Tag: all-star race

Busch says NASCAR’s All-Star fight penalties are ‘not my problem’

Kyle Busch had no clear stance on the penalties handed down this week to JTG Daugherty Racing after the altercation between the two sides at North Wilkesboro Speedway. “NASCAR levies penalties,” Busch said Saturday after the Xfinity Series race at …

Kyle Busch had no clear stance on the penalties handed down this week to JTG Daugherty Racing after the altercation between the two sides at North Wilkesboro Speedway.

“NASCAR levies penalties,” Busch said Saturday after the Xfinity Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. “That’s not my problem.”

Busch was confronted in the garage last weekend by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. after the two made contact on lap two in the NASCAR All-Star Race. The initial discussion, in which Stenhouse argued that he never touched Busch, turned physical when Stenhouse punched the Richard Childress Racing driver. In doing so, it resulted in individuals from both teams and Stenhouse’s father getting involved in a brawl.

NASCAR fined Stenhouse $75,000 and indefinitely suspended Ricky Stenhouse Sr. JTG Daugherty Racing had two of its crew members from Stenhouse’s No. 47 team suspended. Keith Matthews, the engine tuner, was suspended for four races and Clint Myrick, a mechanic, was suspended for eight races.

“It doesn’t matter whether I agree or not, NASCAR makes the penalties,” Busch said.

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The incident started on the first lap when Stenhouse made it three-wide in Turns 1 and 2, with Busch on the far outside. Busch bounced off the wall and, a lap later, ran into Stenhouse until the No. 47 spun and hit the outside wall.

Stenhouse could not leave the racetrack because North Wilkesboro has no tunnel, and he promised in his media interviews that he would confront Busch. After seeing the replays, Busch said “maybe” he could have done something different.

“I walked into the situation,” he said, “It was calm to start and escalated from there.”

However, Busch said he does not feel differently about the situation after watching the replays of what happened on the racetrack.

“Nope,” Busch said. “I gave extra room, and when I was dragging the fence, he smashed [into] my door.”

Busch has not talked to Stenhouse since last weekend. He does not anticipate any further contact from Stenhouse in the Coca-Cola 600.

“I don’t need a fight with Ricky Stenhouse Jr.,” Busch said when asked if he’s moved on and it’s over. “I need a fight with the top three guys so I can start winning some races.”

Stenhouse fined, others suspended for All-Star fight

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has been fined $75,000 for his physical altercation with Kyle Busch in the North Wilkesboro Speedway garage after Sunday night’s NASCAR All-Star Race. Stenhouse was waiting at the back of Busch’s Richard Childress Racing hauler …

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has been fined $75,000 for his physical altercation with Kyle Busch in the North Wilkesboro Speedway garage after Sunday night’s NASCAR All-Star Race.

Stenhouse was waiting at the back of Busch’s Richard Childress Racing hauler to confront him about their on-track contact. On lap 2, Busch spun Stenhouse in Turn 2 as retaliation after being put three-wide the lap before with Michael McDowell. Busch bounced off the outside wall and chased down Stenhouse to make contact.

In the garage, the two started out by debating the incident and disagreeing on what happened. Stenhouse threw a punch that started a melee that included crew members from both teams and his father, Ricky Stenhouse Sr.

“When you wait 198 laps and you make those decisions that were made we’re going to react to that,” NASCAR’s Elton Sawyer said on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “There could have been different decisions made. Once we get to the point where it gets physical, we want the two drivers to be able to have their time to express their differences but again, once it escalates to where there’s been a physical altercation there, we’re going to react. Granted there was no tunnel, granted there was no crossover bridge, but better decisions could have been made throughout that period of time between the incident that happened on the racetrack and the incident that happened in the garage post-race.”

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Stenhouse Sr. has been indefinitely suspended for his role in the fight. He could be seen going after Busch after the punch was thrown.

JTG Daugherty Racing also had two of its crew members from Stenhouse’s team suspended.

Keith Matthews, the engine tuner, has been suspended for the next four Cup Series race weekends (through Iowa Speedway). Clint Myrick, a mechanic, has been suspended for the next eight Cup Series race weekends (through Pocono Raceway).

“When you have crew members and family members that put their hands on our athletes, our drivers, we’re going to react,” Sawyer said. “We’ve been consistent with this: When crew members get involved and family members get involved, we are going react, and that’s exactly what we did. We looked at all the audio and video from the incident on Sunday night.”

