NASCAR: The Five Best Finishes After The First Half Of 2016

Honorable mention: All-Star Race / Sprint Showdown

Some of the best things we have seen this season have taken place in the All-Star weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway. For the Million Dollar race NASCAR came up with a new aero package that created even less downforce than the one in use in the point-paying races. This created many unstable cars with the drivers always fighting to keep the right line and a high chance of getting sideways when running the corners on the inside of a competitor. And we could definitely witness it both in the Sprint Showdown and in the All-Star Race.

This year’s Showdown format was changed: the race consisted in three segments the winner of each of them would get into the All-Star Race. Trevor Bayne was the surprise of the day and won the first segment by a nose after a superb drag race against Chase Elliott. Greg Biffle dominated the second segment but the third was probably the one that got into our minds the most: before the end of it Elliott caught the leader Kyle Larson and a fierce battle erupted. After three laps of close racing and cars sideways, the Hendrick driver was able to get alongside the leader on the final lap. Larson knew that his only chance at the win was to stop Elliott’s momentum and he did it by making the most possible contact with his opponent to slow him down. He won by the slightest of margins and raced his way in the big race that night.

Larson was in the hunt for the win again in the All-Star Race. Leading in the closing laps of the event, he had a super fast Joey Logano filling up his rearview mirror. With three laps to go Logano started making moves to take the lead and when they got to turn one side by side Larson got loose and crashed into the outside wall ending his hopes of winning a million dollars. In victory lane it was Penske racing that celebrated that night, with Logano winning and Brad Keselowski in second place.

Next: Larson Races Clean