Let’s be honest—this race isn’t about the season. It’s not about playoff points or regular season consistency. This is about $1 million, 250 laps, a freshly repaved North Wilkesboro short track, and 20+ drivers with nothing to lose. And that makes it a playground for betting.

So let’s shake up the strategy. Forget the safe top-5s and predictable chalk plays. We’re here to fire on head-to-head props, sprinkle on wild long shots, and maybe throw a dart or two at drivers who were born to shine in chaos.

Here are the bets I’m targeting for Sunday night!

NASCAR All-Star Race: Best Head-to-Head Prop

Christopher Bell to beat Kyle Larson (-105 DraftKings Sportsbook)

This one feels like a gift. Larson is pulling double duty,…

The fate of the NASCAR All-Star Race largely rests on the whims of Marcus Smith, who is giving few hints about how he’ll deploy a new “Promoter’s Caution.”

It’s the latest goofy gimmick in an event defined by annual format changes designed to goose the competition in the name of fender-banging fireworks. At a randomly selected point Sunday night during the first 220 of 250 laps at North Wilkesboro Speedway, a yellow flag will fly and possibly wipe out a big lead while bunching the field for a race-altering restart.

The decision on when to throw the yellow rests solely with Smith, the president and CEO of Speedway Motorsports, which owns the 0.625-mile track in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina.

“I’ll have a very special mystery guest with a little All-Star Race history of his own to help me out when it’s time to drop the yellow,” Smith said. “Hopefully, we’ll create a little chaos for the teams and some fun for the fans at the same time.”

It’s an attempt to restore some luster to the All-Star Race, which has lost touch with its no-holds-barred origins. The past two events at North Wilkesboro produced runaway victories for Kyle Larson and Joey Logano, who led 199 of 200 laps in 2024.

The most memorable event last year came after the race when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Kyle Busch engaged in fisticuffs after tangling for a mid-pack position. It was a far cry from the furious last-lap battles that once sent an All-Star Race winner to the emergency room (Davey Allison sustained a concussion in 1992 after crashing from contact with Kyle Petty at the checkered flag).

The Promoter’s Caution won’t guarantee a slam-bang ending, but it’s in the vein of an exhibition race with $1 million but no points at stake. While other pro sports have struggled to keep all-star events relevant, Cup Series drivers pride themselves on competing as hard as they would in a race with championship implications — and sometimes harder.

“The All Star Race is not just another race,” Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell said. “Everybody is more aggressive than a normal Sunday Cup race. Everyone has that win it or wear it attitude, and it races differently because of that.”

A sense of resignation from the All-Star Race’s annual format overhauls also makes it easier to accept the inanity of a random yellow.

“I have a hard enough time keeping up with all of the different format stuff,” Team Penske’s Austin Cindric said. “It doesn’t really bother me that much that we’re going to have a Promoter’s Caution because, unless I’m the caution, I can’t control it in any way. It’s just the racing gods, but maybe they’re on earth this time.”

Though its timing could cost him a win, Logano is fine with the Promoter’s Caution because “the All-Star Race presents the opportunity to try things outside of the box.

“I don’t think we should have a Promoter’s Caution in points-paying events,” he said. “But in this case, we do something different. It’s something everyone can talk about. And I just don’t know what they’re going to do. Are they going to put Marcus in the flag stand, and he’s just going to throw a yellow flag?”

The son of late NASCAR Hall of Famer Bruton Smith, who once lobbied for random yellows as the most bombastic promoter in Cup history, is coy about how the Promoter’s Caution will be unveiled.

“I’ve had no shortage of NASCAR experts from inside and outside of the garage giving me advice on what to do,” Marcus Smith said. “I’ve got a couple of scenarios in mind depending on what’s happening with the race. Or I could just go spur of the moment with my gut.”

Odds and ends

Christopher Bell (+350) is the BetMGM Sportsbook favorite, followed by pole-sitter Brad Keselowski (+600), Logano (+650), two-time defending Daytona 500 winner William Byron (+700) and Denny Hamlin (+800). Kyle Larson, who will start last after missing practice and qualifying while attempting to make the Indy 500, is listed at +1000. … Keselowski and Bell were the winners Saturday of the two 75-lap heat races that set the starting lineup for the All-Star Race. Keselowski already was guaranteed the top starting spot for Sunday night’s main event after qualifying on the pole position Friday. Bell will start second Sunday, followed by Ross Chastain, Logano and Byron. … After sitting essentially dormant for more than 35 years, North Wilkesboro Speedway is playing host to its third consecutive All-Star Race since a $20 million makeover. Keselowski wants to move a points race from Charlotte Motor Speedway’s “Roval” layout to North Wilkesboro Speedway and shift the All-Star Race back to Charlotte’s 1.5-mile oval (the host from 1987-2019). “This needs to be a points racetrack,” Keselowski said of North Wilkesboro. “I’m very strong about the Roval has got to go.”