Kyle Busch was not penalized.

Larson ends ‘memorable day’ with All-Star top five

Everything went according to plan on Sunday for Kyle Larson and the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports team. Larson landed at North Wilkesboro Speedway by helicopter at 7:15 p.m. ET outside Turns 3 and 4 to compete in the NASCAR All-Star Race, an arrival …

Everything went according to plan on Sunday for Kyle Larson and the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports team.

Larson landed at North Wilkesboro Speedway by helicopter at 7:15 p.m. ET outside Turns 3 and 4 to compete in the NASCAR All-Star Race, an arrival that was met by a cheering crowd, which continued when the golf kart crossed over the backstretch to bring Larson into the infield.

The arrival was less than two hours after Larson qualified fifth for the Indianapolis 500 with Arrow McLaren and was one hour and 15 minutes before the green flag in the All-Star Race, which NASCAR had pushed back by 15 minutes to provide more of a buffer to the traveling Larson.

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By night’s end, Larson had a fourth-place finish after starting at the rear of a 20-car field. Larson had not run a lap in his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet before the green flag as the car was practiced and qualified by Kevin Harvick.

“Today was fun,” Larson said. “It was just a memorable day (to) make the fast six and then get to fly here and compete in the All-Star Race. I know we raced here last year, but that was a totally different racetrack, so it feels like I just raced at a track I’ve never been at. I’m happy to finish fourth with no practice laps, so thanks to Kevin Harvick and everybody at Hendrick Motorsports for getting that all put together smoothly and getting our car balance worked out to where we could compete at a decent level today.”

Larson charged in the final 42 laps after pitting for fresh tires. But after quickly moving into third place and looking like he was in a good spot to run down the two leaders, Larson had trouble passing Denny Hamlin. Joey Logano drove away, Hamlin finished second and Larson faded to fourth.

“Honestly, I felt like I could take care of my tires better down low,” Larson said of where he made up the most ground early in the final run. “I was worried about building tight all race and whenever I would move up top, you’re tugging on the wheel more, and you’re on the throttle, so I feel like that actually abuses the tires more.

“So, I thought I was doing what I (needed) to maintain the balance of my car, but I think we just pumped the air up a lot, and I just built really free really quickly that run.

“Then I moved up and slowly got tight after that. I thought we were in a great position to win – I thought for sure we would win – but it just didn’t work out. So, we’ll do our homework and try to get our car better for next year.”

Cliff Daniels and the No. 5 team prepared the car for Larson’s arrival, and Harvick drove the car in practice on Friday and in qualifying on Saturday morning.

The only plan for Sunday was to wait for Larson’s arrival. Harvick was not eligible to run the All-Star Race, and the team would not put someone else in the car. If, for some reason, Larson didn’t make it to North Wilkesboro, the team wouldn’t compete.

“The team did an amazing job preparing the car and getting everything ready for Kevin,” Daniels said. “(We’re) very, very grateful to Kevin for coming in and what he did to be engaged for our preparation this week on what we wanted to do for our practice plan and qualifying and all those things. We really, really appreciate what he did for us and what the team did to engage in all that and just be prepared.”

The car was fitted for Harvick early in the weekend. Rodney Childers, Harvick’s former crew chief, and Stewart-Haas Racing worked with Hendrick Motorsports to provide Harvick’s old seat and seat rails. After qualifying, the car was converted to Larson’s setup and comfort.

“We came here and tried to execute the best practice that we could,” Daniels continued. “Obviously, a lot of challenges getting the cockpit switched back over from Harvick to Larson, but we knew that if we were prepared the right way, we could get it done in a timely manner. NASCAR worked with us tremendously the whole time, so a very big thank you to everyone at NASCAR for helping us with that.”

Larson was not surprised by the effort, calling Hendrick Motorsports the best. It was a seamless process, as far as Larson was concerned.

“I had a lot of fun,” Larson said. “I felt like I was able to get up to speed right away. I didn’t feel like it took any time – maybe that caution in the first lap or two helped. But I felt like I got right up to speed, and I was passing cars immediately. So, I was happy with that, and the car had good grip.”

Overall, the performance wasn’t where it needed to be for the team, according to Daniels. It didn’t matter if it was Harvick or Larson driving the car, Daniels admitted they need more on the short tacks. Larson dominated and won at North Wilkesboro last year on the original surface.

