Some final thoughts on the Toyota All-Star Showdown

Matt Kobyluck will go down as the winner of the 2009 version of the Toyota All-Star Showdown, even though he crossed the finish line in second place.
It was a wild finish. Peyton Sellers and Joey Logano (pictured at left) battled for the lead on the last lap. Logano, who led for most of the second half of the race, bounced off of the car Sellers was driving, hit the turn 4 wall and took the lead and was the first driver across the finish line.
Kobyluck ducked to the bottom of the track, was the second driver to cross the finish line, followed by Trevor Bayne, a developmental driver in the Dale Earnhardt Inc. stable and from the Camping World Series East, and Jason Bowles, a two-time winner at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale and a driver in the Camping World Series West.

"It was an unfortunate ending, but this is the All-Star Showdown," said Kobyluck, who became the first two-time winner of the Camping World Series portion of the Showdown. "Everyone’s just going for it. Minor error there, or maybe it wasn’t an error, who knows? I’m only in control of my car. It looked like Joey overdrove the corner, couldn’t keep the car down, but he was going for the win. Peyton was going for the win. In a deal like this when there’s no points on the line, it’s all a truck, money, and bragging rights, the outcome’s always crazy."

Bowles didn't quite see it that way. He put a lot of the blame on the outcome of the race on Logano.
"Peyton didn’t touch anybody," Bowles said. "Those guys, it was unfortunate they were going to race like that. That’s understandable, but we got a lot of torn up race cars now instead of four guys that just had a good race and put on a good show for the fans. "
Kobyluck said he could trouble brewing between Sellers and Logano and he was just glad he didn't get in the middle of their fight.
"Joey’s a great kid and he’s got a bright future ahead of him," Kobyluck said. "Was he going for the win? Sure. Was Peyton going for the win? Sure. Fortunately I wasn’t part of it.
"The writing was on the wall what the outcome was going to be one way or the other. I just didn’t want to be caught up in it."

Wild Showdown finish

Joey Logano crossed the finish line first, but Matt Kobyluck was awarded the win in the Toyota All-Star Showdown on Saturday night.
Logano, the 18-year-old protege of Joe Gibbs Racing, made a daring pass on Peyton Sellers on the last turn of the last lap and bounced off the turn 4 wall to cross the finish at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale.
But it was Kobyluck's team that was doing the celebrating as NASCAR officials tried to figure out how to penalize Logano for his apparent race-winning move.
NASCAR officials ultimately determined that Logano should receive a race procedure penalty and knocked him from first to 40th and last.
Kobyluck said after the race that the scuffle between Logano and Sellers was just two guys going for the win. Jason Bowles, a driver from Ontario and winner of his past two races at Irwindale, saw it a little differently. He said he didn't think Sellers was racing out of line in the final laps. But Bowles said he didn't exactly appreciate the way Logano raced him. Bowles and Logano battled for the lead at times during the race, with Logano coming out in first almost every time.
Once the dust and oil settled, Kobyluck was the first two-time winner of the Camping World Series portion of the Showdown, Logano finished last and Sellers failed to complete the final lap.