Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chris Buescher and Daniel Suarez each won a segment in the All-Star Open to advance to the All-Star Race. The Open featured three segments of 20, 20 and 10 laps.
Erik Jones became the 24th and final entry in the All-Star field after winning the Fan Vote.
“We definitely got a fortunate circumstance there getting to go to the front row. Our (Car) took off really, really strong there,” Stenhouse said. “The team has been working really hard the last few weeks and we’ve been getting results, which is nice.
“Now, we get to go race for $1 million dollars and be in the big show. We sat and watched it last year, so it feels really good.”
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Stage 3
Suarez held off Austin Dillon by 1.393 seconds to win the final 10-lap segment of the All-Star Open and advanced to the main event.
Haley finished third, Corey LaJoie fourth and Jones rounded out the top-five.
Between Stages 2 and 3, a handful of drivers pit but Suarez stayed out and inherited the lead when the final 10-lap segment went green.
Cole Custer had an uncontrolled tire penalty on his stop and had to restart from the rear of the field.
Suarez quickly cleared for the lead on the restart but Tyler Reddick spun off Turn 4 on Lap 42 and collected Harrison Burton in the process to bring out a caution.
On the restart on Lap 43, Suarez led the way followed by LaJoie (and on the newest tires), Austin Dillon, Jones and Haley.
With five laps remaining, Suarez led the way with Austin Dillon up to second and Haley third.
Stage 2
Buescher held off a late-charge by Suarez to take the Stage 2 win and advance to the All-Star Race main event.
Reddick was third, Jones fourth and Austin Dillon was fifth.
Between Stages 1 and 2, most lead-lap cars elected to pit with Suarez the first off pit road thanks to a two-tire pit stop. Justin Haley had an uncontrolled tire during his stop and had to restart from the rear of the field.
LaJoie, who did not pit, started the stage on the pole
On Lap…
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