What drivers said at North Wilkesboro Speedway

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What drivers had to say Sunday at the NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway:

Kyle Larson — Winner: “I can’t even tell you what it means. This is my third All-Star win and my third different track. In an historical place like that, you guys and the crowd made this weekend so awesome. We could feel the atmosphere all weekend. So much fun there. That was old-school ass whipping, for sure. We had a great car on the long run there and was just thinking for sure there was going to be a caution. I got out to a big lead and I could see everybody’s cars were driving like crap in front of me, but I cannot thank this 5 team enough. We were God awful all weekend. Practice I was like the worst on 30-lap average, went backwards in a heat race yesterday. You obviously had some strategy work out there in the beginning, but we drove from dead last to the lead and checked out by 12 or 13 seconds. Then just could pace myself there that last run.”

MORE: North Wilkesboro All-Star results

Bubba Wallace — Finished 2nd: “I think we needed the louvers and whatever chewed up stuff they have on there. No, just his (Kyle Larson) capability throughout the whole run, he could attack hard and then have something there at the end. If this was any other race I’d be excited, but for a million dollars to come up short and walk home with nothing. Tail tucked between our legs, but, all in all, just continuing to ride the momentum train. I want to get Columbia in Victory Lane and they’ve done a lot, and they came up with the best paint scheme here in the field, so we come up one spot short, so congrats to Larson. He’s been on a rail lately. Just have to keep it going. Now we show back up to home turf and really got to keep the momentum going there and get ourselves deeper into the playoffs here. Excited to be where we’re at right now. Just come up one spot short.”

Tyler Reddick — Finished 3rd: “Just needed a little bit on the balance, but yeah, the Beast Unleashed Toyota Camry TRD was really fast. I made a mistake earlier in the race, back in the first 100 laps, let Kyle (Larson) squeeze by, and he really mowed through the traffic, and yeah, we lined up obviously behind him on that restart and we could kind of stay in touch, but he was able to keep far enough away. I was trying to figure out how much me and Bubba were trying to figure out how much to push, how much to save, and I had an opportunity to get around him with 40 to go, and I just made a mistake on the fuel all night, and it put us behind.”

Chase Briscoe — Finished 4th: “Truthfully, this car at every short track has kind of struggled. I think a lack of grip didn’t really fix the issues. I don’t know. It was fun. I still think this has a great opportunity to be an incredible event, but it would be different if every other race on short tracks had been really good. I think we just need to keep continuing to work on the car. I feel like we made it better on short tracks than what it was last year, but we just need to get it better. We’re slipping and sliding around and doing the things we need to do, but, truthfully, I just feel like this race would have been really, really good if the track had more than one lane. It was almost the track more than the car, necessarily. It was just so fast on the bottom groove. If you miss it by six inches, you are a half-second slower. We all know that, and we all just continue to fight for the bottom. I would almost just put it up as the racetrack is so bottom-dominant that that’s why it’s really hard to pass. We were really, really fast at the end. I felt like if I could have ever just got the lead, I would have been hard to beat, but I’m sure a lot of other guys would say that, too. 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, so I felt like we were one of the few cars that could pass. I’m proud of that effort, but I would have 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.”

Chase Elliott — Finished 5th: “Based on what we saw in practice on Friday, I thought it was about what we were expecting from there. It was pretty anticlimactic; I would say for the most part. But Kyle (Larson), Cliff (Daniels) and the No. 5 team did a great job and really set the pace there once they took tires at the start and controlled the event from there. These races are hard to win. They’re not always going to be barnburners, side-by-side, banging-door finishes. But it doesn’t take away from the fact that they’re still hard to win and that should always be celebrated.”

Ryan Blaney — Finished 6th:  “I had a fun night. Sixth was probably the highest we got to and where we finished, and I thought we could run fifth. Overall, it wasn’t a bad night. We didn’t have winning speed, but it was a fun night, for sure. It was just a case of how disciplined you wanted to be. The whole last run going green was super-cool. It was big tire management because you never really know how many laps you’re gonna run. I kind of had it in my mind right away like, ‘Alright, we might go the whole way, so let’s kind of plan on that,’ and it happened. It was a pretty fun night trying to conserve tires. It reminded me of my late model days.”

