NASCAR has looked to the past all season for its 75th anniversary. But even more than honoring its greatest drivers, the biggest gesture is stacking up to be the All-Star Race.
The NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway (8 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) will be the series’ first race at the legendary .625-mile short track in 27 years.
For the drivers, too, the track is something special. And a million-dollar winner’s prize just sweetens the deal in the non-points race.
Austin Dillon, for one, had childhood experiences at the track.
“I’m excited to race in the All-Star race at North Wilkesboro Speedway,” he said. “It’s such a huge event for our sport. I remember as a kid my dad won a Late Model race there and we got to take the elevator ride up to victory lane.”
“Hopefully we can do it for $1 million,” he added. “We participated in the tire test in March. The tire fall-off is going to be fast, so managing tires during a long run will be important. I personally love old-school short-track racing. It’s going to be a physical race.”
Chase Elliott, another driver who’s familiar with the racetrack through his father, expanded on that.
“This place is old and worn out,” he commented. “It’s going to be hard to get a hold of throughout the All-Star Race.”
“I hope it puts on a good show,” he added. “I think it has the potential to do that. They’ve done a lot of work on the track in some different areas so that’s going to impact the way the race looks, too. I think I know about as little as anybody else at this point but certainly excited to be here.”
The race will be free of the gimmicks that have been a feature of past All-Star races. Instead of adding underglow or inverting the field, NASCAR will just hold a 200-lap race with a competition caution in the middle. Just one added wrinkle: teams only get four sets of tires and they can only change tires once in the final 100 laps after that caution, meaning tire saving will have to come into play.
Someone who’s not looking forward to that: Kyle Larson. He’s not confident in his tire-saving abilities.
“It’s got worn out pavement,” he said. “I’m typically not the best at saving my tires, so I’m a little nervous about that.”
Still, “we’ll see how it goes, but I think that this could be a great spot to just leave the All-Star Race,” he added. “I do love going to different venues and I think that really shows who the “all-star” is and who the best driver in the sport is.”
Without points on the line, drivers can enjoy the experience of a new track and hang it all out for a million dollars, and Christopher Bell is prepared to do that.
“The All-Star Race is always fun, and we’ll see how the race goes this weekend,” he said. “You don’t have to worry about points, you just do what you can to go for the win and see how things play out.”
One driver who’s making sure he’ll be prepared is William Byron. He’s won three times this year, the most in the Cup Series, but he’s getting his laps in at North Wilkesboro ahead of raceday by competing in the ASA Stars National Tour Super Late Model Race on Wednesday night, one of several auxiliary races at the track throughout the week, and the Truck Series race on Saturday.
“I’m excited to run that and get back in a Super Late Model again,” Byron said. “It should be a lot of fun as well as give me a good idea of what the track is going to be like, and we can go from there.”
Not all drivers are even in the show. To be an All Star, drivers need to have won a Cup Series race so far this year or last year, although series champion Brad Keselowski and former All-Star Race winner Ryan Blaney are also included.
But there is another path. Non-qualifiers compete in the 100-lap All-Star Open (5 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) just before the main event, and the top two finishers will make the big race. The field will finally be filled with the winner of a fan vote.
Aric Almirola is one driver who doesn’t have a guaranteed ticket to the big show.
“I feel like we’ll have a really good shot to race our way in,” he said, but “it certainly does add a lot of pressure.”
He said that the All-Star Race means something, and it’s something he’s really focused on qualifying for.
“It’s a huge deal to walk up on that stage for driver introductions,” Almirola said, and you’re in that All-Star Race, you’re a part of the show. That’s what every racecar driver wants to do. The last thing you want to do is go up there with your race team and go home when the big show is still going to happen.”
Truck Series features a stacked field in a return to North Wilkesboro
North Wilkesboro attracts everyone in NASCAR, and that includes some big Cup Series names for the Truck race.
Cup Series regulars Kyle Larson, William Byron, Christopher Bell, Bubba Wallace and Ross Chastain will be preparing for Sunday’s NASCAR All-Star Race by competing in Saturday’s Tyson 250 (1:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Chastain, an experienced Truck Series competitor with four career wins to his credit, is looking for another chance to compete at the historic track.
“It’s going to be a historic weekend with NASCAR returning to North Wilkesboro Speedway,” Chastain said. “I’m excited to have the opportunity to run the No. 41 WWEX Racing Chevrolet Silverado for Niece Motorsports and get as many laps as possible at this bucket-list track.”
But the Truck Series field is prepared to give them a challenge, and, for one, Truck Series driver standings leader and reigning champion Zane Smith, however, is especially motivated to win at the track.
“There are races that you really want to win,” Smith said. “This is certainly one of them. It’s really cool to have the sport come back to such a historic track and make history come alive again.”
Christian Eckes, too, is coming off a win at Darlington, another track that’s deeply rooted in NASCAR history.
“There’s so much history at Wilkesboro, and it’d be awesome to join that list of winners, too,” Eckes said. “Tire management is going to be the big key to getting it done this weekend.”
“Whoever can keep the tires under them the best is probably going to come out on top, so we’ll try to do everything we can to save tires and be up front at the end.”
NASCAR Cup Series
Next Race: NASCAR All-Star Race
The Place: North Wilkesboro Speedway
The Date: Sunday, May 21
The Time: 8 p.m. ET
The Purse: $3,563,159
TV: FS1, 7 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 125 miles (200 Laps)
NASCAR Cup Series
Next Race: All-Star Open
The Place: North Wilkesboro Speedway
The Date: Sunday, May 21
The Time: 5 p.m. ET
The Purse: $664,600
TV: FS1, 5 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 62.5 miles (100 Laps)
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series
Next Race: Tyson 250
The Place: North Wilkesboro Speedway
The Date: Saturday, May 20
The Time: 1:30 p.m. ET
The Purse: $696,922
TV: FS1, 1 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 156.25 miles (250 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 70),
Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 140), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 250)
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