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AP Auto Racing Writer Jenna Fryer in Indianapolis contributed to this report.

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Michael McDowell still has work to do to qualify for the NASCAR All-Star Race, but McDowell’s pit crew left North Wilkesboro Speedway on Friday with 100,000 reasons to celebrate. Despite entering NASCAR All-Star Open qualifying as a heavy underdog, McDowell’s No. 71 Spire Motorsports crew collected a $100,000 bonus for changing four tires in 12.587 seconds to win the NASCAR Pit Crew Challenge presented by Mechanix Wear.

McDowell will start fourth in Sunday’s All-Star Open after Shane van Gisbergen, Carson Hocevar and Noah Gragson topped the No. 71 team’s overall time across three laps and a four-tire pit stop. McDowell has to finish in the top two in the Open to advance to Sunday night’s $1 million NASCAR All-Star Race, but his team stole the spotlight on Friday.

“This is awesome,” said Dax Hollifield, the jackman on the No. 71 crew and a former Virginia Tech football player. “It’s definitely beyond my wildest dreams. We’ve been working hard this year. We’re probably the youngest team on pit road.

“It was just hard work and determination that made the difference. I’ve got no words. I can’t breathe. I blacked out during the stop.”

Keselowski Surges To First All-Star Race Pole

Brad Keselowski hasn’t had much to smile about in 2025, entering All-Star Race weekend ranked 33rd in NASCAR Cup Series points. The 2012 series champion managed a big smile on Friday, though, after his No. 6 RFK Racing Ford blistered North Wilkesboro’s five-eighths-mile oval in NASCAR All-Star Race qualifying.

Keselowski finished the unique qualifying session — with the same format as was used in the Open – in a scintillating one minute, 27.362 seconds to score his first career All-Star Race pole. Christopher Bell’s No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota finished 0.89 seconds in arrears of Keselowski’s machine.

“It’s pretty cool to win the pole,” Keselowski said. “I’ve never won an All-Star Race pole, so this is something new for my career. It was a total team effort. The pit crew, (Crew Chief) Jeremy Bullins, everyone gave me a rock-star car. I’m so happy for everybody on this team.”

Keselowski will also start Saturday’s first of two All-Star Heat Races from the pole, with Bell leading Heat No. 2 to green.

Alex Bowman, Chase Briscoe and William Byron completed the top five in qualifying.

‘SVG’ Rules The Roost In Open Time Trials

Three hours after Shane van Gisbergen saw North Wilkesboro Speedway for the first time, he qualified on the pole for his debut race at the iconic track. The rookie from New Zealand will lead the field to green for Sunday’s All-Star Open, after his No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet posted the quickest time in the three-lap, four-tire pit stop format to set the grid.

Van Gisbergen’s 1:28.684-second run over three laps and a four-tire pit stop beat Carson Hocevar by 0.2 seconds.

“I think we got all the things right,” van Gisbergen said. “Thanks to WeatherTech and the Trackhouse pit crew. I’ve never started up front on an oval, so I’ll have to figure that one out.”

The 2025 NASCAR All-Star Race Week continues Saturday with the Window World 250 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race, two All-Star Heat Races and a Jake Owen concert presented by Raymer Oil. Sunday’s racing action begins with the FaithFest Evangelistic Ministries 150 preceding the All-Star Open and All-Star Race.

TICKETS:
Race week packages or individual event day tickets and camping can be purchased online at www.northwilkesborospeedway.com.

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Information provided by Speedway Motorsports

• Chandler Smith drove his No. 38 QuickTie Ford F-150 to his second win of the season.
• This marks the 12th all-time series win for Front Row Motorsports.
• The victory is Ford’s third at North Wilkesboro Speedway in five series events.
• It also represents the 126th all-time NCTS victory for Ford.