All-Star Open

Josh Berry — Winner: “Man, I feel so relieved. These guys deserve to be in this race so bad. Thank you so much to Hendrick Motorsports for believing in me and giving me this opportunity under the circumstances. Ally, everybody back at Hendrick Motorsports and Chevrolet, man, this is really cool. Our car was solid. We were definitely better the second run. We got some help there, whatever happened with the 34 (Michael McDowell). I don’t know what that was. That was pretty bad. But we were able to get the lead and stretch it out a little bit, kind of maintain it. I think the two best cars made it, so we’ll just see what tonight gives us.”

Ty Gibbs — Finished 2nd: “I, 100 percent, understand his (Michael McDowell) frustration. I moved him out of the way. They fenced us and completely wrecked us for 18th at Martinsville out of nowhere. It’s just a learning experience, I think. We will keep digging. We made it in, so that’s all that matters. It’s the Open. … Everybody’s doing Hail Marys and stuff like that. They all wadded themselves up in (turn) 1. I understand his frustration, but at the same time. We got completely clobbered at Martinsville for 18th. I never said anything and never reacted. Just have to keep to rolling and worry about the future. We’ve got a race for a million dollars, so that is pretty cool. I think our Monster Energy Camry is really fast. We’ve got a little damage from getting hit by him on the apron. I tried to go down on the apron there, probably a little too early and slid, so we are going to get that fixed up and keep digging.”

Aric Almirola — Finished 3rd: “They made their cars better on the pit stop, and we made ours a little bit better, but they made their cars significantly better. I thought we were still better than them in traffic. Surprisingly on a little half-mile racetrack, traffic still matters. I didn’t do myself any favors choosing the outside of that restart. I thought I could maybe make it work. … I was kind of hanging on there at the end trying to hustle to make something of it, and just wasn’t able to get close enough to make a move. Just frustrated. Had a really fast Smithfield Ford Mustang. Proud of the guys. Starting deep in the field against those guys that started on the front row, to drive from ninth all the way up there and have a shot to outrun those guys says how good our car was, but needed more laps. … We’re a great race team and we had a great race car here this weekend. I thought we were a fifth-place car in practice on average. On a long run for sure we were one of the best cars. I would have liked to see it play out tonight here in such an iconic event and running for a million dollars here at North Wilkesboro would have been awesome, so that’s what I’m most disappointed about, just not being in the show tonight and having to watch it on TV. That hurts.”

Michael McDowell — Finished 13th: “Well, it’s short track racing to try to get into the All-Star Race, so somebody has got to leave with hurt feelings. I guess it’s me. I’ve got a great restart there, kind of worked the outside, got a couple guys and was able to get down, and Ty just plowed into me, just knocked me into the 31 (Justin Haley) and spun us both out, and got a lot of damage from that. We ended up on the short side of it. It sucks. Felt like we had a pretty fast Gr8 Auctions Ford Mustang, but at the same time all that stuff comes around, man. You get away with it a few times, but it comes around, and I don’t have a budget for the fine, otherwise I would not be standing here, I’d be standing down there.”

Todd Gilliland — Finished 15th: “I think my spotter said the 42 (Noah Gragson) hit the inside wall. The only thing I saw was the 42 coming right across my nose, and I just shot to the outside wall. That’s probably about as hard as you could possibly wreck here, and it definitely sucks that we tear up a car here, but that’s racing. For me, I lost a spot on that restart. If I had just maintained, I would have been ahead of that. To me, that’s disappointing for myself that I let that happen, but at the same time I didn’t want to get stuck top of three wide.”

NASCAR All-Star results: Kyle Larson wins at North Wilkesboro

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Kyle Larson ran away with the victory in Sunday’s NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway, leading the final 96 laps and winning by 4.5 seconds.

Larson, who won the sport’s all-star event for the third time, led 145 of the 200 laps in pocketing the $1 million winner’s purse.

Larson became the first driver in all-star race history to win the event at three tracks — Charlotte Motor Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway and North Wilkesboro, which was hosting NASCAR for the first time since 1996.

Following Larson in the top five were Bubba Wallace, Tyler Reddick, Chase Briscoe and Chase Elliott.

North Wilkesboro All-Star results

Kyle Larson wins NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro in runaway

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Kyle Larson turned the North Wilkesboro Speedway revival into the equivalent of a very quiet church service.

Larson was clearly the top dog in Sunday’s NASCAR All-Star Race at the revitalized short track, leaving the rest of the field to race among themselves for most of the evening.

Larson pocketed the $1 million winner’s prize like a thief in the night, one no one could catch. He led 145 laps, including the final 96. Daniel Suarez, out front for 55 laps, was the race’s only other leader. He finished seventh.

