What to Watch: All-Stars set to shine at North Wilkesboro
Track: North Wilkesboro Speedway
Location: North Wilkesboro, North Carolina
Track length: 0.625 miles
When: Sunday, 8 p.m. ET
Where to tune in: FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Race purse: $2,421,400
Race distance: 250 laps | 156.25 miles
Competition break: At or around Lap 100
Defending winner: Joey Logano, May 2024
Starting lineup: Brad Keselowski earns first All-Star pole
All-Stars rise to $1 million challenge with no points, all glory on the line
There are no season-long implications to take away from North Wilkesboro Speedway, no playoff guarantees nor points to gain.
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No, the incentive on Sunday night is a cool $1 million to the winner of the NASCAR All-Star Race, a return to old-school, short-track racing with 250 laps scheduled around one of NASCAR's oldest speedways.
MORE: Cup Series standings | Full 2025 schedule
All-Star Weekend celebrates the best of NASCAR Cup Series racing. The only 20 racers guaranteed entry into Sunday's feature are winners from the 2024 and 2025 seasons (welcome, Harrison Burton and Josh Berry) in addition to active past Cup champions (hello again, Kyle Busch).
Three spots on the grid remain to be determined, though: Two are reserved for the top two finishers in Sunday's All-Star Open (5:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM) and another for the winner of the Fan Vote, awarded to the highest vote-getter who didn't already race into All-Star Race.
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Through 40 prior years of the All-Star exhibition, there have been plenty of fireworks associated with the event — Dale Earnhardt's 'Pass in the Grass' at Charlotte in 1987; Rusty Wallace's 1989 bump-dump-and-run on Darrell Waltrip; the Busch brothers' 2007 tangle all come to mind. But in two years of playing host to the event, North Wilkesboro has established itself with its own lore, thanks to the 2024 fracas between Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Kyle Busch that lit through the garage one year ago.
Short tracks spark short tempers, doubly so when all at stake is cold hard cash, consequences be forsaken. So with what will be 23 hungry racers in the field — and at least 15 searching for their first Victory Lane celebration of 2025 — don't be surprised if contact determines who takes Sunday's $1 million prize.
MORE: Full Saturday recap
Joey Logano and Christopher Bell make contact in the 2024 All-Star Race.
From atop the pit box …
What do crew chiefs have in focus to win Sunday's race?
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Sunday's showdown marks the third All-Star Race edition at North Wilkesboro Speedway. Even after a brilliant face-lift to tastefully modernize the 0.625-mile track, it remains a true throwback to an earlier era of stock-car racing.
This year, there's a pseudo-throwback element to the All-Star format with the addition of an optional Promoter's Caution, a yellow flag that may or may not fall before Lap 220 of the expanded 250-lap main event. It's a scenario that several veterans in the garage have probably experienced at the grassroots level, drawing on an unspoken late-race expectation that a phantom caution period for a vague reason might jazz up the show. Sunday night, that will be baked into the race procedures.
'I think that we probably forget how often that might have happened back in the day racing local short tracks,' says Richard Boswell, crew chief of the Richard Childress Racing No. 3 Chevy driven by Austin Dillon. 'So we at least know it's coming, and I think that it's going to stack us up, right? It's going to give everybody one last chance. I think it'll be interesting to see the fall-off of this tire to see how many people, if the caution doesn't come out till Lap 220, how many are willing to give up that position for a chance at a million bucks?
'So yeah, I think it's cool. I think it'll be fun to see how it all unfolds. I think that if I'm the leader of the race, I'm probably not going to like it, right? But if you're not, then I think everybody else in the field is probably looking for a chance to up the ante, so to speak.'
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One year ago, the All-Star format twist was the introduction of softer-compound 'option' tires, giving teams an additional strategy component with their choice of Goodyear rubber — a limited allotment of option tires or the baseline 'prime' tires. This year, just one tire selection is available — the same setup used earlier this year at Bowman Gray Stadium and Martinsville Speedway.
This tire is similar to last year's option tires, with a slightly softer left-side compound for this season's edition. The asphalt, too, is relatively new with a repave taking place during the 2023 offseason, meaning that the aging process is still in its early phases.
'It's going to take more time, I agree. So maybe another year, it's probably going to help us,' said James Small, crew chief for Chase Briscoe's No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. 'And you'll see, I think getting rid of the prime tire was a good step anyway, and this put us all on the option to take that out of the element, so at least it's a straight-up race now. I think, like normal, qualifying is still going to be super-important, just trying to maintain from that point.'
Says Boswell: 'I think anytime you get age in a track, you get a little bit of pace fall-off, right? So with pace fall-off comes cooler tires and hopefully less blistering of tires. But really, everybody blistered tires in 30 laps in practice at this event last year, but in the race, (Joey) Logano went 100 laps on both sets, right? So it definitely has to do with the repave and the aggregate of the surface, but I think the rubber that gets laid down affects it as well, so that helps things.'
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— Zack Albert in North Wilkesboro
RELATED: See where drivers will pit for Sunday's race
General view of the 2024 All-Star crowd.
History tells us …
The best remain the best. Each of the last nine All-Star Race winners are NASCAR Cup Series champions. Four of those drivers — Joey Logano, Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney — scored All-Star wins before eventually claiming the title.
He may not be the favorite to win, but watch out for …
BRAD KESELOWSKI. Selecting the polesitter for this section doesn't exactly feel like we're going out on a limb. However, Keselowski is still searching for his first NASCAR All-Star Race win after three runner-up efforts, with two at Charlotte and one at Texas. His past history at North Wilkesboro hasn't been great, finishing outside the top 15 in both attempts so far. But the No. 6 RFK Racing Ford was third-quickest on 10-lap averages in Friday's practice session and was fast enough to earn the pole position. Perhaps this is the year he takes home $1 million.
Speed reads
Our biggest pieces of the week — get covered for race day from all angles.
• All-Star hub: Key information, links, results through the weekend | Read more
• Tip of the pit-road Spire: No. 71 Spire Motorsports team rockets to Pit Road Challenge win, $100,000 bonus | Read more
• Meet the Bells: Christopher Bell, wife Morgan star in Season 2 of Netflix's 'Full Speed' | Read more
• Buescher, RFK Racing penalized post-Kansas: Driver, team react to L1-level penalty | Read more
• Turning Point to Wilkesboro: Hidden trends from first 12 races of 2025 | Read more
• All-Star action: Best photos, scenes from North Wilkesboro | View gallery
• NASCAR Classics: Relive the best moments from historic North Wilkesboro | Watch races
• Paint Scheme Preview: All-Star looks through the garage | View gallery
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