“Looking back, there are things that I want to say I could have done different or not, I don’t really know,” Daniels said. “But all in all, the team was really rough this weekend. The road crew did an amazing job. The pit crew hung tough today. Kyle did Kyle things and it’s so much fun to watch him move around and go drive hard and be exciting on restarts.

“Super, super proud of his effort and all in all, I think we have a lot to be proud of as a team. We’re going to keep our nose down. We’re going to keep digging because the next two weeks are still going to be very action-packed for us. But I think we’re built for it and we’ll keep marching forward.”

Penske sweeps Sunday with Logano’s NASCAR All-Star win

It was a study in domination and impeccable strategy. Leading a NASCAR All-Star Race record 199 of 200 laps, pole winner Joey Logano kept Denny Hamlin and peripatetic Kyle Larson at bay on Sunday night in winning the 40th running of the event and …

It was a study in domination and impeccable strategy.

Leading a NASCAR All-Star Race record 199 of 200 laps, pole winner Joey Logano kept Denny Hamlin and peripatetic Kyle Larson at bay on Sunday night in winning the 40th running of the event and collecting the $1-million top prize.

Running the entire race on softer option tires—and eschewing the more durable prime tires at repaved and revitalized North Wilkesboro Speedway—Logano beat runner-up Hamlin to the finish line by 0.636s, with Chris Buescher passing Larson for third place on the next-to-last lap.

The All-Star Race victory was the second for Logano and the fifth for Team Penske, which also won with Kurt Busch (2010), Ryan Newman (2002) and Ryan Blaney (2022).

“A lot of fun when you’ve got a car this fast,” said Logano, who is winless in 13 NASCAR Cup Series points events this season. “The Shell/Pennzoil Mustang, it’s just so great to get in Victory Lane.

“All of our sponsors and everyone who stuck with us to get a win, it feels nice. It’s been a while. I wish it was for points, but a million bucks is still a lot of money, and I feel great about that.”

Though Logano spent the race at the front of the field, Larson drew his share of attention, too, as he shuttled between 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the historic 0.625-mile short track.

After qualifying fifth for next Sunday’s Indianapolis 500—the first leg of a planned double with the Coca-Cola 600 next Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway—Larson left Indy on a helicopter at 5:44 p.m.

After transferring to a private jet registered to HMS Holdings and arriving at Wilkes County Airport, Larson took a helicopter to nearby North Wilkesboro Speedway and landed on the track property at 7:15 p.m.—to loud applause from fans in the grandstands.

Larson started from the rear of the field because of a driver change, given that Kevin Harvick had qualified the No. 5 Chevrolet while Larson was at Indy.

During a planned caution at lap 151, Larson pitted for option tires that had spent only one green-flag lap on his car and charged through the field from 10th at the restart to challenge Hamlin for the runner-up spot before fading in the closing laps.

Larson ran out of steam, and Hamlin was frustrated by his inability to make a move on the race winner.

“I needed more of an advantage to pass, for sure,” Hamlin said. “I would run to him, and then you couldn’t pass. I would lose a little bit of air there, and I would try to give my car a break and then run to him again—just have to be so much faster to get around.

“Hats off to the track, NASCAR and Goodyear for giving [two tire choices] a try. Hopefully, we learned something here for future short tracks.”

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The fireworks started early on Sunday. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. went up the middle to create a three-wide scenario mid-pack and angered Kyle Busch on the outside when the cars collided. Busch retaliated on Lap 2 and turned Stenhouse’s Chevrolet into the outside wall, eliminating Stenhouse from the race.

Stenhouse drove his damaged car to pit road, parked it in Busch’s stall and expressed his displeasure to Busch’s crew chief, Randall Burnett. After the race, Stenhouse vented his pent-up rage in a brief fistfight with Busch, which also involved crews from the two teams.

 

“At least we had an exciting fight in the end—something to talk about,” said Hamlin, always the curmudgeon.

Under the caution for Stenhouse’s wreck, five drivers—Logano, Tyler Reddick, Brad Keselowski, Buescher and Blaney—stayed on the track on the softer option tires, while the rest of the field came to pit road and switched to the prime tires.

Preserving track position proved to be the winning move for the No. 22 Team Penske Ford. When crew chief Paul Wolfe saw the car’s performance on the option tires, he chose not to change to primes at the 100-lap halfway break.

