Joey Logano won the pole for the NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro, while Joe Gibbs Racing claimed a repeat Pit Crew Challenge victory.
The overall time for Logano to claim the pole was 89.754s between his qualifying laps and pit stop. His No. 22 Team Penske team clocked in at 13.59s, the fifth overall time in the competition.
“It’s probably the most fun qualifying session we have all year, and I think that’s why we didn’t cancel it last night,” Logano said. “We just postponed it to today because everyone looks forward to this event, and it really does a great job at showcasing every team member on the team. From setting the dash to make sure all the lights are right and making sure you maximize your speed on pit road, to the car going fast obviously, executing onto pit road, rolling time, the spotter helping me be able to make sure I hit all the right lights around the corners to maximize that… Obviously, the pit crew doing their part and then back onto the racetrack.
“It’s a very detail-oriented exchange all the way through that we typically see every weekend when we have green flag stops, but it’s really neat to put it all on the line and do that today. It’s a very special pole, maybe the most special pole I’ve ever had because it’s a great example of everybody and I’m proud of that. It’s a lot of work that goes into the minute-and-a-half out there.”
Logano will start on the pole for both the first All-Star Race heat and the All-Star Race. Brad Keselowski, who qualified second, will start from the pole in the second All-Star Race heat race. Keselowski’s overall time was 90.14s.
Christopher Bell qualified just third at 90.16s, however his No. 20 team won the Pit Crew Challenge with a time of 13.22s. It is the same team that won the Pit Crew Challenge last year as the No. 54 team for Ty Gibbs.
The winning pit crew claims $100,000 and gets the first pick of pit stall selection for the All-Star Race.
Bell’s crew members are:
Jake Holmes (tire carrier)
Peyton Moore (fueler)
Blake Houston (front tire changer)
Michael Hicks (rear tire changer)
Derrell Edwards (jackman)
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Daniel Suarez qualified fourth with an overall time of 90.19s, Chris Buescher, fifth with an overall time of 90.28s and Tyler Reddick, sixth with an overall time of 90.66s.
Ross Chastain qualified seventh at 90.76s, Martin Truex Jr., eighth at 90.94s, Michael McDowell, ninth at 90.99s and AJ Allmendinger completed the top 10 at 91.67s.
Four drivers were called for speeding during their pit stop: Kyle Busch, Ryan Blaney, William Byron, and Chase Elliott. All were given 10s penalties for the infraction.
Elliott’s No. 9 team also had a slow pit stop on the left rear. Blaney was given an additional 10s penalty for hitting the commitment box coming to pit road.
The No. 5 and No. 47 teams had some of the more significant issues during their pit stop.
It was trouble on the left rear for the Hendrick Motorsports team as they could not get the left rear tire on the car and needed additional pumps on the jack.
JTG Daugherty’s No. 47 crew had the slowest time in the Pit Crew Challenge because of trouble on the right front and the left side. After being slow on the right front, the jack fell on the left side of the car, and the jackman needed to give it multiple pumps to lift the car back up.
The pit stop times were as follows:
Christopher Bell’s team: 13.22s
Brad Keselowski’s team: 13.32s
Ryan Blaney’s team: 13.51s
Ross Chastain’s team: 13.52s
Joey Logano’s team: 13.59s
William Byron’s team: 13.84s
Tyler Reddick’s team: 13.95s
Kyle Busch’s team: 13.98s
Daniel Suarez’s team: 14.03s
Martin Truex Jr.’s team: 14.07s
AJ Allmendinger’s team: 14.18s
Chris Buescher’s team: 14.18s
Michael McDowell’s team: 14.38s
Chase Elliott’s team: 16.93s
Kevin Harvick’s (Kyle Larson) team: 17.94s
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. team’s: 25.74s
The first All-Star Race heat race will be at 5:20 p.m. ET Saturday. The second heat race will run afterward at approximately 6:15 p.m. ET.