Biffle, Bowyer and Patrick advance to Saturday’s All-Star Race

Greg Biffle was unexpectedly dominant.

Clint Bowyer was unexpectedly daring.

And both gained entry into Saturday night’s NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Biffle led all 20 laps of Segment 1 of the Sprint Showdown to become the first of three drivers added to the all-star field. Bowyer raced three-wide with Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Larson and emerged the leader early in Segment 2 and held on for the victory.

Once the races were over, NASCAR announced Danica Patrick would be the final driver to gain entry into the All-Star Race after winning the Sprint Fan Vote.

Qualifying for the All-star Race is 7 p.m. Saturday.

Turning point

Truex got off to a strong start in the second segment and looked like he would jump up to a big lead like Biffle did in Segment 1, but a caution bunched the field. It was shortly after the restart where Truex, Bowyer and Larson battled more than a lap three-wide around the track.

Three who mattered

Greg Biffle: It’s been a tough season for Roush Fenway Racing and Biffle in particular. Any victory is a welcomed one.

Clint Bowyer: Bowyer, too, has not had the season he wanted so far and is extremely stoked for the opportunity at the chance to win $1 million.

Danica Patrick: She is the first driver to gain entry to the all-star vote by winning the Sprint Fan Vote more than once. It’s also the only way she has made both of her starts in the race.

Observations

<bullet> The good thing about this season’s format: Everybody who gained late admission into the All-Star Race did so by winning something – a 20-lap race or the fan vote. The bad thing: Twenty laps doesn’t seem long enough to actually race for something on a 1.5-mile track. If not for a caution in Segment 2, both could have been led flag-to-flag.

<bullet> For drivers like Biffle and Bowyer, who have had difficult seasons and could have missed the race, it was interesting to see how much it meant to them to make their way into field. Even if, as Bowyer said, nobody remembers anything other than who won.

They said it

“It gives us a bunch of confidence. We know we still have a lot of other cars to compete against, but it felt good to win half a race.” – Greg Biffle

N@SCAR

Three tweets from Friday’s Sprint Showdown:

This story was originally published May 15, 2015 at 8:46 PM with the headline "Biffle, Bowyer and Patrick advance to Saturday’s All-Star Race."