MORE: North Wilkesboro All-Star results

MORE: What drivers said at North Wilkesboro

Larson’s victory gave team owner Rick Hendrick his 11th win in the All-Star Race.

“So much fun there,” Larson told Fox Sports. “That was old-school ass whipping, for sure. We had a great car on the long run there and was just thinking for sure there was going to be a caution. I got out to a big lead and I could see everybody’s cars were driving like crap in front of me, but I cannot thank this 5 team enough. We were God-awful all weekend. Practice I was like the worst on 30-lap average, went backwards in a heat race yesterday. You obviously had some strategy work out there in the beginning, but we drove from dead last to the lead and checked out by 12 or 13 seconds. Then just could pace myself there that last run.”

Larson won by 4.5 seconds. Following in the top five were Bubba Wallace, Tyler Reddick, Chase Briscoe and Chase Elliott.

The race was the first full-length Cup competition at North Wilkesboro since 1996.  The track underwent an extensive — and expensive — renovation in preparation for NASCAR’s return.

Larson charged to the lead with 90 laps to go after a caution period and methodically built his lead.

Larson took control late in the first half and had a 12-second lead on second-place Wallace when NASCAR called a competition caution at Lap 101. Larson had been pushed to the rear of the field for speeding on pit road earlier but marched through the field with newer tires.

The race’s first caution flew on Lap 17 because of Turn 4 contact between Erik Jones and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Josh Berry and Ty Gibbs finished one-two in the preliminary All-Star Open to advance to the feature. Noah Gragson won the fan vote and also was added to the All-Star field.

Who had a good race: Kyle Larson was easily the star of stars in taking his third All-Star win. … Bubba Wallace ran near the front most of the night. … Joey Logano rallied from a pit-road penalty to finish in the top 10. … Daniel Suarez led 55 laps.

Who had a bad race: Brad Keselowski, William Byron and Kyle Busch were non-factors, finishing near the back of the field. Keselowski was 19th, Byron 20th and Busch 22nd.

Next: The series moves on to Charlotte Motor Speedway for the season’s longest race at 600 miles May 28 at 6 p.m. ET.

Dr. Diandra: Let’s raise the bar on All-Stars

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Every sport touts its All-Star event as a rare opportunity for fans to watch the best and brightest test their skills against each other.

But NASCAR fans pretty much enjoy that every week. With infrequent exceptions, the best drivers compete against each other every race. That makes staging a special event like this weekend’s All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway a bit more of a challenge.

For example: In Major League Baseball, 80 players out of the 780 on the league’s active rosters — about 10% — compete in the mid-season All-Star Game. The 2023 NASCAR All-Star Race grid includes 24 cars, which is 65.4% of the typical race grid this year.

The upcoming All-Star Race is the largest field in terms of raw numbers since 2008, which also had 24 cars. But the typical 2008 starting grid was 43 cars, so the 2008 All-Star Race included only 55.8% of a typical field. The most drivers to participate in an All-Star Race is 27, which happened in 2002. That works out to 62.8% of a typical field.

The graph below shows how a typical All-Star Race field compares to the average race field for that year.

This year’s field is the largest percentage of a typical race field since the All-Star Race started in 1985. That can be viewed as a testament to field-leveling abilities of the Next Gen car. Under the current rules, having 19 different winners in a year will necessarily create a large field.

The Next Gen car has changed driver attitudes toward the playoffs. Most don’t feel as comfortable with ‘win and you’re in.’ They want at least two wins before they feel they’ve secured their place in the playoffs.

Perhaps it’s time to raise the bar on all-stars.

The good: Format, stakes and setting

North Wilkesboro is the perfect site for the All-Star festivities. The track is close enough to Charlotte that the teams get an effective two-week travel break given the Coca-Cola 600 the following week. The track has history and a special place in NASCAR.

I’ll reserve judgement on a second visit until I see how the logistics work out and how the race goes.

This year’s All-Star Race has a blissfully simple format: 200 laps with a break in the middle. There are some tire restrictions, but otherwise, it’s pretty similar to a standard race.

Setting the starting grid is equally straightforward, with two heat races, the Open and the fan vote winner. Qualifying was the pit-crew competition.

This is all good. The All-Star race should be an event that fans can invite their non-racing-fan friends over to see without having to spend the entire time explaining the format.

And who doesn’t like $1 million for winning a single race?

