Bowman, Suarez, Allmendinger and Elliott advance to NASCAR All-Star Race

Nick Bromberg
·College football and motorsports writer
The four drivers complete the 21-car field for the All-Star Race.
The four drivers complete the 21-car field for the All-Star Race.

Well, the qualifying race for the NASCAR All-Star Race was entertaining.

Alex Bowman won the first stage, Daniel Suarez won the second stage, AJ Allmendinger won the third and final stage, and Chase Elliott won the fan vote to advance to Saturday night’s All-Star Race.

Seventeen drivers were already qualified for the race via wins in 2017 or 2018, previous All-Star Race wins or Cup Series championships. The four drivers above complete the 21-driver field.

The All-Star Race is being run with restrictor plates, air ducts and taller spoilers on the car. The attributes slow the cars down and make the draft a priority at the 1.5-mile Charlotte Motor Speedway. Throughout the qualifying race’s 50 laps no one could sprint away from the field — a common theme during points races at Charlotte. But the rules package had an air of artificiality to it.

It was fun because it was different. But was it fun on its own? We’re not sure. We’ll have a better answer after the All-Star Race itself, which goes green after 7 p.m. ET.

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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.

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