NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. — For the second year in a row, Joey Logano and Team Penske brought a dominant racecar to North Wilkesboro Speedway. The only difference this year was a promoters caution and one spot on the pylon.
Logano had the dominant car of Sunday (May 18) night’s NASCAR All-Star Race, putting the Pennzoil No. 22 out front early on in the 250-lap exhibition event. Aside from some alternate strategy calls by fellow competitors, Logano went unchallenged at the front for most of the night. That was, until the built-in promoters caution.
The promoters caution, decided by Marcus Smith (or seemingly Michael Waltrip) was to happen any time from lap 175 to lap 220. At the time of the promoters caution on lap 217, Logano had set sail with the lead over Christopher Bell.
With the field bunched together, every crew chief on pit road had a choice. Pit for tires, or keep the track position. On a night when track position was king, Logano and teammate Ryan Blaney chose to stay out. Ross Chastain, Carson Hocevar and Harrison Burton joined them, while the rest of the field chose tires.
While Blaney stumbled, Logano fired to the lead with Chastain in tow. Behind them, Bell was the first with tires to fight through the crowd. Bell made quick work of Chastain and the fight for $1,000,000 was on from there. Bell nearly cleared Logano with 20 to go, but the high side prevailed and kept the No. 22 out front.
OLD-FASHIONED SHORT TRACK RACIN' ‼️
— ATYL Media (@ATYLmedia) May 19, 2025
Check out Christopher Bell's RACE WINNING MOVE over Joey Logano for his first #AllStarRace win!
🎥: @NASCARONFOX pic.twitter.com/2JtWKyFLSp
While fending off Chastain from behind, Bell regrouped and made another charge. When Bell had his second chance, he made sure to make the most of it. A not-so-clear slider shoved No. 22 up the track, gave Bell’s No. 20 the lead and ensured Logano wouldn’t have a chance to retaliate.
At that point, it was over. Bell drove off with the million while Logano had to watch the dollar signs drive away. Was the move fair? Well, does that really matter? It’s the All-Star Race. As for Logano, he had full intentions of returning the favor and just never had the chance.
“I mean, it is what it is,” Logano told the media post-race. “I don’t know. I mean sure, he did it good enough that I couldn’t get back to him because I was gonna show him what ‘fair’ was. I just couldn’t get there with the tires, I couldn’t get away fast enough, it took me six or seven laps after that restart to get rolling, and he passed to many cars there those first couple laps. Then he was there.
“I was doing all I can to play defense until my rear tires would come in and it just took to long, and then he was gone, I couldn’t catch back up. … Yeah, frustrating when you lead that many laps and have the fastest car, and a gimmick caution beats you.”
The call to stay out ultimately wasn’t the right one, although Blaney’s stumble off turn 4 certainly didn’t help Logano’s case. The Penske group thought track position was the way to go, and they ultimately got beat because of it.
“Obviously not, duh,” Logano said in regards to the strategy being the right one. “We got beat. It felt like it was 50/50, we were gonna put two [tires] on and then at the last minute, we decided to stay out. I thought six cars was going to be enough.”
As for how he races Bell in the future, the way they race will be a direct result of tonight’s outcome, at least in Logano’s opinion.
“Oh, I just race him the same way,” Logano said. “That’s all it is. Like I said, we’re racing for a million dollars, I get it. But we race each other every week. We’re like elephants, we don’t forget anything.”
Meanwhile, the on-track product at North Wilkesboro seemed to improve from years past, to the point Bell called the track “the best short track on the schedule.” However, Logano had some strong opinions towards that take.
“With a gimmick caution, yeah, sure.”
In the end, second doesn’t mean much in a race that only pays money, and a built-in yellow ultimately decided the No. 22 team’s fate. Hard to blame Logano for the frustration in the heat of the moment, even if the race delivered some great racing and an awesome finish.
Chase began working with Frontstretch in the spring of 2023 as a news writer, while also helping fill in for other columns as needed. Chase is now the main writer and reporter for Frontstretch.com's CARS Tour coverage, a role which began late in 2023. Aside from racing, some of Chase's other hobbies include time in the outdoors hunting and fishing, and keeping up with all things Philadelphia sports related.