NASCAR’s All-Star Race was slowed by another sizable stack-up early on, bringing the first segment to a close at Dover Motor Speedway.
With the field racing with varying degrees of tire wear in a six-lap dash to the segment end, Riley Herbst’s fading No. 35 Toyota was tagged by Alex Bowman’s No. 48 Chevrolet, setting off a chain-reaction melee involving nine cars on the front straightaway.
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Among those caught up in the wake were Chase Elliott, Kyle Busch, Christopher Bell and Zane Smith. Smith’s No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford team was the winner of the Pit Crew Challenge in Saturday’s qualifying session.
“Certainly different tire strategies, I think, had people doing some different stuff there to close out the stage, and then obviously trying to figure out where you’re going to reset and all those things,” said Elliott, who was out of the race after his Hendrick Motorsports No. 9 crew determined his damage was terminal. “So yeah, just a little strategy being played and unfortunately, I got caught up in the mess.”
Nemechek’s crash-damaged No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Toyota finished 26th in the first segment, leaving him in position to start the second 75-lap segment in first place. His car, however, was too far gone and he did not return to the race.
“The 35 (Herbst) about lost it two or three times that last run, and I don’t know if he got help, but he finally lost it on the front straightaway, and I think I got tagged in the left-rear,” Nemechek said. “Everyone was just trying to check up not to hit him, and got spun and hit the inside wall getting into Turn 1 and ruined the race, but overall, really solid day for us. We had a really good shot there. I felt like we were able to make hay there on that for sure on that restart there, and yeah, it sucks. We should be starting on the pole here for the second segment, even being wrecked, so sad day, tough day, but we’ll move on from it and go to Charlotte. Sucks that we weren’t racing for a million dollars.”
The opening 75-lap portion of the non-points race was marked by another nine-car wreck on Lap 2. Bubba Wallace was in front at the end of the first segment.
This story will be updated.
