Latest news with #shorttrack
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
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. Advertisement 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. Advertisement 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? Advertisement 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.' Advertisement 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.' Advertisement — 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
Fox News
16-05-2025
- Automotive
- Fox News
How to watch 2025 NASCAR All-Star Race: Schedule, start time, TV channel for North Wilkesboro
The 2025 NASCAR All-Star Race roars back to historic North Wilkesboro Speedway for four days of short-track action, concerts and Cup-Series bragging rights. The non-points exhibition expands to 250 laps this year, promising even more drama under the lights. Here's everything you need to know: The NASCAR All-Star Open is scheduled for Sunday, May 18th at 5:30 p.m. ET. The NASCAR All-Star Race is scheduled for Sunday, May 18th at 8 p.m. ET. The NASCAR All-Star Open and Race will take place at North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina. The NASCAR All-Star Race Heat 1 and Heat 2 are 75-lap heats. The NASCAR All-Star Open is a 100-lap event with a break around lap 40. The NASCAR All-Star Race is a 250-lap event. The races will be broadcast live on FS1 and the FOX Sports App. The NASCAR All-Star Races can be streamed on the FOX Sports App or For those without cable, there are live-streaming services that carry FS1, including YouTube TV, Sling TV, Hulu + Live TV and fuboTV. Twenty drivers are already locked into the main event, including Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott, William Byron, Ryan Blaney and reigning champion Kyle Busch. Additional spots will be filled by: The final 24-car grid will be set after Saturday's heat races and Sunday's Open.
The Independent
12-05-2025
- Sport
- The Independent
‘My brain shut off': How Evie Richards overcame concussion and a rare syndrome to become mountain bike world champion
'I think I was born to race short track', Evie Richards jokes, fresh off a near-flawless start to her mountain biking season. The 28-year-old started the year with wins in the short-track discipline on two consecutive weekends in Araxa, Brazil, before a third place in the longer cross-country race. Her second win in Araxa this April saw her break French veteran Pauline Ferrand-Prevot's record of short-track wins to set a new elite women's record of seven, but she laughs: 'I had no idea! Luckily I didn't know because I was so nervous for that race. 'For me that race was like a six out of 10 of where I want to be fitness wise,' she adds, 'so I was dead happy.' The Red Bull athlete 's opening win in Araxa marked the high point of one of many comebacks for the Malvern-born rider. It was her first time back at the Brazilian race since she suffered a concussion there last year, three months before the Paris Olympic Games. 'It's quite scary racing a course which knocked you out for so long,' she says. 'When I'm in practice, I'm like a granny, I'm so scared – but when I come to race I'm pretty fearless. But on that course, I didn't feel that sort of confidence on the descents, I was very much aware of how big the crash was.' She says she spent three weeks 'in denial' that she even had a concussion. 'When you have a broken leg, people can see you're injured,' she says. 'When it's in your brain… my mum and dad could see that I was struggling because my eyes weren't right. [But] unless you were really close to me, you couldn't see it. 'I can't really describe it, but your brain just kind of shuts off. It felt like there wasn't much emotion to be sad about the Olympics, because there was not much going on up there. I was just in so much discomfort.' An intensive training plan was put in place with the goal of, against the odds, getting her ready for Paris. She set up a static bike in her shed at home and would ride with her eyes closed before going back to bed for the rest of the day, shattered. 'There was only so much I could expend my energy on. I didn't leave the house, really. I just went to the static bike and came back in, and then I got the all clear to race. 'I hadn't left the house for six weeks. I hadn't done a food shop, I hadn't seen friends, hadn't done anything. I basically killed myself on the bike for six weeks to try and get that fitness up. It was probably the quickest I've ever got fit and I didn't even think it was possible.' It was a huge jump going back to World Cup racing, the Trek Factory Racing rider says. 'I was sharing an Airbnb with my teammates, and just eating dinner with them felt hard. There were so many stimuli that I hadn't had for so long. Racing was really overwhelming. Processing a descent, I found really hard. I was thrown in at the deep end. 'After the first race I was crying. When I go to a World Cup, you want to be in fit shape to be podium potential. It's so hard when you're at the back of the pack where normally you're near the front. But I suppose it makes you stronger, doesn't it? 