“That’s amazing,” Johnson said. “To be there with my heroes and the icons of the sport.”

Joey Logano finished second, Kyle Busch was third, Kasey Kahne fourth, and Kurt Busch rounded out the top-five.

“I’m pleased with the way the guys made this car better,” Logano said, seemingly with mixed feelings. “It’s okay if you’re racing for points, but when you’re racing for a million bucks and second doesn’t matter, it sucks.”

The brothers Busch were the only two 20-lap segment wins, with Kurt Busch winning segments one and four, and Kyle Busch claiming wins in the two segments in between — two and three. With their field-leading average finishes at the conclusion of the first four segments, the Busch brothers were in the top-two spots prior to the mandatory four-tire pit stop prior to the final 10 laps.

Hendrick Motorsports was tops on pit road, though, as HMS drivers Kahne and Johnson got off pit road first and second to restart the final segment on the front row. Kyle Busch restarted third, and Kurt Busch lost and additional spot on pit road to Logano and restarted fifth.

“I really felt like a winner to be on the front row (to start the final segment),” Johnson said. “That last pit stop set everything up.”

After a couple of laps of side-by-side racing to start the final 10 laps, Johnson cleared Kahne and set sail en route to the win. Kahne then also lost second to Logano. He was able to hold on to the third spot for a few laps before losing third to Kyle Busch with two laps to go.

Prior to the Sprint All-Star Race, the rest of the Sprint Cup Series regulars competed in the 40-lap, two segment preliminary Sprint Showdown to race for the final starting spots in the All-Star Race. Jamie McMurray was up front at the checkered flag after leading all 40 laps of the event to advance to the main event. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. also advanced by finishing second in the Showdown. Danica Patrick was the third driver to advance from the Showdown to the Sprint All-Star race by virtue of the fan vote.

Martin Truex Jr. started the Sprint Showdown on the pole, but lost the lead to McMurray on the first lap. He ran second to McMurray for the rest of the first 20-lap segment, but lost positions on pit road between the segments by taking four tires while a few others took four. He was unable to race back up into the top-two and wound up finishing fifth.

Jeff Burton was the first finisher to be denied a spot in the All-Star race, finishing third in the Showdown. Paul Menard was fourth.

– Photo courtesy of Getty Images for NASCAR

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“We don’t ever make anything too easy,” Busch said in victory lane. “We had our work cut out for us coming back to the front.”

Busch wound up leading 80 laps in the 134-lap race to claim his fifth Truck Series win in eight races at Charlotte.

Brendan Gaughan finished second.

“He took the air off and killed my momentum,” Gaughan stated as the reason for his inability to catch and pass Busch for the win in the closing laps.

Max Gresham finished third, bettering a previous career-best series finish of 11th. Matt Crafton finished fourth after going a lap down when a caution came out soon after he made a green-flag pit stop and then going a lap down, again, later in the race for an unscheduled pit stop when he suffered a tire issue. Ty Dillon rounded out the top-five.

Jeb Burton started on the pole for the third time in five races, but lost the lead to Dillon at the start. Busch took the lead and began his race of dominance on lap four.

Gaughan took the lead by staying out while others pitted during the first caution of the race that came out on lap 17. Busch lost a few more spots when the race returned to green, but worked his way back up to second by the time the next caution came out just a few laps later.

Busch moved back into the top-spot by lap 40. On lap 52, having stayed out during the lap 17 caution, Gaughan headed down pit road for a green-flag pit stop. Meanwhile, Busch continued to lead and built up a cushion of more than five seconds by the halfway point of the race.

Busch got off pit road first after taking fuel only during a caution that came out on lap 83, but had to return to pit road to serve a penalty for pulling out of his pit stall with his fuel can still attached. While serving the penalty, Busch took on four fresh tires and restarted the race in the 19th position.

Meanwhile, Gresham and Miguel Paludo restarted the race in the top-two spots after staying out. When the race returned to green, Gresham dropped back, but Paludo was able to remain up front. Keselowski then moved into the second spot, behind Paludo.

After the race restarted from a caution that came out on lap 104, Busch quickly moved into second. He then took the lead from Paludo on a restart that followed the seventh caution of the race with about 20 laps to go.

“You just go where they ain’t,” Busch said of his ability to get back to the front, explaining the strategy as something he learned by watching the late Dale Earnhardt.

Another caution came out soon after, and on that restart, Gaughan moved into the second spot. But he was unable to catch Busch.

James Buescher finished sixth, Paludo was seventh, John Wes townley eighth, Ross Chastain ninth and Justin Lofton 10th.

– Photo courtesy of Getty Images for NASCAR

Follow Stock Car Spin on Twitter @SCSblog or like Stock Car Spin on Facebook. Amanda’s also on Twitter @NASCARexaminer and has a fan/like page on Facebook: NASCAR Examiner