“Well, we did the first 100, so why wouldn’t it last the second 100?” agreed Logano. “That was our thought, so it was definitely an aggressive strategy, but it worked out good.”

Blaney came home fifth, followed by Bubba Wallace, Ross Chastain, Chase Elliott, Michael McDowell and Busch.

Toyota drivers Ty Gibbs and Wallace transferred into the main event by finishing first and second, respectively, in the 100-lap NASCAR All-Star Open.

For Gibbs, the victory was a cakewalk. Starting from the pole, the driver of the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Camry led every lap and crossed the finish line 1.572s ahead of Wallace, who had to hold off charging Josh Berry and Justin Haley to secure his spot in the show.

Berry was third in the Open, less than a half-second behind Wallace, with Haley trailing in fourth. Berry’s Stewart-Haas Racing teammate, Noah Gragson, finished fifth but transferred into the All-Star Race by winning the Fan Vote.

“I can’t say enough about the fans,” Gragson said after learning he had been voted into the race. “They’re bad-ass. They keep us motivated each and every weekend to come out and do our jobs.

“When times aren’t great, the fans always pump us up and we feed off their energy. I appreciate everybody’s support and we’ve got 200 laps to go chase a million bucks.”

The chase came up short. Gragson started at the back of the 20-car field and finished 11th.

RESULTS

All-Star incident boils over between Busch and Stenhouse

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. followed through on his promise that he would see Kyle Busch after the NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway. Stenhouse not only saw Busch in the garage Sunday night but threw a punch at the Richard Childress Racing …

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. followed through on his promise that he would see Kyle Busch after the NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway.

Stenhouse not only saw Busch in the garage Sunday night but threw a punch at the Richard Childress Racing driver as the two went back and forth about their on-track contact. The night had ended on lap two for Stenhouse after Busch wrecked him in Turn 2. But without a tunnel at North Wilkesboro, Stenhouse remained in the infield and was waiting for Busch as the No. 8 hauler after the race.

“Go back and watch the replay, I didn’t touch you. Not once,” Stenhouse could be heard saying to Busch.

“We all hit each other,” Busch replied.

“You hit the fence and then you hit me,” Stenhouse said, pointing toward the racetrack.

“I don’t believe it, but if that’s what happened, OK,” Busch said.

“Go back and watch it,” Stenhouse said before punching Busch.

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Once the punch landed, Stenhouse grabbed Busch, and the two went toward the ground before being separated. NASCAR security pulled Stenhouse away while Stenhouse’s father, Ricky Sr., went after Busch.

Stenhouse repeatedly yelled, “Dad,” as the situation escalated, with more and more individuals getting involved. “Get my dad.”

Eventually, Busch made it onto the tailgate of his hauler, but he and Stenhouse continued to yell at each other about what happened on the racetrack.

“I don’t give a [expletive],” Busch said. “I suck just as bad as you.”

Stenhouse finished last in the 20-car field. Busch was not a factor in the 200-lap race and finished 10th.

“I feel like Kyle and I have always raced each other really hard back to the [Xfinity] Series when we were competing for wins week-in and week-out,” Stenhouse told Fox Sports after the fight. “We never had any issues, and then I wrecked one time at Daytona, and he’s kind of bad-mouthed me ever since then, so I feel like we get along with each other OK outside the racetrack. I talk to him quite a bit.

“I’m not sure why he was so mad that I shoved it three-wide, but he hit the fence and came off the wall and ran into me… When I was talking to him, he kept saying that I wrecked him, so yeah, it’s definitely built-up frustration with how he runs his mouth all the time about myself. But I know he’s frustrated because he doesn’t run near as good as he used to and I understand that. We’re a single-car team over here; we’re working really hard to go out and get better each and every weekend and we had a really good game plan coming [into today]. Our car was really strong Friday in practice; I was looking forward to running to the front. I think we’d passed a couple of cars there, and I was excited for the rest of the night, and he ruined it.

“Being stuck in here definitely doesn’t help the frustration. If there was a tunnel, I’d [have] probably been home watching the end of that. But here we are.”

Early-out Stenhouse vows to wait on Busch at North Wilkesboro

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. wanted to take a page from Kyle Busch’s book by parking in the latter’s pit stall at North Wilkesboro Speedway. Stenhouse’s night in the NASCAR All-Star Race ended on lap two when Busch retaliated in Turn 2. The lap before, …

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. wanted to take a page from Kyle Busch’s book by parking in the latter’s pit stall at North Wilkesboro Speedway.

