 Christopher Bell would lose control of his car in Turn 1, but would save the car. Nevertheless, the first caution was called.

NASCAR All Star Open

NASCAR All Star Open results

PosGridDriverTeamManufacturer
1 10 10 Aric Almirola Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 50
2 3 21 Matt DiBenedetto Wood Brothers Racing Ford 50
3 2 17 Chris Buescher Roush Fenway Racing Ford 50
4 9 14 Chase Briscoe (R) Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 50
5 16 33 Austin Cindric (i) Team Penske Ford 50
6 6 23 Bubba Wallace 23XI Racing Toyota 50
7 19 77 Justin Haley (i) Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 50
8 12 38 Anthony Alfredo (R) Front Row Motorsports Ford 50
9 4 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 50
10 11 7 Corey LaJoie Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 50
11 17 51 Cody Ware (i) Petty Ware Racing Chevrolet 50
12 18 78 B. J. McLeod (i) Live Fast Motorsports Ford 50
13 15 52 Josh Bilicki Rick Ware Racing Ford 50
14 20 53 Garrett Smithley (i) Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet 50
15 13 00 Quin Houff StarCom Racing Chevrolet 49
16 14 15 James Davison Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet 49
17 21 66 Timmy Hill (i) MBM Motorsports Toyota 49
18 22 13 David Starr (i) MBM Motorsports Toyota 49
19 1 8 Tyler Reddick Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 40
20 5 42 Ross Chastain Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 20
21 8 43 Erik Jones Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet 13
22 7 99 Daniel Suarez Trackhouse Racing Team Chevrolet 13
Winner of the second segment.
Winner of the first segment.
Official NASCAR All Star Open race results

All-Star Race

In the main event, Kyle Larson was awarded the pole. Christopher Bell spun on the first lap, but saved the car from hitting anything. The race was broken into six segments with Larson, Ryan Blaney, Alex Bowman, William Byron, and Chase Elliott winning the segments. Elliott's team won the pit road challenge for the final segment. In the first segment, Larson passed and held off Brad Keselowski for the $1 million and his second All-Star Race win.

All-Star Race results

PosGridDriverTeamManufacturer
1 1 5 Kyle Larson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 100
2 9 2 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 100
3 6 9 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 100
4 7 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 100
5 17 12 Ryan Blaney Team Penske Ford 100
6 15 48 Alex Bowman Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 100
7 8 24 William Byron Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 100
8 20 10 Aric Almirola Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 100
9 2 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 100
10 13 1 Kurt Busch Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 100
11 3 20 Christopher Bell Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 100
12 11 34 Michael McDowell Front Row Motorsports Ford 100
13 10 19 Martin Truex Jr. Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 100
14 4 41 Cole Custer Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 100
15 12 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 100
16 19 8 Tyler Reddick Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 100
17 21 21 Matt DiBenedetto Wood Brothers Racing Ford 100
18 18 42 Ross Chastain Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 100
19 5 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 100
20 14 6 Ryan Newman Roush Fenway Racing Ford 100
21 16 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 100
Official NASCAR All-Star Race results

Media

Television

Fox Sports was the television broadcaster of the race in the United States. Lap-by-lap announcer, Mike Joy, Jeff Gordon and Clint Bowyer called the race from the broadcast booth. Jamie Little, Regan Smith and Vince Welch handled pit road for the television side. Larry McReynolds provided insight from the Fox Sports studio in Charlotte. This was also Fox Sports' last Cup race for their portion of the 2021 season as NBC Sports takes over NASCAR broadcasts for the rest of the season.

Radio

Motor Racing Network (MRN) continued their longstanding relationship with Speedway Motorsports to broadcast the race on radio. The lead announcers for the race's broadcast were Alex Hayden and Jeff Striegle. The network also implemented two announcers on each side of the track: Dave Moody in turns 1 and 2 and Mike Bagley in turns 3 and 4. Steve Post and Kim Coon were the network's pit lane reporters. The network's broadcast was also simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 2021 schedule . Jayski.com. . April 29, 2021.
  2. Web site: Texas Motor Speedway. NASCAR.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC.. April 29, 2021. January 3, 2013. October 30, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151030043513/http://www.nascar.com/en_us/nascar-tracks/texas-motor-speedway.html. dead.
  3. Web site: Open Entry List. Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. June 7, 2021. June 7, 2021.
  4. Web site: All-Star Race Entry List. Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. June 7, 2021. June 7, 2021.
  5. Web site: Open & All Star Race Starting Lineups. NASCAR.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC.. June 8, 2021. June 8, 2021.
  6. Web site: NASCAR All-Star Open Results. NASCAR.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC.. June 13, 2021. June 13, 2021.
  7. Web site: NASCAR All-Star Race Results. NASCAR.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC.. June 13, 2021. June 13, 2021.
  8. Web site: NASCAR, Texas Motor Speedway Announce 2021 All Star Race Format. Jayski.com. . April 29, 2021.
  9. Web site: Annual All-Star Race moved to Bristol Motor Speedway . NASCAR.com . NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. . June 15, 2020 . June 16, 2020.
  10. News: Davison. Drew. Texas Motor Speedway lands 2021 NASCAR All-Star Race. Will it become the permanent home?. Fort Worth Star-Telegram. September 30, 2020. February 2, 2021.