After a strong run at Kansas Speedway led to another NASCAR Cup Series victory, Kyle Larson continues to be one of the two top racers of the season thus far.

The season is one-third over entering this weekend’s All-Star Race, and the Hendrick Motorsports driver has already won three times, tying him with Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell for the series lead. Throw in a pair of wins by JGR’s Denny Hamlin, and those three hotshots account for eight of the 12 checkered flags.

From an organizational standpoint, it runs even deeper: While JGR leads the series with five wins, HMS has been triumphant four times (counting William Byron’s Daytona 500 win) and Team Penske accounts for two victories (Austin Cindric, Joey Logano).

The lone outlier is Josh Berry’s Las Vegas win for Wood Brothers Racing — who have a technical alliance with Penske through Ford — meaning essentially three racing stables have scored all 12 victories so far.

That type of domination is evident in Larson, who will look to win the NASCAR All-Star Race on Sunday night for the second time in the sport’s third race since returning to North Wilkesboro Speedway in the mountains of North Wilkesboro, N.C.

In the 2023 exhibition race, Larson drove from the back of the field and led 145 laps, blazing his way around the reborn, historic short track and beating runner-up Bubba Wallace by 4.537 seconds in the 200-lap event.

The Elk Grove, Calif., native joined elite company with his third win in the non-points race, having previously prevailed in 2019 and 2021. He tied Dale Earnhardt (1987, 1990, 1993) and Jeff Gordon (1995, 1997, 2001) with three All-Star wins. Jimmie Johnson has won four times (2003, 2006, 2012, 2013).

When it comes to dominating North Wilkesboro’s five-eighths-of-a-mile layout, nobody did it better than Logano a year ago when he earned the pole, led all but one of 200 in his No. 22 Ford and ousted Hamlin by 0.636 seconds in the 40th annual race.

Mired in a terrible 2024, Logano had been winless through 13 points races and used the momentum to start a run to his third championship.

In practice on Friday, Tyler Reddick topped the charts with a lap of 18.198 seconds (123.640 mph) to beat Chase Elliott and Wallace as drivers shook down their cars in long runs before their qualifying efforts.

Qualifying consisted of three laps with drivers pitting on the second time around for four tires and fuel before turning a final circuit.

Sporting the purple and gold colors of East Carolina University, RFK Racing’s Brad Keselowski put his No. 6 Ford on the pole with a combined time of 1:27.362. Bell’s No. 20 Toyota was runner-up at 1:28.252.

“It’s one thing I’ve never done in my career,” Keselowski, who is 33rd in points, said of his pole-winning showing in the $1 million payday race. “Total team effort. Pit crew and team gave me a rock-solid car and a rock-solid pit stop … and I nailed the lap.”

The 2012 Cup title winner will have the pole for both a heat race on Saturday and the 200-lap main event on Sunday.

The Spire Motorsports crew of Michael McDowell’s No. 71 Chevrolet won the $100,000 Mechanix Wear Pit Crew Challenge for the fastest stop during qualifying, 12.587 seconds.

–Field Level Media

After Brad Keselowski earned pole position in qualifying on Friday, the rest of the grid was determined by a pair of heat races on Saturday. To put it simply, Heat #1 results decide the inside row for the All-Star Race while Heat #2 results decide the outside row with ten drivers in each heat.

On Sunday, the 18 drivers who are not yet locked into the All-Star Race will take part in their own race with the top-two finishers from the ‘Open’ advancing into the main event. Now for a breakdown of Saturday’s heat races:

Heat #1

Brad Keselowski, Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford

Photo by: David Jensen / Getty Images

It’s been a difficult and at times nightmarish season for Keselowski, but the weekend at North Wilkesboro has offered him some relief. He held off all challengers to win the first heat race of the night, even though a couple of drivers got very close in trying to snatch the top spot away.

When the planned competition caution flew in the middle of the race, Keselowski stayed out while Ross Chastain and several others pitted, taking on a set of fresh sticker tires. Those drivers quickly charged through the field with Chastain drawing even with Keselowski in a fierce battle for the race lead. However, the tires ultimately overheated while running the bottom and he was left defending the runner-up spot for the remainder of the race.

He battled back-and-forth with William Byron and Ryan Blaney as the three drivers fought over the spot that would determine who starts third in the All-Star Race on Sunday. Chastain held on over Byron by just a nose while Blaney finished fourth and Alex Bowman fifth.

Josh Berry was sixth, Tyler Reddick seventh, Austin Dillon eighth, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. ninth. Kyle Larson’s car did not take part in the heat race since its driver was busy qualifying for the Indianapolis 500 today. So, Larson will come from the last row of the grid on Sunday, which he also did one year ago.

“It doesn’t hurt,” said Keselowski after the win. “It’s been a good two days for everyone on this #6 crew … It’s good to be starting up front with this Ford Mustang. To be running fast, this is fun.”

Speaking about the tire difference, Keselowski added: “Those guys who put tires on were really hard to hold off. I had the preferred groove and just tried to use it to my advantage. We’ll see if that’s the case tomorrow.

