Aric Almirola won Sunday’s NASCAR All-Star Open at Texas Motor Speedway, joining stage winners Ross Chastain and Tyler Reddick in transferring into the NASCAR All-Star Race.
Chastain led just the last two laps in the first 20-lap segment, putting his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet into the night’s main event (8 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM). The second 20-lap stint went to Reddick, who started his No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevy from the pole position and held off Almirola down the stretch. Almirola took command of the final 10-lap shootout to put his No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford in the All-Star Race.
Tyler Reddick led the first 18 laps before giving way to Chastain, finishing second in the opening stage. Corey LaJoie took third, followed by Matt DiBenedetto and Almirola.
With Chastain in the garage with starting spot secured, Reddick took control in Stage 2 and led all the way. Almirola finished second with DiBenedetto, Chris Buescher and Austin Cindric in tow.
Almirola led the final 10 laps to land his All-Star berth, followed by DiBenedetto, Buesche, Chase Briscoe and Cindric.
The 21st and final All-Star starting spot went to DiBenedetto as the top vote-getter in fan balloting who had not already qualified for the main event.
Three caution periods slowed the early action, just in the Open’s first round. Bubba Wallace brought out the first yellow flag on Lap 4 with a solo spin through Turn 2. Buescher also looped around through Turn 3 after contact from Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in a Lap 8 restart. All drivers continued without major damage. Buescher had been mired back after a penalty for jumping the initial start, beating pole-starter Reddick to the green flag.
Erik Jones and Daniel Suarez were both sidelined after completing just 13 laps. Jones lost control of his No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet while racing Briscoe through Turns 3 and 4, then was clobbered by the No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevy of Suarez.
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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