RELATED: Race results | Detailed breakdown
Kyle Busch made a dramatic three-wide pass on the final restart to get past Brad Keselowski and Jimmie Johnson and drive away with $1 million for winning Saturday’s Monster Energy All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Keselowski, who had no sets of tires left, stayed out on the race’s final pit stop and spun the tires on the final restart. That allowed Busch to move by him on the inside, where the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota narrowly missed clipping the infield grass.
For Busch it was his first All-Star Race victory and his first win in the premier series level at Charlotte. Busch denied Jimmie Johnson’s run for a fifth All-Star Race win. Johnson fell behind Kyle Larson on the final lap and finished third.
Johnson won Stage 3 to advance to the final 10-lap, 10-car shootout for the $1 million. Larson won Stages 1 and 2, leading all 40 laps in the process.
Kurt Busch and Jamie McMurray rounded out the top five.
Ryan Newman headed to the garage late in Stage 3 after making contact with Denny Hamlin and finished 19th. Before Stage 2 was underway, Matt Kenseth went to the garage with an apparent oil leak and finished 20th.
Tire strategy came into play as teams were afforded one set of option (softer) tires to use during the race.
Clint Bowyer, who was ninth after Stage 2, put all four option tires on during a pit stop, then removed the two option tires on the right side and replaced them with prime tires. He finished in 13th place.
Keselowski put on his option tires, ran two caution laps, then came back down pit road to replace the option tires, meaning they were no longer available to him, and he had to stay out on the final pit stop.
The winners of the first three stages of tonight’s race advanced to the final stage, and the rest of the 10-car field was set based on average finish for the first three stages.
Dale Earnhardt Jr., competing in his final All-Star Race, dropped from sixth place to 16th during Stage 1. Junior finished in 18th place.
This story will be updated.