Heat #2

Christopher Bell, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Photo by: David Jensen / Getty Images

Christopher Bell was in control of the second heat race from start-to-finish and no one was able to mount a real challenge against him. During the competition caution, nearly the entire field pitted for fresh rubber with most taking four, but Bell took two right-sides instead and narrowly avoided his tire changer on the way out.

Chase Briscoe was the lone driver who rolled the dice and chose to stay out. He inherited the race lead, but it did not last long as he quickly faded through the field. However, he could not get out of the way quick enough, spinning after contact from Daniel Suarez and hitting the door of Denny Hamlin.

This was the only incident of the entire night as Bell set sail for the remainder of the race, taking the win over Joey Logano and Chase Elliott. Kyle Busch and Chris Buescher filled out the rest of the top five while the remainder of the top ten was as follows: Suarez, Briscoe, Austin Cindric, Harrison Burton, Hamlin.

“Maybe the Mobil 1 Camry is a million-dollar Camry,” smiled Bell after the win, guaranteeing him the outside of the front row. “It’s feeling really good. I knew yesterday in practice that if they could get some rear grip in it, I felt like I had a lot of car potential. The guys did an amazing job on just making the car better overnight and it was really refreshing to get out there and just cruise those first 30 laps. Then, I didn’t know how it was going to work with having Joey [Logano] right behind me, but this thing was on rails. I’m really happy and excited about the opportunity tomorrow.”

All-Star Race lineup

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Marcus Armstrong, with Meyer Shank Racing, crashed during practice on the first day of qualifying for the Indianapolis 500.

Armstrong crashed on Turn 1. He started to lose control and the back of his car slammed against the wall.

Armstrong gave a wave and a thumbs up as he was going into the ambulance. He was on a stretcher.

Armstrong went to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Emergency Medical Center and is said to be awake and alert.

This is a developing story and will be updated as new information is released.

Ross Chastain and William Byron battled side-by-side in the closing laps of the first heat, with Chastain holding off Byron for second. Ryan Blaney and Alex Bowman rounded out the top five.

Joey Loegano held off Chase Elliott for second in Heat Race No. 2, followed by Kyle Busch and Chris Buescher.

The 75-lap heat races set the starting lineup for Sunday’s NASCAR All-Star Race, which begins at 8 p.m. ET.

-Photo credit: Rusty Jarrett, NKP for Ford Performance

SKI Autosports’ Memo Gidley took the lead away from Turner Motorsport’s Justin Rothberg on the first lap Saturday (May 17). From there, he held on to take his first GT America powered by AWS win of the year at Sebring International Raceway.

“We had a great start and that was awesome going around the outside and inside [of Rothberg],” Gidley told SRO America’s Amanda Busick after the race. “Then, I found out that we had a five-second penalty. We had a couple seconds’ lead at that point, so I knew that we needed to keep pushing, pushing, pushing. We just had enough.”

The margin of victory was .364 seconds over Rothberg. GMG Racing’s Kyle Washington was third, then Mishumotors’ Mirco Schultis.

Rothberg started from pole in his BMW in a depleted field as only eight cars took the start. However, his lead did not last long as SKI Autosports’ Memo Gidley got a big run exiting turn 1.

Gidley was able to beat Rothberg into the braking zone at turn 3 and made that move stick to take the overall lead.

Once out front, Rothberg was able to keep tabs with Gidley and not let the Audi pull out. This ended up being key as 12 minutes into the race, the stewards issued Gidley a five-second post-race penalty due to a crewmember reaching into the car too close to the start of the pace lap.

As a result, all Rothberg needed to do to get the win was to simply keep Gidley in sight. However, as the race continued on, Gidley began to pull away.

Further back, Schultis was third in his Callaway Corvette and running very well until he slid off-course at turn 13. He managed to keep his car out of the wall, but dropped back to fifth.

With 12 minutes to go, Gidley had a lead of over four seconds before lapped traffic allowed Rothberg to pull in to less than three seconds back. Once the traffic was cleared, Gidley was able to open his lead to more than six seconds.

From there, Gidley held on to take the victory. The margin was ultimately large enough at the finish so that Gidley kept the victory after the five-second penalty was applied.

In GT4, JTR Motorsports Engineering’s Anthony McIntosh started from pole in his Toyota GR Supra. Much like Rothberg, his lead was short-lived as 89x Motorsports’ Michael Fitzpatrick took the lead away on the first lap.

McIntosh was able to stay with Fitzpatrick for the opening 10 minutes of the race. Then, Fitzpatrick got a little loose under braking for turn 3. That allowed McIntosh to slip back past to retake the lead.

For the rest of the race, McIntosh managed to hold onto a small lead. At times, the lead was as high as 1.5 seconds, while there was a point in which Fitzpatrick got the lead down to a little more than half a second.

In the final laps, McIntosh was able to expand his lead back out and take the win. The margin of victory was 2.249 seconds over Fitzpatrick.

Washington turned in a lap at 109.585 mph. This stood up as the fastest lap of the race and gives him the pole for Race No. 2 on Sunday.

Race No. 2 for GT America powered by AWS is scheduled for 9:05 a.m. ET Sunday morning. The race will stream live on the GT World YouTube channel.

Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He’s the manager of the site’s FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site’s Sports Car racing editor.

Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.