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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
ALL-STAR: Truex, Biffle Earn Transfer Spots
Martin Truex Jr. and Greg Biffle raced their way into the Sprint All-Star Race by finishing 1-2 in the Sprint Showdown…
Jared Turner  |  Posted May 22, 2010   Charlotte, NC
Martin Truex Jr with the All-Star Showdown trophy after racing his way into the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
Martin Truex Jr. passed Greg Biffle with seven laps to go and pulled away to win Saturday’s Sprint Showdown at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

LINK >Unofficial Results: NASCAR Sprint Showdown- CHARLOTTE

Both drivers will transfer into the Sprint All-Star Race from the preliminary Showdown event in which only the top two finishers are All-Star eligible.

Joining Truex and Biffle in the main event will be Roush Fenway Racing’s Carl Edwards, who finished 10th in the Showdown but was the winner of the Sprint Fan Vote.

Jeff Burton, Paul Menard and Marcos Ambrose completed the top five in the Showdown.

Truex, on fresher tires than Biffle after pitting when Biffle and teammate David Ragan opted to stay out near the end of the first 20-lap segment, returns to the All-Star Race after missing the prestigious exhibition affair in 2009.

“That was fun. We knew it was going to be a challenge coming in,” said Truex, who started 20th on the 29-car grid. “At the beginning we just fought that track position and got real tight in traffic. We got us two tires there and got some track position and then it was just one at a time picking them off.”

Ragan and Biffle finished 1-2 in the first of the two 20-lap segments but were on older tires than everyone else starting the second segment.

Biffle overtook Ragan on the opening lap of the final segment and maintained the lead until Truex reeled him in. Biffle then hung on to second, despite being on older tires than his pursuers, who except for Ragan, had all stopped for tires.

“I thought we were a sitting duck,” Biffle said. “I thought they were going to mow us down. I thought it was going to be a huge mistake but obviously it’s not.”

The 40-lap race was certainly not devoid of mistakes, including a wreck involving Juan Pablo Montoya and Regan Smith as the opening segment neared a close.

Montoya had just moved under Smith when Smith hooked the Earnhardt Ganassi Racing driver’s Chevrolet coming out of the trioval, sending Montoya hard into the wall.

“It’s just hard when you have guys that don’t belong there running there,” Montoya said, referring to how the field was set based on qualifying draw when rain forced the cancellation of Friday’s qualifying round with only four drivers left to go out.

The second incident occurred on the first lap of the second segment when David Gilliland banged off Ragan and went for a spin as the two went three-wide with AJ Allmendinger.

Ragan, who started from the pole and led the entire first segment, finished sixth.

LINK >Unofficial Results: NASCAR Sprint Showdown- CHARLOTTE

2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series All-Star Week • The Stars Come Out. The Gloves Come Off. • Saturday, May 22nd at 7 pm ET
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