NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. – Kyle Larson overcame a bottom-third starting grid position and a pit road speeding penalty to win his third career NASCAR All-Star feature race.
The only non-competition yellow flag came out on lap 16 with Larson, Austin Dillon, Erik Jones, Bubba Wallace, Josh Berry, Noah Gragson, Tyler Reddick, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. all pitting for fresh tires. Larson was nabbed for speeding during the stop but steadily made up ground, getting all the way into the lead by lap 55 and never looking back. Larson won the race off pit road cleanly at the midway competition yellow and made it stick.
Kyle Larson won the All-Star Race with a 4.537-second margin over runner-up Bubba Wallace. It was his third win in the All-Star Race.
The All-Star Race featured just three lead changes between two different drivers – Larson and Daniel Suárez. Twenty-four drivers comprised the field.
The NASCAR All-Star Race was comprised of drivers who won a points-paying race in 2022 or 2023, full-time drivers who have previously won the All-Star Race, full-time drivers who have won a NASCAR Cup Series championship, and drivers who advanced from the All-Star Open.
SHR Finish in NASCAR All-Star Race:
● Chase Briscoe (Started 5th, Finished 4th / Running, completed 200 of 200 laps)
● Kevin Harvick (Started 15th, Finished 18th / Running, completed 198 of 200 laps)
NASCAR All-Star Open
Josh Berry needed to win the NASCAR All-Star Open to advance to the All-Star Race and that is exactly what he did on Sunday.
The short-track racing ace led 46 laps to score the victory in the Open. Berry ran second up until the competition caution on lap 42. The No. 48 Ally Racing pit crew got Berry the lead off of pit road on lap 44 but Ty Gibbs took to the outside on lap 68 to take it away. Contact between Gibbs and Michael McDowell allowed Berry to get back to the point position on lap 78. From there, he was in control of the race and scored the win.
Taking second place was Ty Gibbs of Joe Gibbs Racing.
Fan Vote Winner: Noah Gragson of Legacy Motor Club (Chevrolet)
The All-Star Open was the undercard event to the NASCAR All-Star Race, where non-qualified drivers attempted to race their way into the All-Star Race by winning the Open, finishing second in the Open, or by winning the fan vote.
“We were really, really fast at the end. I felt like if I could’ve ever just gotten the lead, I would’ve been hard to beat, but I’m sure a lot of other guys would say that too,” Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang. “It was definitely frustrating. We kind of got beat around there on that one restart. I went from running fourth to seventh or eighth and had to drive back up to fourth. I felt like we were one of the few cars that could pass. I’m proud of that effort, but I would’ve obviously loved to win a million dollars. Truthfully, with how our last couple of weeks have been, just to get a good run and prove that we can run with these guys is nice.”
SHR Finish in All-Star Open:
● Aric Almirola (Started 9th, Finished 3rd / Running, completed 100 of 100 laps)
● Ryan Preece (Started 8th, Finished 4th / Running, completed 100 of 100 laps)
Next Up:
The NASCAR Cup Series returns to points-paying racing on Sunday, May 28 with the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway. The race gets underway at 6 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FOX and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
