May 19, 2012 – Concord, NC
One week after winning the Bojangles’ Southern 500 in Darlington, SC, Jimmie Johnson gave a repeat performance by winning the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race and a prize of $50,000 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway.
It was his third All-Star win, tying him with the late Dale Earnhardt and teammate Jeff Gordon as the only triple-race winners.
While the drivers thought that the best driver won, the fans were of the opposing view, as it appeared that the cars were on auto-pilot for most of the race. Essentially, whoever won one of the four 20-lap segments got to be in front for the final 10-lap sprint to the finish.
Johnson won the first segment, whereupon he relaxed for the next three 20-lap segments. After the four segments, it was a race out of the pits for 10 laps to the finish.
Brad Keselowski finished second, Matt Kenseth was third, Kyle Busch was fourth and Dale Earnhardt Jr. was fifth.
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