NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. -- After driving all the way from the back of the field to the front after an early pit road speeding penalty, Kyle Larson pulled away to easily win the NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway, taking the checkered flag in NASCAR's first race at the legendary Western North Carolina track since 1996. Larson's All-Star win is the third of his career and third in his last four tries.
Larson's third career All-Star win moves him into a tie for the second most All-Star wins in history, tying him with Dale Earnhardt (1987, 1990, 1993) and Jeff Gordon (1995, 1997, 2001). Larson has also become the first driver to ever win the All-Star Race on three different racetracks, as his previous All-Star wins came at Charlotte Motor Speedway (2019) and Texas Motor Speedway (2021).
The tone of Larson's night was set after an early caution for a spin by Ricky Stenhouse Jr., as he was among a select group of drivers who came to pit road to take on fresh tires. A pit road speeding penalty sent Larson to the back of the field, but he quickly emerged as prohibitively faster than the rest of the field. Larson had a half a lap lead over the rest of the field at one point, then cruised to victory over the last 90 laps to lead 145 of 200 laps.
"That was an old-school ass whipping, for sure," Larson told Fox Sports. "We had a great car on the long run there and was just thinking for sure there was going to be a caution. I got out to a big lead, and I could see everybody's cars were driving like crap in front of me.
"But I cannot thank this No. 5 team enough. We were God awful all weekend. Practice, I was like the worst on 30-lap average, went backwards in a heat race yesterday. We obviously had some strategy work out there in the beginning, but we drove from dead last to the lead and checked out by 12 or 13 seconds. Then I just could pace myself there that last run."
From the outset of the weekend, it was known that tire wear and tire management would be the single most important determining factor in who performed well at North Wilkesboro. The track's surface, last repaved in 1981, quickly chewed up tires and created extreme levels of wear, meaning that drivers had to conserve their tires early in a run to not have their lap times fall off massively late in a run, and also that new tires had a prohibitive advantage over older tires.
All teams had three sets of sticker tires available for the All-Star Race, but the problem for most of the field was that they had little opportunity to use them. With the exception of Stenhouse's early spin, the All-Star Race ran clean and green with only one competition yellow just past halfway interrupting long runs of green flag racing.
That development was to the benefit of the drivers who pitted along with Larson, including both of the 23XI Racing cars. Though he could not match the pace of Larson, Bubba Wallace used fresher tires to drive up to second by the end of the first long green flag run, and he remained there for the rest of the night while Tyler Reddick joined him in third.
"Just his capability throughout the whole run, he could attack hard and then have something there at the end," Wallace told Fox Sports of the difference between his and Larson's cars. "If this was any other race I'd be excited, but for a million dollars to come up short and walk home with nothing … Tail tucked between our legs. But all in all, just continuing to ride the momentum train."
Larson's victory completed a weekend sweep for him, as he also won Saturday's Tyson 250 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race.
The NASCAR Cup Series stays in North Carolina and heads to the Charlotte Motor Speedway for one of the sport's crown jewel races, the Coca-Cola 600, next Sunday at 6 p.m. ET on Fox.
Kyle Larson becomes the first Cup Series driver to win at North Wilkesboro in over a quarter century, and it's going to make him a million dollars richer! Kyle Larson wins the NASCAR All-Star Race for the third time in his career and for the third time in his last four tries!
1 - #5 - Kyle Larson
2 - #23 - Bubba Wallace
3 - #45 - Tyler Reddick
4 - #14 - Chase Briscoe
5 - #9 - Chase Elliott
White flag for Kyle Larson
Spirited battle for 10th between Joey Logano and -- guess who -- Ross Chastain.
Coming up on two to go.
Kyle Larson navigating lapped traffic and has lapped up to Denny Hamlin in 13th. It hasn't affected his lead, which is still about four seconds.
Five laps to go.
Looks like the battle is going to be for third. Chase Briscoe is closing in on Tyler Reddick and has the deficit down to a little under a second.
Less than 10 to go now for Kyle Larson.
Larson's lead over Wallace stands at 4.5 seconds. Coming up on 10 to go.
Wallace cutting into Larson's lead seemed to be a bit of a mirage, as the lead has stabilized again at a little under 4 seconds.
You can see how Larson is able to hook the concrete strip on the exit of Turn 4 better than any other car in the field. That's helping the 5 car get a vastly superior drive off the corner. 20 to go.
Bubba Wallace is starting to chip away at Kyle Larson's lead. The gap is down to 3.6 seconds. He and Tyler Reddick have turned up the wick, as Chase Briscoe is making time on them both.
Among movers through the field it's the Chase and Chase show. Chase Briscoe takes fourth from Daniel Suarez and Chase Elliott follows him through.
Those two have speed on this long run, but they'll need to make up eight seconds on Kyle Larson and they only have 30 laps to do it.
First side-by-side battle on track is for fifth. Chase Elliott takes that spot from Chris Buescher.
Kyle Larson's lead is now up to 4.1 seconds.
Now under 50 laps to go. Denny Hamlin got moved up the hill by I believe Joey Logano, who's back up to 12th after his uncontrolled tire penalty.
Bell has fared the best of any driver who was penalized, as he's made it up to 11th. Ross Chastain is stuck in 15th after his speeding penalty.
Coming up on 40 laps on this run and 50 laps to go. If anyone has saved enough tire to make up time on Kyle Larson, they're going to have to have done a really good job. Larson now has a 2.7 lead on Wallace.
Kyle Larson has opened up a two second lead on Bubba Wallace. Continuing to set a torrid pace almost 25 laps into this run.
Big shot from Chase Elliott to Chase Briscoe. Elliott moves Briscoe out of his way on the entry to Turn 1 to take sixth.
Kyle Larson has maintained his pace even on more even tires, as he's opened up over a second on Bubba Wallace. Those two battled for the win yesterday in the Truck race and both seem to have optimal feel for this worn out surface.
Make that two 23XI cars in the top three. Tyler Reddick has taken third from Daniel Suarez.
Josh Berry makes a pass on Denny Hamlin to move up into the Top 10.
Green flag back out with 90 laps to go.
Larson holds the top spot over Wallace.
Correction, Joey Logano had an uncontrolled tire penalty. Same for Christopher Bell.
Ross Chastain gained those spots on pit road because he was speeding. He's been nabbed for being too fast on exit.
Sloppy stop for Joey Logano's crew, who momentarily lost control of a couple of tires. However, those tires didn't leave the box.
