Logano Wins Confusing Race at Charlotte

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Published on May 23 2016 6:49 am
Last Updated on May 23 2016 6:49 am

NASCAR attempted a new Sprint All-Star Race format to increase passing in the final green-lap dash to the finish and succeeded, as Joey Logano outmaneuvered Kyle Larson with two laps remaining to win the $1 million exhibition race. But a whole lot of confusion reigned before the outcome Saturday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

NASCAR went to a new format of two 50-lap segments that required green-flag pit stops during the segments. That caused incredible confusion when the caution came out near the end of the first segment.

"It's the dumbest damn thing I've ever been a part of," three-time Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart said after getting caught up in an accident where he felt he should have been higher in the field if not for how NASCAR scored him.

Logano acknowleged he experienced similar confusion during the race.

"I was confused," Logano said. "All I know is if there is a car in front of me, I probably should pass him. That's kind of where my head was. It doesn't have to be as complicated as you think it is."

Scott Miller, NASCAR's senior vice president for competition, said NASCAR tried to predict all the scenarios but didn't anticipate that a driver would risk staying out until the last moment in the first segment and trapping drivers a lap down while also eventually having to serve a penalty himself.

"It's something that we certainly, if we continue on with this format, we have to look at," Miller said. "But you have to expect that certain circumstances are going to happen in this type of race, and we had one crop up tonight that maybe we could have been a little bit more ready for and weren't.

"It was a very unique situation, and we did not in our race procedures have a mechanism to correct that."

The confusion continued late into the race. Some speculated that Kyle Busch sped on pit road on purpose so he would be one of the drivers not allowed to pit before the 13-lap dash to finish. He looked at such a suggestion as if it were nuts, although Jimmie Johnson actually sandbagged so he would have old tires at the end.