What Happened?
Christopher Bell utilized fresher tires and a faster racecar to run down and pass a dominant Joey Logano to win the 2025 NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway.
While Bell looked to have a faster car later in the race on Sunday (May 18), a timely caution (that may or may not have been manufactured) allowed Bell to pit for two tires while Logano stayed out. Ultimately, Bell’s fresher tires prevailed over Logano’s older tires.
Bell takes home a cool $1 million while Logano had to settle for second. Ross Chastain, who was spun in an earlier incident, rebounded to finish third. Hendrick Motorsports teammates Alex Bowman and Chase Elliott finished fourth and fifth to complete the top five.
What Really Happened?
You’d be hard pressed to find a NASCAR fan who hasn’t believed they’ve ever seen a “phantom caution” before. You know, the cautions that get thrown due to “debris” that is never shown on camera or ever alluded to again after first mention?
Well Sunday provided a true, honest-to-God phantom caution — though it actually had a name this time. When the format for the All-Star Race was announced, NASCAR introduced the “promoter’s caution” — a caution that could be randomly thrown at anytime between lap 100 and lap 220.
The promoter in question, Michael Waltrip, chose to throw the caution (and promptly drop the caution flag on the track) on lap 217 — though it didn’t seem “random”, as he was shown on FOX Sports 1 to be counting down the laps until the caution for fans (not to mention the pyrotechnics that were timed perfectly with the yellow flying). It didn’t help that Kyle Larson was slowing on track after smacking the wall, which would have likely drawn a caution anyway.
The ensuing round of pit stops saw Bell pit with most of the field, while Logano stayed out with four others. On the restart, Bell passed just about everybody but Logano, who he had to size up multiple times over the final 20 or so laps. Logano — who has admitted he is a fan of another one of NASCAR’s gimmicks, the playoffs — said after the race he was not a fan of the promoter’s caution.
He has a point — the caution was unnecessary, but proves why throwing fun flags at the highest division of stock car racing is something we shouldn’t be considering.
Speaking of the highest division of stock car racing at North Wilkesboro, why on earth do we not have a full-field points-paying race there?
Both the Open and the All-Star Race were dramatic improvements from it was at this track the last two years. That was in part thanks to the aging repave that saw action this week from two zMAX CARS Tour races, a Craftsman Truck Series race, and a Whelen Modified Tour race — not to mention the Cup heats on Saturday (May 17).
Talk of a full points-paying Cup race at Wilkesboro have been a thing ever since the track officially completed its revival by hosting the All-Star Race in 2023. This year, however, multiple drivers and fans opined that a points race would be awesome at the 0.625-mile track.
Including the race winner Bell, who, when asked if Wilkesboro needed a points race, simply shouted, “Let’s go!” in agreement after calling Wilkesboro the best short track on the schedule.
He’s right.
An exhibition race provided NASCAR with its best natural short track race this season — and it was only with a maximum of 23 cars on the track. With a full field? Lapped traffic? The possibilities are endless. Not to mention NASCAR’s history with the track being embraced by everyone.
Make it happen NASCAR. Instead of promoting cautions, let’s promote a points race at a track that is the epitome of NASCAR’s roots.
Who Stood Out?
About halfway through the race, it looked like Chastain was all but out of it.
Through strategy and resilience from the No. 1 team, Chastain was able to work his way back to an impressive third-place finish. He had an outside shot to win with the way Logano and Bell were racing, and Chastain was hoping for contact that never came so he could try and steal $1 million.
Give a call to Carson Hocevar as well. Hocevar had to make the race via the All-Star Open, and did so by winning the race outright. Despite not having a strong car compared to some of the all-stars, a quiet and clean night resulted in an 11th-place finish.
For a driver who had to run an additional 100 laps to get there, to finish in the top 50% of the field is an impressive night for the sophomore.
Who Fell Flat?
Even in an exhibition race, Brad Keselowski cannot catch a break.
Keselowski qualified on the pole for the event, and won his heat on Saturday to boot. It looked like maybe, even if just for an exhibition race, it would be a mistake-free night for the No. 6 team.
Then he pounded the wall in turns 3 and 4.
The contact was severe enough to end the team’s night, ending what was looking to be a promising boost of momentum for a team who is looking for literally anything to go right.
The same could be said for Keselowski’s newest driver, who had everything going right, until it didn’t.
Ryan Preece was on track to qualify for the All-Star Race after racing his way into the top two, which is what was needed to transfer into the All-Star Race (aside from the fan vote).
Then Riley Herbst got out of shape and drew a questionable caution — dare I say, another promoter’s caution?
On the choose, Preece took the inside, looking to secure his spot in the All-Star Race with both of his RFK Racing teammates.
Only one small problem — Preece ran over the choose box, which is a penalty that caused the No. 60 to drop to the tail end of the field.
In Preece’s defense, because of the rubber laid down from the aforementioned races, the choose cone was incredibly difficult to see. It only rubbed salt in Preece’s wounds that NASCAR decided to repaint the cone before the All-Star Race — but not before Preece made good on his suggestion of placing an actual cone on the track.
Paint Schemes of the Race
You want to know what awesome sponsorship activation is? Look toward RFK’s No. 17 of Chris Buescher.
Buescher gained sponsorship this week from Tylenol and Band-Aid. It was a beautiful looking car, with the bright red pain-relieving Ford leading the way of the RFK bunch.
But that wasn’t even the best part. RFK decided to take advantage of the Band-Aid sponsorship to decorate its bear bond to look just like bandages.
And after sustaining a little damage in its heat, the team got the chance to utilize it.
Now that’s what I call branding.
As for the best of the rest from the Open race, nothing could beat the No. 23 car of Bubba Wallace.
The shade of blue that 23XI Racing used for Wallace’s car is not one that’s used often despite looking really good. The usage of the color black makes this scheme stand out amongst the rest. The white No. 23 was the perfect touch to an already beautiful scheme.
it’s a shame we didn’t get to see this car in the main event.
What’s Next?
The Greatest Day in Motorsports is finally here.
On Sunday, May 25, the NASCAR Cup Series once again serves as the nightcap to one of the most action-packed weekends (and days) in motorsports. Formula 1 kicks things off on Sunday with the Monaco Grand Prix at 9 a.m. ET on ESPN. Then, the NTT IndyCar Series’ biggest race of the year, the Indianapolis 500, commences at approximately 12:45 p.m. ET on FOX.
Then, the NASCAR Cup Series ends the day with its longest race of the year, the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. That race will kick off at approximately 6 p.m. ET, and coverage officially shifts away from FOX and over to Amazon Prime Video.
The two biggest Cup storylines to watch on Sunday will be 1) How Prime’s broadcast will look — remember, the broadcast has an all-star lineup of booth members, pit reporters and studio analysts, including drivers Carl Edwards, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Corey LaJoie and Trevor Bayne — and B) Larson’s second attempt at completing the Indy 500/Coke 600 Double after weather in both Indianapolis and Charlotte caused last year’s attempt to all but be aborted.
Anthony Damcott joined Frontstretch in March 2022. Currently, he is an editor and co-authors Fire on Fridays (Fridays); he is also the primary Truck Series reporter/writer and serves as an at-track reporter. He has also assisted with short track content and social media, among other duties he takes/has taken on for the site. In 2025, he became an official member of the National Motorsports Press Association. A proud West Virginia Wesleyan College alum from Akron, Ohio, Anthony is now a grad student. He is a theatre actor and fight coordinator in his free time.
You can keep up with Anthony by following @AnthonyDamcott on X.