Thirty-one All-Star races have been won from the pole. That was the good news for pole-sitter Denny Hamlin. Bad news, Joe Gibbs Racing, his team, had never won the All-Star race in the 24 years of trying. For Danica Patrick, she made history by becoming the first person to win the Sprint Fan vote more than once. And for Clint Bowyer and Greg Biffle, victory in the Sprint Showdown was the key to them starting the All-Star Race.

Hamlin started on the pole, and led about half of the first 25 lap segment. About midway through, however, Kasey Kahne managed to catch and pass Denny. Kahne managed to retain the lead for the remainder of the first segment. When cars came to pit road all but two drivers took 4 tires. Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Brad Keslowski both took two tires.

Brad led the field to the green flag at the start of segment two, but was quickly pursued by Kurt Busch. Dale Jr. dropped like a rock with just two tires on his Chevrolet. Busch was undoubtedly faster than Brad, but he couldn’t manage to pass Brad’s no. 2 Ford. Thus, Keslowski won segment two. In the ensuing pit stop Jamie McMurray was the lone driver to take just two tires.

At the start of segment three Jamie led, but he was quickly passed by Keslowski. However, McMurray managed to hold on to position better than Dale Jr. did. Brad led for a long time, but when he looked in his rear-view mirror he saw the hard charging Kevin Harvick. Kevin had started last, but he certainly wasn’t going to finish there. However, like his teammate Busch before him, Kevin couldn’t manage to pass Keslowski before the segment ended. Denny Hamlin was the gambler this time, taking two tires instead of four.

In the final twenty-five lap segment Brad was never able to catch back up with Hamlin. That was because both Harvick and Kurt Busch managed to pass Brad on the restart. Harvick won the segment, with Busch second. Brad never managed to re-pass Denny.

The upcoming pit-stops were mandatory. All drivers had to come in and change four tires. The order onto pit road was determined by average finish in the first four segments. Brad led drivers onto pit road, but Denny Hamlin, who entered sixth, left pit road first. And Brad sped coming off pit-road. He was sent to the back of the pack as his penalty.

Hamlin restarted first, and had a very impressive restart. Kurt Busch, who restarted second, thought Hamlin started to soon. But Denny was not penalized. Denny was quickly pursued by Harvick, and the two waged an epic war for the million dollar win. Harvick was quicker than Hamlin, but he only had ten laps to pass the no. 11 Toyota. Harvick ran the middle lane while Hamlin ran the inside. Suddenly, Denny moved to the middle, disturbing the air flow onto Kevin’s car. Harvick lost his momentum, and Denny pulled away. Kevin tried to catch Denny over the final three laps, but to no avail.

Denny won his first All-Star Race, and the first for Joe Gibbs Racing. The win was even more special because J. D. Gibbs, Joe’s son, was present at the race. J. D. has recently had some head problems, so him being at the race was a real treat. And also, this was the first race where Kyle Busch was Back in his no. 18 Joe Gibbs car. So it was a special race all around for Gibbs Racing.