After a strong run at Kansas Speedway led to another NASCAR Cup Series victory, Kyle Larson continues to be one of the two top racers of the season thus far.
The season is one-third over entering this weekend’s All-Star Race, and the Hendrick Motorsports driver has already won three times, tying him with Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell for the series lead. Throw in a pair of wins by JGR’s Denny Hamlin, and those three hotshots account for eight of the 12 checkered flags.
From an organizational standpoint, it runs even deeper: While JGR leads the series with five wins, HMS has been triumphant four times (counting William Byron’s Daytona 500 win) and Team Penske accounts for two victories (Austin Cindric, Joey Logano).
The lone outlier is Josh Berry’s Las Vegas win for Wood Brothers Racing — who have a technical alliance with Penske through Ford — meaning essentially three racing stables have scored all 12 victories so far.
That type of domination is evident in Larson, who will look to win the NASCAR All-Star Race on Sunday night for the second time in the sport’s third race since returning to North Wilkesboro Speedway in the mountains of North Wilkesboro, N.C.
In the 2023 exhibition race, Larson drove from the back of the field and led 145 laps, blazing his way around the reborn, historic short track and beating runner-up Bubba Wallace by 4.537 seconds in the 200-lap event.
The Elk Grove, Calif., native joined elite company with his third win in the non-points race, having previously prevailed in 2019 and 2021. He tied Dale Earnhardt (1987, 1990, 1993) and Jeff Gordon (1995, 1997, 2001) with three All-Star wins. Jimmie Johnson has won four times (2003, 2006, 2012, 2013).
When it comes to dominating North Wilkesboro’s five-eighths-of-a-mile layout, nobody did it better than Logano a year ago when he earned the pole, led all but one of 200 in his No. 22 Ford and ousted Hamlin by 0.636 seconds in the 40th annual race.
Mired in a terrible 2024, Logano had been winless through 13 points races and used the momentum to start a run to his third championship.
In practice on Friday, Tyler Reddick topped the charts with a lap of 18.198 seconds (123.640 mph) to beat Chase Elliott and Wallace as drivers shook down their cars in long runs before their qualifying efforts.
Qualifying consisted of three laps with drivers pitting on the second time around for four tires and fuel before turning a final circuit.
Sporting the purple and gold colors of East Carolina University, RFK Racing’s Brad Keselowski put his No. 6 Ford on the pole with a combined time of 1:27.362. Bell’s No. 20 Toyota was runner-up at 1:28.252.
“It’s one thing I’ve never done in my career,” Keselowski, who is 33rd in points, said of his pole-winning showing in the $1 million payday race. “Total team effort. Pit crew and team gave me a rock-solid car and a rock-solid pit stop … and I nailed the lap.”
The 2012 Cup title winner will have the pole for both a heat race on Saturday and the 200-lap main event on Sunday.
The Spire Motorsports crew of Michael McDowell’s No. 71 Chevrolet won the $100,000 Mechanix Wear Pit Crew Challenge for the fastest stop during qualifying, 12.587 seconds.
–Field Level Media
