Bowyer, Blaney, Suarez, Elliott make Monster Energy All-Star Race

Bowyer, Blaney, Suarez, Elliott make Monster Energy All-Star Race

Cup Series

Bowyer, Blaney, Suarez, Elliott make Monster Energy All-Star Race

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The field for the 32nd annual Monster Energy All-Star Race is set.

Clint Bowyer, Ryan Blaney and Daniel Suarez were the three drivers to advance into the main race after winning a stage in the Monster Energy Open. Chase Elliott won the fan vote to be the fourth and final driver to advance. The All-Star Race will feature 20 drivers.

Bowyer won the pole for Monster Energy Open and went unchallenged in the first stage, leading all 20 laps on his way to the win over Ryan Blaney.

“It’s big,” Bowyer said of advancing. “This is a big night. A million bucks is a lot of money. We’ve got a shot at it. We’ve got a good car; our Haas Automation Ford is strong and I’m just proud to be a part of it. This is without a doubt, I think, the toughest Open.

“I think this is the third time I’ve had to run it and when you’ve got Blaney that qualifies really good, he’s always had speed, especially last week. Looking back at Kansas he was one of the cars to beat, so you had Chase in it too. It’s a tough crowd, so I’m proud to be in it.”

Blaney then inherited the lead and kept it as his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing team got him off pit road first during a round of pit stops.

Blaney then led all 20 laps of Stage 2 to advance into the All-Star Race. Elliott finished second.

“Honestly, I think it’s more pressure to just get in it than the Open,” Blaney said. “Once you’re in it you’re just gonna race hard for a million bucks. I was probably more nervous trying to hold Chase [Elliott] off there than I will be all night trying to get up through the field. You want to have a chance to race for the money and the Open is our way to do it. I didn’t want to do anything to blow that. I think there was more pressure in the Open than the actual All-Star Race, but you never know.”

For the final stage, Landon Cassill restarted as the leader after taking the top spot on pit road with a two-tire call. The lead didn’t last long as Cassill was spun by third-place Elliott at the start of the stage.

With four laps to go Suarez and Elliott began a furious battle for the lead, allowing Erik Jones to close from third. Jones made a bold move to the inside coming off Turn 4 but clipped the grass, heavily damaging the left front of his No. 77 Toyota and nearly spinning in Turn 1. The damage was enough to cause Jones to retire from the race.

On the restart, Suarez drove away from Austin Dillon and Elliott to win the stage.

“It means a lot,” Suarez said of making the All-Star Race. “I’m very proud of these guys, they’ve been working super hard the entire week and yesterday we didn’t have the speed. Today we unloaded the car with a different setup and we just went out there to qualify and see what we had and luckily it worked out decent. We started the race super tight and we had to make some adjustments, but right there at the end I felt we were pretty decent.”

The Monster Energy All-Star Race will be four segments split into 20-20-20-10 laps. Only 10 drivers will advance to the final stage with a chance to win $1 million. Drivers can advance to that stage by winning one of the first three stages or have a high enough average finish to earn one of the other spots.

Joey Logano won the 2016 All-Star Race over Kyle Larson. Larson starts on the pole tonight.

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