Brad Keselowski and Christopher Bell won Saturday’s (May 17) All-Star Heat Races at North Wilkesboro Speedway in dominant fashion, and they’ll start on the front row for Sunday’s (May 18) 250-lap All-Star Race.
Heat 1
Keselowski led all but one of the 75 laps after starting first, and he held off late challenges from William Byron and Ross Chastain to claim both the victory and first place on the All-Star starting grid.
Chastain finished second, while Byron, Ryan Blaney and Alex Bowman rounded out the top five. All four drivers pitted for four tires under the lap 30 caution, and while they challenged for the lead, none of them were able to complete the pass on Keselowski, who used clean air and the top line to his advantage to prevail.
Josh Berry, Tyler Reddick, Austin Dillon and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. elected not to pit, and they faded to rear of the field, finishing sixth through ninth, respectively. Kyle Larson was at Indianapolis 500 qualifying and did not start the race; he was credited with 10th.
Heat 2
Bell led 69 of the 75 laps after starting first; the only six he didn’t lead were led by Chase Briscoe, who was the lone car that elected not to pit under the lap 30 caution.
Briscoe quickly faded with old tires and spun out after contact with Daniel Suarez out of turn 4 on lap 42. Bell reclaimed the lead after taking two tires, and he held off Joey Logano and Chase Elliott — who each took four tires — to win the heat and clinch a second-place start for the All-Star Race.
Kyle Busch and Chris Buescher rounded out the top five. Suarez finished sixth, while Briscoe recovered to seventh after the spin. Austin Cindric crossed the line in eighth, while Harrison Burton finished ninth in his one-off weekend with Rick Ware Racing. Denny Hamlin battled an ill-handling car and brought up the rear of the field in 10th.
All-Star Race Starting Lineup
The finishers of Heat 1 will make up the inside row, while the finishers of Heat 2 will make up the outside row. Keselowski, Chastain and Byron were the top three in Heat 1, and they’ll respectively start first, third and fifth in the main event. Bell, Logano and Elliott were the top three in Heat 2, so they’ll start second, fourth and sixth, respectively, and so on.
All-Star festivities will continue on Sunday, May 18, with the All-Star Open beginning at 6 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1. The All-Star Race will start shortly after, at 8 p.m. ET. This will be FOX’s last NASCAR Cup Series race of the season, as Amazon Prime Video will begin its five-race schedule starting with next Sunday’s (May 25) Coca-Cola 600.
Stephen Stumpf is the NASCAR Content Director for Frontstretch and is a three-year veteran of the site. His weekly column is “Stat Sheet,” and he formerly wrote "4 Burning Questions" for three years. He also writes commentaries, contributes to podcasts, edits articles and is frequently at the track for on-site coverage.
Find Stephen on Twitter @stephen_stumpf