'The whole concussion, all I had was the Olympics. That's all I was thinking of.' The gruelling recovery process was worth it in the end and Richards - an infectiously bubbly personality - grins ear to ear as she remembers her time in Paris. She came fifth in the cross-country race, and says the experience 'couldn't have been more perfect'. 'Number one, I made it there. To have all my family there, and mentally, to be on the start line smiling and happy, it was the most special experience ever.' She jokes that in both years she has competed in the Olympics there have been two other constants: not only has she gone on to win the World Championships weeks later, but she's also bought a house. A house move isn't necessarily on the cards for 2028, but a gold medal in Los Angeles – an improvement on seventh in Tokyo 2021 and fifth in Paris – is a 'really big goal'. She has unfinished business with the Games, she adds. 'It sounds really big headed, but for [Tokyo], that was the fittest I'd been that year. I just crumbled under the pressure. I remember doing course practice in the morning, and I was shaking so much I could hardly stay on the bike.' Time off after the Games to visit Cornwall with her family meant she lost fitness ahead of the World Championships in Val di Sole, 'but mentally, I was much stronger,' she adds, and she won the mountain bike rainbow jersey for the first time. 'I think that shows how important the mental side is, because I was just too nervous to control the emotions at the Olympics.' Things were very different in Paris. Richards worked with her psychologist Rich Hampson on how she wanted to approach the race and joined a 'girls group' featuring many of British cycling's top female athletes, including BMX Olympic champion Beth Shriever and world and Olympic gold medallists Emma Finucane and Katie Archibald. 'All of us wanted to be showing our younger selves, look what we've achieved, and look how happy we are here,' she explains of their joint approach to the Games. 'I wanted to be so grateful to be at the start and kind of happy no matter what happened. I feel like we did a lot of work to get to that state.' Richards adds that that support network has extended beyond Paris: 'If one of us is struggling, we'll probably post in [the group chat] and say, like, 'We're a bit nervous because we're wearing the jersey this year. Can anyone offer any help?' And we'll just check in. I love my friends from home, but it's not something they can relate to, or they don't always understand, so it's nice to have those girls.' The 28-year-old notes that her perspective has changed dramatically since her early career, when she was consistently under-fuelling and over-training and was permanently exhausted. An obsession with clean eating and keeping her weight down meant she developed Relative energy deficiency in sport (Red-S), a chronic condition of low energy caused by a long-term calorie deficit, and didn't get her period for three years. 'I almost saw it as an achievement,' she admits, as it meant her training wasn't affected. But her racing suffered. She was frequently sick in races, abandoning them after repeatedly throwing up on the bike, and fainted after winning the cyclo-cross under-23 World Championships in 2018. It took a recurring knee injury in 2019 and 2020, which required surgery, for her to seek help from Hampson and nutritionist Renee McGregor - two people who remain key members of her support team to this day. She recalls thinking, 'I have the time to put on the weight if I need to, and I'm away from the camera, so if my body shape changes, no one's gonna know. Then by the time I'd recovered from my knee surgery I'd got back to the World Cup. I think I won the second World Cup I'd got back to, and I won it happy, with my period, and I was like, 'oh my God, you can do it all.' 'I wouldn't want anyone to dislocate their knee! But for me it was a really good thing to happen, at that time of my career. If it had gone on any longer I might not have been riding still, I might have burnt out, and I probably wouldn't have been happy.' The impact was huge. Since her return from the knee injury and her mental and physical recovery she has never been sick on the bike. Richards notes that the wider landscape of the sport has changed too in the years since her diagnosis, with the emphasis now on being strong and healthy for races rather than being as light as possible to get up climbs. 'If you said Red-S to someone I think people would understand it [now], but I feel like six years ago it wasn't a common thing,' she says. 'I think we're in a much better space of knowledge now in the sport. 'The funny thing is I always did sport to be healthy – I wanted to be the fittest grandma when I'm older,' she recalls. 'And the ironic thing is I'd got so far from that. 'I've just found that balance now,' she says. 'I have a really different perspective. I still want to win, but I know you can't win all the races. I still find it hard sometimes, but I feel like every year I'm growing and learning more.'