Stenhouse’s night in the NASCAR All-Star Race ended on lap two when Busch retaliated in Turn 2. The lap before, Stenhouse made it three-wide through the middle of Michael McDowell and Busch. There was no contact between Stenhouse and Busch, but Busch bounced off the outside wall.

“We got a really good start, and he left the door wide-open,” Stenhouse said. “I went through the middle and almost had him clear. [McDowell] kind of ran up the track and we all just kind of touched there – nothing major. And then Kyle tried to wreck me in [Turns 3 and 4], and then finally did wreck me there in [Turns 1 and 2].

“Our car was really fast; I felt really good. We were good yesterday, and I’m bummed that we had already passed two or three cars there; bummed that we couldn’t see it to the end.”

Stenhouse drove his damaged Chevrolet to pit road and parked it in Busch’s pit stall. After climbing from his car and taking off his helmet, Stenhouse climbed up the side of Busch’s pit box to tell crew chief Randall Burnett to relay a message to his driver.

“Well, first, I parked it there because I figured Kyle would do something similar, and then I just told Randall that he could tell Kyle that I’d see him afterward,” Stenhouse said. “Since there’s no tunnel here, I can’t leave, so I’ll be here when the race is over.”

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When asked what he wanted to hear from Busch in their post-race meeting, Stenhouse said, “Nothing. I’ll handle it.”

How will he handle it?

“You can just watch [after the race],” he said.

The JTG Daugherty Racing driver didn’t think the incident was significant enough to warrant being wrecked. Stenhouse started 16th and was racing with McDowell for 10th place when he made it three wide.

“We barely touched,” Stenhouse said of Busch’s reaction. “I haven’t seen a replay, but the gap was [opened] and I drove through there. You could have put one and a half cars through it in the center and then [McDowell] was coming up off the bottom. It was just hard racing, I thought.

“It’s the All-Star Race — short track. You’ve got to get as much as you can early. Once this thing stretches out, you won’t pass. You’ve got to get all the cars you can early, and I felt like I did a really good job and he did a poor job on the start, and then he was mad about it. I think that’s the way his season’s gone.”

Gibbs dominates All-Star Open, Wallace and Gragson advance

Ty Gibbs led every lap en route to winning the NASCAR All-Star Open to advance into Sunday night’s All-Star Race. Gibbs will be joined by Bubba Wallace, who finished second. The top two finishers from the All-Star Open advanced into the All-Star …

Ty Gibbs led every lap en route to winning the NASCAR All-Star Open to advance into Sunday night’s All-Star Race.

Gibbs will be joined by Bubba Wallace, who finished second. The top two finishers from the All-Star Open advanced into the All-Star Race.

“We were pretty good,” Gibbs said. “I feel like we were pretty solid, so it’s good to make it. It’s good to see Bubba make it, too, so hopefully we can go and win it. I think [Michael] Waltrip did it once, so it’d be cool to go win a million bucks and go buy some sprint cars or something.”

 

Josh Berry finished third and Justin Haley finished fourth. Noah Gragson finished fifth and was announced as the fan vote winner.

The All-Star Race field will have 20 drivers, with the additions of Gibbs’ and Wallace’s Toyota XSEs and Gragson’s Ford Mustang Dark Horse.

“We came from the back last year,” Wallace said. “So let’s do it again.”

There were two cautions in the 100-lap All-Star Open. Gibbs started from the pole and held the lead through the only pit stop when most of the field switched from the primary to the option tire.

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The mandatory four-tire pit stop came at the lap 50 break. Gibbs, Alex Bowman, and Wallace were the first three drivers off pit road.

Austin Cindric was the cause of the caution on lap 59. He was caught in the middle of Carson Hocevar and Noah Gragson coming off Turn 4, severely damaging his Ford Mustang Dark Horse.

Gibbs maintained control of the race off the restart with 36 laps to go, and Wallace moved into second place. Bowman began to fade after being moved by Berry for third place. Bowman finished sixth.

Chase Briscoe finished seventh, Ryan Preece, eighth, Austin Dillon, ninth, Carson Hocevar, 10th, Kaz Grala, 11th and Corey LaJoie, 12th.

It’s the second straight year Gibbs transferred into the All-Star Race from the Open. For Wallace, it’s his fourth appearance in the All-Star Race. Gragson makes the race for the second consecutive year as the fan vote winner.