Raise the bar for automatic All-Star Race qualification

Instead of one race win as the bar for getting into the All-Star Race, let’s make it two wins.

This year, that would shift Chris Buescher, Bubba Wallace, Erik Jones, Austin Cindric, Austin Dillon, Daniel Suarez and Chase Briscoe into the All-Star Open.

The starting field for the All-Star race would drop and more drivers would race in the Open. That leaves room for two heat races, with only the winners transferring. Let’s keep the pit crew challenge model: winners take everything. Finishing second is no better than finishing last.

I have an ulterior motive in forcing winners to race for a transfer spot into the All-Star Race. Since 1986, 82 drivers have transferred from the Open. Only three (3.65%) won the All-Star Race: Kyle Larson in 2019, Ryan Newman in 2002 and Michael Waltrip in 1996.

Twelve transferees led laps in the All-Star Race, but no transfer driver has led laps since Kyle Larson in 2019. A more competitive Open means that the drivers who transfer into the All-Star Race have a real shot at winning.

Keep the fan vote

I don’t like popularity votes for any reason except electing the most popular person. But I’d keep fan voting in the All-Star Race. First, voting for All-Star participants helps fans feel included. Second, it doesn’t affect the season championship.

The ultimate reason, though, is that the All-Star fan vote, which started in 2004, rarely impacts the All-Star Race. Out of the 19 races that included drivers voted in:

  • One won the All-Star race (5.3%).
  • Two placed in the top five (10.5%).
  • Seven placed in the top 10 (36.8%).
  • The remaining 12 drivers finished 13th or worse.

Kasey Kahne is the only driver to have won the fan vote and the All-Star Race in the same year. He’s also the only voted-in driver to lead laps (17) in the All-Star Race. Five drivers have won the fan vote and the All-Star Race, but the other four won the race in different years than they won the fan vote.

Chase Elliott is the only other voted-in driver to make in the top five, finishing fifth in 2018.

So why not keep the fan vote? The fans have their say in who competes and one driver gets a (very slim) chance to win. If this year’s fan-vote driver wins, he knows he will be remembered at every All-Star Race in the future.

All-Stars usually win the All-Star Race

The All-Star Race winner finished the season outside the top 15 only three times.

Seven All-Star winners failed to finish the season in the top 10.

For three drivers, their All-Star win was the only win they had that year.

Of the winners…

  • Almost a third (31.6%) of All-Star Race winners went on to win the championship that year.
  • More than half of All-Star Race winners (55.3%) finished the season in the top three.
  • Almost three-quarters (71.1%) finished in the top five.
  • Only seven drivers failed to win more than one points race the season they won the All-Star Race.

The proposed format change has little potential to change the race’s outcome, but it would raise the bar on what we recognize as All-Stars.

All-Star Race starting lineup: Daniel Suarez, Chris Buescher on front row

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NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. — Daniel Suarez will start on the pole and have Chris Buescher next to him on the front row for Sunday’s All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway.

Reigning Cup champion Joey Logano starts third. Austin Dillon will start fourth. Chase Briscoe will start fifth. The field will have 24 cars after the top two finishers from the All-Star Open and the fan vote winner are added to the rear of the All-Star Race lineup.

MORE: All-Star Race starting lineup

MORE: All-Star Heat 1 results

MORE: All-Star Heat 2 results

The starting lineup was determined by the results of two 60-lap heat races Saturday night at North Wilkesboro Speedway. The cars in the first heat will start on the inside rows of the All-Star Race. The cars in the second heat will start on the outside rows of the All-Star Race.

Suarez led the final 34 laps to win the opening heat.

“Overall, just very, very proud of my team,” Suarez said. “The No. 99 Trackhouse Motorplex Chevy team has had a lot of speed lately, but we haven’t had executions and the results. We’ve been very tough on ourselves. To be able to come here and perform the way that we’ve been doing – not just myself, but the entire No. 99 team, my pit crew and engineers. It’s a lot of fun and hopefully tomorrow we can have another performance like today.”

Buescher led all 60 laps to win the second heat.

“This Fastenal Mustang has been really fast from the time we unloaded off the truck,” Buescher said. “The pit crew did a fantastic job and put us in a great spot here today. We’re in a good place for the race tomorrow evening. I’m excited. I’m ready for this thing. Let’s go. Let’s go get a million dollars.”

Cars in the first heat ran entirely on wet weather tires due to rain before the race. Cars in the second heat ran the first half of the race on slick tires on a dry track and switched to wet weather tires when rain returned.