Stewart snags $1 million in Sprint All-Star race

Tony Stewart became only the second driver/owner to win the Sprint All-Star race Saturday as he came around Turns 1 and 2 to pass Matt Kenseth with just two laps to go.

Stewart battled from mid pack, starting the four-segment 100-lap event from the 15th position. He finished the first 50-lap segment in the 9th spot and moved up one position at the conclusion of the second stage, which was 20-laps. He followed that up with a 6th place finish in the second of the two 20-lap stages.

Then, with only a 10-lap shootout remaining, Stewart worked his way through the field and at one point, he was pushed teamate Ryan Newman to the front but Newman got caught up in a three-car collision with Kyle Busch and Jeff Gordon. The crash took Gordon out of the race and crippled the No. 39 U.S. Army Chevrolet.

That set the stage for a battle between Stewart, Kenseth and Busch for the win. After getting a great restart following the caution, Stewart drove up like he was going to make a pass on Kenseth but dipped below the white line getting loose, just as NASCAR  threw another caution, this time for debris on the track.

With just five laps to Stewart restart third and battled around Busch to take on Kenseth. After making the pass on Kenseth, Stewart drove away and took home a cool $1 million.

Going through the final laps, Stewart said he couldn't believe Kenseth gave him the bottom of the track, considering he had just almost motored by the No. 17 previously.

"He ran up high on the restart and I was like man I can't believe he is giving me the bottom again," Stewart said. "Darien made a handful of changes on the final caution and man did it wake the car up."

On his teammate's misfortune, Stewart felt it should have been someone else in Victory Lane.

"Ryan Newman was probably the guy that should have been in Victory Lane tonight but he got a tire cut and had to come in and change it," he said. "The pan was to follow Ryan. I thought we could both get by the 17 and just go on. I was thinking man Ryan in gonna win this thing and I was just going to be happy wherever I ended up."

Hornish wins, gets into All Star race with McMurray

Sam Hornish won the Sprint Showdown to work his way into the Sprint All Star Challenge, taking a shot a $1 million win.

HJamie McMurray finished second to also get the nod. And they are anouncing at this very minute that Joey Logano is the fans' choice to get in the race.

Hornaday Jr. wins truck race in Charlotte

Ron Hornaday Jr. held off a late race charge by Kyle Busch to take the checkered flag and win the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Lowe's Motor Speedway on Friday.

Hornaday Jr. had a little trouble earlier in the night, getting caught on pit road when the caution came out. But he was able to stay on the tail end of pack in front of the leader and catch back up on an ensuing caution that was brought out when Busch got into the back of the No. 6 truck driven by Colin Braun. Busch was able to go on but Braun ended up crashing and finishing in 26th place.

Hornaday's crew chief Rick Ren said he missed the set-up on the truck, slightly and Hornaday Jr. said he believes he had a 3rd place truck all night.

"Clean air is really big and we had the truck really tight early in the race," Ren said. "I just missed it a little bit today. Our truck was really fast in practice and in clean air."

After the race, Busch, who already has two wins on the season, was complaining that Chevrolet had a motor advantage over the Toyotas

Hornaday fired back, "Why did he go by me on the back straightaway like I was standing still," Hornaday Jr. said. "I have lost four or five races to Kyle Busch. We won he finished second. We will find out when we go to Michigan because I am sure NASCAR will take all the motors and dyno them like the always do"

As for the massive crash between Mike Skinner and T.J. Bell earlier in the night, Hornaday Jr. said he didn't see it but knew that Skinner was upside down and worried if he was okay.

"I hate Mike Skinner on the race track but I love him as a brother outside it," Hornaday Jr. said. "I didn't actually see the wreck but I heard he got upside down."

Finishing up the race in 3rd place was last year's race winner Matt Crafton in the No. 88 Chevrolet. He was followed by Ryan Newman and Terry Cook, respectively, in 4th and 5th places.

Rounding out the field was:

6th David Gilliland

7th David Star

8th Tayler Malsem

9th Stacy Compton

10th Dennis Setzer

11th Rick Crawford

12th James Buescher

13th Johnny Sauter

14th Jason White

15th Chad McCumbee

16th Brian Ickler

17th Mario Gosselin

18th Ryan Hackett

19th Ben Stancil

20th Chris Jones

21st Brain Scott

22nd Brent Raymer

23rd Johnny Benson

24th Norm Benning

25th Todd Bodine

26th Colin Braun

27th Mike Bliss

28th Brandon Knupp

29th Mike Skinner

30th T.J. Bell

31st Timothy Peters

32nd Marc Mitchell

33rd Johnny Chapman

34th John Jackson

35th Donnie Neuenberger

36th Chris Fontaine

OUCH!!! He walked away

The No. 5 Toyota, driven by Mike Skinner, got loose after being run down into the grass through the tri-oval at Lowe's Motor Speedway. As he tried to save it the truck slid up the racetrack and slammed into the outside wall at the exact moment that T.J. Bell in the No. 11 hit him from behind and sent the No. 5 airborne.

After a few tense moments, with even the NASCAR officials saying, "just get outof the truck," Skinner signaled to the crowd that he was okay.

He and Bell were both taken to the infield care center, where they were evaluated and then released.

Currently, we are halfway through the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 and Kyle Busch is working his way back through the field after sustaining ancillary damages from Skinner and Bell's crash.

Collin Braun is leading the race and holding off the No. 33 driven by Ron Hornaday Jr.

Pit Crew Challenge in Charlotte

Here's a quick video clip from Charlotte, N.C. at the Time Warner Arena where we are well into the Sprint Pit Crew Challenge. The action is heating up and the field is set for the second round of competition among the crews.

If you want to check out the action tune into the SPEED Channel at 8 p.m. (Beaumont time) and you can see it all. I will have a wrap-up article later this evening and I will be updating the Web site throughout the week.