“I appreciate all the fans; you guys [rock],” Gragson said. “We didn’t quite have what it took there in that race but you fans pulled through. Your support means everything.”

RESULTS

Truck Series delayed, All-Star heats canceled at North Wilkesboro

Unrelenting rain and lightning stopped Saturday’s Wright Brand 250 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race in progress and forced cancellation of qualifying heats for Sunday’s NASCAR All-Star at North Wilkesboro Speedway (8 p.m. ET ON FS1, MRN and …

Unrelenting rain and lightning stopped Saturday’s Wright Brand 250 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race in progress and forced cancellation of qualifying heats for Sunday’s NASCAR All-Star at North Wilkesboro Speedway (8 p.m. ET ON FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

The Truck Series race, which completed 81 of 250 laps before nearby lightning halted the event, will resume at 11:30 a.m. Sunday. Ty Majeski won the 70-lap first stage and led at the suspension.

The heat races for the All-Star Race will not be run. The $1-million-to-win All-Star main event will be preceded by the NASCAR All-Star Open at 5:30 p.m. Sunday.

The top two finishers from the Open, along with the winner of the Fan Vote will be added to the 17 drivers already eligible for the All-Star Race.

Logano on All-Star pole as No. 20 JGR team wins Pit Crew Challenge

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 …

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.

‘We’ve got to be perfect from here on out’ – Logano

Joey Logano remains confident in the ability of his Team Penske race team but also admitted he has some anxiety for the first time in quite a few seasons for this point in the year. “There’s no running away from it,” Logano said at North Wilkesboro …

Joey Logano remains confident in the ability of his Team Penske race team but also admitted he has some anxiety for the first time in quite a few seasons for this point in the year.

“There’s no running away from it,” Logano said at North Wilkesboro Speedway, where the NASCAR Cup Series runs the non-points All-Star Race. “It is what it is. We’ve got to be perfect from here on out.”

The two-time Cup Series is 17th in the championship standings. Logano has earned just three top-10 finishes in 13 races.

“I always look at the points,” Logano said. “We’re halfway through the regular season and, obviously, it’s not been the season that we’ve wanted or have hoped for at this point. But we keep fighting. I don’t feel like we’re in a bad spot. We’re not in as good a spot as we want to be by [any] means, but we can definitely make up the points…just by getting consistent and running up front more often like we should.

“The facts are, if you’re not good enough to make the playoffs, you’re probably not good enough to win the championship anyway, so we’ve got to get to that point where we’re good enough, and then the points will follow that, for sure.”

It was a struggle for Logano and the No. 22 team for much of the 2023 season, which resulted in a first-round exit from the postseason. Logano won only once last year.

For 2024, Ford debuted a new body – the Mustang Dark Horse — but Logano’s group is still behind. If not for self-inflicted wounds such as speeding last weekend at Darlington Raceway, it’s been pure lack of speed. The intermediate racetracks have been their weakness, but Logano looks at how well Ford teammates Chris Buescher and Brad Keselowski from RFK Racing have run and believes there is an opportunity to do the same.

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“We just have to go find it,” Logano said. “Whatever that is. We have to figure that out.”

Fortunately, Logano doesn’t feel his team is that far off. Then again, the entire Cup Series field could say that because Logano said everything is fairly close.

“Last week, we had a top five coming and I sped on pit road, which that one stings a lot,” he said. “But outside of that, I’d say it was a pretty solid weekend, so our race teams still got it. We all just have to clean up a little bit. Obviously last weekend I made a mistake, and we’ve got to keep getting faster.

“I feel confident this weekend here in [North Wilkesboro]. We came and did the tire test, and I felt pretty good about what we had. Hopefully that transfers [to this weekend]. Charlotte, I don’t know. [Ryan] Blaney had a great run there [last year], so hopefully we can learn a lot from that.”

With 13 races down, there are 13 races left in the regular season. Over the next month, the series will run its longest race in the Coca-Cola 600, make a third trip to St. Louis, visit a repaved Sonoma Raceway and debut at Iowa Speedway.

All of it sounds good to Logano.

“The [Coke] 600, I think I feel OK about,” he said. “Gateway has been a solid race for us the last two times we’ve been there, so I look forward to that one. Sonoma is repaved, so who the heck knows? Then Iowa — new tracks have been good, and short tracks have been good for us, as well.

“I like the way the schedule’s lined up the next few weeks.”