Once again, NASCAR’s All-Star race returns to the historic 0.625-mile North Wilkesboro Speedway for the second time in two years. The 200-lap main event is scheduled for 8 p.m. Sunday evening but there’s plenty more going on throughout the weekend at the Wilkes County track.
Tires will be a key factor in this year’s event. Three compounds labeled “prime”, a softer “option” tire, and wet-weather tires will be available with different strategies coming into play.
The prime tire will carry yellow Goodyear lettering, the option tire will carry red lettering and the rain tire will carry white markings. Teams must qualify on the prime tire and must start the main event on the option tire. They may change to a different tire compound if they wish.
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Each team will have nine sets of tires. Five sets will be from the prime sets and four from the option sets. Teams will also have three sets of primes and two sets of options for the preliminary events that cover practice sessions, qualifying, heat races and the Open race. There will be two sets each of primes and options for the main 200-lap race.
Each team must also make a pit stop for four tires only at the midpoint break of the qualifying heats, the Open, and the All-Star Race. No two-tire stops will be allowed at these times.
Drivers eligible for the All-Star race are those who have had race wins from this season and last year, previous All-Star race winners competing full-time, and past Cup champions who also race full-time.
The top two finishers from Sunday’s 100-lap All-Star Open preliminary qualifying scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. will transfer into the main event. Two final spots will be determined by the results of fan voting, which is now open.
The 17 drivers that are officially entered into Sunday night’s All-Star Race are: Ross Chastain, Kyle Larson, Brad Keselowski, A.J. Allmendinger, Christopher Bell, Kyle Busch, Ryan Blaney, William Byron, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, Chris Buescher, Martin Truex Jr., Joey Logano, Michael McDowell, Tyler Reddick, Ricky Stenhouse and Daniel Suarez.
Twenty drivers are entered into the All-Star Open. They are: Josh Berry, Alex Bowman, Harrison Burton, Chase Briscoe, Austin Cindric, Austin Dillon, Corey LaJoie, Noah Gragson, Kaz Grala, Erik Jones, Daniel Hemric, Todd Gilliland, Ryan Preece, John Hunter Nemechek, Justin Haley, Ty Gibbs, Timmy Hill, Zane Smith and Carson Hocevar and Bubba Wallace.
Preece, driver of the No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford, would love to race his way into the All-Star event.
“Someone like me who’s a big short-track racer and grassroots type of guy, getting into the All-Star Race and being a part of that event would be huge for me and my career,” Preece said. “Having an opportunity to race for a million dollars would be nice, as well.”
Qualifying for the All-Star race comes on Friday night. Each driver will complete one lap at speed, come to pit road, change four tires, and finish their second lap. With that, the field will be set for two 60-lap heat races set for Saturday evening. The first heat race will determine the order of the inside row for Sunday’s All-Star Race. The second heat will set the outside row.
During those races, the team that pulls off the fastest pit stop without penalties will win the Pit Crew Challenge.
Further, two breaks will come within the 200-lap main event. One at the halfway point and another at Lap 150.
Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, won the 2023 All-Star event held at North Wilkesboro Speedway. The track has been repaved for this year’s race and drivers know more of what to expect with the return trip.
Larson won the Craftsman Truck Series race that weekend and then came back to dominate in the All-Star event. But it wasn’t a smooth weekend for the California native.
“…I think it was extra special just to win there,” Larson said of the historic track. “But for how our weekend was before the race, we made it even more special because we were not competitive, I didn’t think, at all. We were really, really bad. We didn’t practice well. I think we were quickest on lap time, but over the course of a run, we were really bad. So, practice wasn’t good.
“To win was great; win a million bucks was awesome. But then to win at a historic racetrack that I never envisioned myself racing at was pretty neat. To sweep that weekend was cool.”
William Byron, Larson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate, feels having the option to run different tire compounds at North Wilkesboro will be important. The Charlotte native says the tire selections will separate the faster cars from those slightly slower.
“I’ll have to look back through my notes from the test (but) I think that we definitely ran that tire,” Byrn said. “It had a lot of speed on the short run fire off. And then we were just kind of getting to the point where it was starting to wear and fall off in 25 laps. We did 50 laps run with the control tire. I think it’s going to be really quick on the short run, so hopefully that creates some comers and goers, where if you have a couple tenths on the guy in front of you, you can pass them.
“So, I’m all for it. I think it’s a good idea. They did it a few years ago, but hopefully this is a more drastic difference between the two tires. We did that (March 2023) test and ran through a lot of different sets, and we tried to go as soft as what they felt comfortable with. Hopefully that’s a good thing. The racetrack – the groove in (turns) one and two is fairly wide. The groove in (turns) three and four is pretty narrow. So hopefully we can kind of widen that out through lap cars and having to run inadvertently in the second lane when you’re trying to pass.”
NASCAR All-Star race schedule
At North Wilkesboro Speedway
Friday, May 17
- Craftsman Truck practice, 3 p.m. (FS1)
- Cup Series pit road qualifying entry/exit practice, 4 p.m. (FS1)
- Cup Series practice, 4:35 p.m. (FS1)
- All-Star Open qualifying, 5:40 p.m. (FS1)
- All-Star Pit Crew Challenge, 6:20 p.m. (FS1)
Saturday, May 18
- Craftsman Truck qualifying, 10:35 a.m. (FS1)
- Craftsman Truck Wright Brand 250, 1:30 p.m. (FS1)
- All-Star Race Heat No. 1, 5:20 p.m. (FS2)
- All-Star Race Heat No. 2, 6:15 p.m. (FS2)
Sunday, May 19
- All-Star Open, 5:30 p.m. (FS1)
- All-Star Race, 8 p.m. (FS1)
