By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service
Reigning NASCAR Cup champ Joey Logano primed for All-Star Race defense
If you‘re trying to find a predictor of the eventual NASCAR Cup Series champion, the winner of the NASCAR All-Star Race might be a good place to look.
In three of the last five years, the All-Star Race winner has gone on to win the title: Chase Elliott at Bristol in 2020; Kyle Larson at Texas Motor Speedway in 2021; and Joey Logano at North Wilkesboro Speedway last year.
Add Ryan Blaney’s All-Star victory at Texas in 2022, and you have another impressive statistic: the organization that has won the All-Star Race has won the Cup championship in four of the last five years—Hendrick Motorsports in 2020 and 2021 and Team Penske in 2022 and 2024.
Moreover, Logano credits last year’s March 14 tire test at North Wilkesboro, leading up to the All-Star Race, as one of the factors that flipped the switch for Team Penske and propelled him toward his third Cup championship.
As one of 20 drivers already qualified for the event, Logano will defend his victory in Sunday’s NASCAR All-Star Race at the iconic 0.625-mile short track (8 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
“I’m looking forward to getting up there,” Logano said. “The track’s really wide for a repave. It’s a really good race track. I’m looking forward to seeing where it gets to this year. Last year it widened all the way out to the wall…
“Where the dominant lane is will be interesting, even in qualifying.”
Three more drivers will be added to the 20-driver field before the green flag, two from the 100-lap All-Star Open and one chosen through the All-Star Fan Vote.
Qualifying for both the Open and All-Star Race will take place on Friday and includes a Pit Crew Challenge component. Those time trials will set the starting order for a pair of Saturday heat races that will determine the grid for the All-Star Race.
The first 75-lap heat sets the order for the inside row of the All-Star lineup, with the second heat ordering the outside row. The qualifiers from the Open and Fan Vote will be added to the rear of the field.
Front Row Motorsports driver Noah Gragson has won the last two Fan Votes. Josh Berry and Ty Gibbs are the two Open winners at North Wilkesboro. Berry already is eligible for this year’s All-Star Race because of his victory at Las Vegas in March.
The All-Star Race itself is scheduled for 250 laps (up from the 200 laps run in the first two editions of the race at North Wilkesboro), with a competition caution to take place at or around Lap 100.
In addition, a single, optional promoter’s caution—at the discretion of Speedway Motorsports Inc. CEO Marcus Smith—can be used to reshape the race before Lap 220 but cannot be used after Lap 200 if preempted by a naturally occurring caution.
There are six former winners of the NASCAR All-Star Race already qualified for Sunday’s 41st running of the event: Larson, Logano, Blaney, Chase Elliott, Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin.
Larson has three All-Star Race victories to his credit (2019, 2021 and 2023) and can tie NASCAR Hall of Famer Jimmie Johnson for most all-time with another win.
Hendrick Motorsports has compiled a series-best 11 All-Star victories. Team Penske is next with five. Busch claimed the most recent All-Star victory for Toyota in 2017.
Logano relishes not only the competition but also the history North Wilkesboro embodies.
“It was shut down for years, just sitting there empty,” Logano said. “Now you see it come back, and so many people are there. They did such a tasteful job renovating the place, where they’ve kept a lot of that old feeling but a lot of the newer amenities fans have become accustomed to.”
Defending NASCAR truck race winner Corey Heim faces major challenge
Corey Heim has been the dominant force in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series this season.
With three victories already in hand, the driver of the No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota is the only multiple winner in the series so far this year.
Atop the standings by 64 points over second-place Chandler Smith, Heim also is the defending winner of Saturday’s Window World 250 at North Wilkesboro Speedway (1:30 p.m. ET on FS1, NRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
He’s the only driver to lead laps in every race this season, and he’s the only active North Wilkesboro winner entered in Saturday’s race.
Heim, however, will face a stern challenge from a driver doing double duty in both the Truck Series event and the NASCAR All-Star Race on Sunday.
Kyle Busch is making his second Truck Series start of the season, this time in the No. 07 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet. In February, Busch won at Atlanta in Spire’s No. 7 Silverado, extending his career record for victories in the series to 67.
“It’ll be my first time racing a truck at North Wilkesboro and my first time racing with (crew chief) Allen (Hart) and the No. 07 group, so practice will be important for us this week,” Busch said.
“The 07 team has shown good speed winning with (Kyle) Larson (at Homestead-Miami Speedway) and picking up a couple runner-up finishes in recent weeks, so hopefully we can continue the momentum they’ve been building and put our Gainbridge Silverado in Victory Lane this weekend.”