Ford Finishing Results

1st – Chandler Smith

2nd – Layne Riggs

6th – Ty Majeski

12th – Jake Garcia

13th – Luke Baldwin

18th – Matt Crafton

23rd – Ben Rhodes

29th – Frankie Muniz

31st – Tyler Tomassi

33rd – Derek White

CHANDLER SMITH, No. 38 QuickTie Ford F-150 – POST-RACE PRESS CONFERENCE

TAKE US THROUGH THAT WILD LAST LAP. “I did everything wrong, to be completely honest with you. I spun the tires. The 11 cleared me right off the rip. My teammate cleared me right off of two and going down the backstretch I was like, ‘You know, I’m gonna let these guys race it out now.’ The 34 let me by. When I had a tire advantage they beat me straight up here. If an opportunity presents itself to go win, I’ll take it. But if it don’t, I’m gonna let these guys race it out. It’s the right thing to do. I ended up getting a decent run through three and four and was able to get about half to a car length back and they went into turn one and raced really hard. The seas parted and here we are.”

WAS THERE CONTACT BETWEEN LAYNE AND COREY? IT WAS HARD TO TELL FROM THE CAMERA ANGLE. “I had a good view of it. From everything that I saw before I ducked down and went super low and made my move to go to the inside of Layne, the 34 was just chasing the 11 all the way up the track and Corey’s got as good a sense if a guy is loose underneath him to give room and Layne just kept running him up and he kept going up and up and up. I don’t know. I think it was super slick in one all day today, especially when it rubbered up and it was super greasy. I’m not saying this because he’s my teammate and I won the race. I’m saying I actually understand it’s the last lap, sending it in there, trying to just rub him a little bit and I about did the same thing. I personally didn’t see anything egregious, but, at the same time, I had a very early apex of the corner and was able to get pointed and get to the inside of the 34 pretty quick.”

HOW DO YOU SUM UP THE RACING EXPERIENCE HERE AT NWS? “It’s good. The only experience I had here before was in the No. 13 Kaulig car when I was trying to qualify for the All-Star Race and that was before they even repaved this place. Man, it wore tires out and was super wore out. Honestly, I loved that, but I haven’t been here since they repaved it, so I was surprised how wide the track got. I liked how wide it got because you could race from the bottom or the top. Our truck favored the bottom all day and that made it a huge advantage for us being able to come from the back and get to the front, so a big tip of the cap to everybody at Front Row Motorsports for giving me a truck that’s got good maneuverability so we can make the most of it today.”

Ford Performance PR

CONCORD, N.C. – Professional athletes have talked about it for generations – that feeling or headspace, when instinct takes over and the outside world melts away, leaving a singular focus on the task at hand.

Call it, “the zone,” if you will.

None of the Hendrick Motorsports pit crew members that spoke with HendrickMotorsports.com used that phrase verbatim. But several described something similar when talking about things like pressure, process and procedure.

“I like thinking about water, peace tranquility – I feel like that’s what made pitting so easy for me,” said Mike Moss, rear-tire changer on the No. 5 team. “It gets so quiet, so peaceful. My movements are so fluid.

“Obviously, you have to be very aware of your surroundings but once you’re in front of the hub you get so dialed in that everything kind of goes away. All you see is the hub and that’s the cool part about it. It’s happening so fast but at the same time it’s slow motion. That’s where the thrill comes from for me.”

RELATED: Find all Hendrick Motorsports Pit Crew Week content here!

It’s hard to imagine anything coming in slow motion for a member of a race team, especially in a NASCAR Cup Series Gen 7 era in which pit crews are routinely performing four-tire stops in under nine seconds.

But Moss isn’t the only one that told tale of time slowing. Ryan Patton, tire carrier for the No. 24 team, recalled an instance in which that sensation saved his team from a possible disaster. One that nearly occurred in the five-lug-nut era at Talladega.

“My tire changer knocked the five lug nuts off the right rear and he pulled the tire and you have to think, those lug nuts, they come off and where do they go?” Patton said. “A lug nut came off of the car, spun, hit the ground and bounced back up on the hub and got stuck between two studs. So, I see this is as I’m putting the tire on and I’m putting the right rear tire on in seven-tenths of a second and still, I see this yellow thing fly up onto the hub of the car. I finished my hang but I could feel that the lug nut was smashed between the hub and the wheel.

RELATED: Take our North Wilkesboro trivia quiz, win not one but two autographs!

“There’s no possible way it was going to be tight and before my changer could come back to the first lug nut, I pulled the tire off and reached in there and flicked that lug nut out of the way and put the right-rear tire back on. I remember (then-crew chief) Chad (Knaus) being like, ‘What happened on the right rear?” He was upset. He thought we had a slow pit stop. I ended up having to show him a picture of it and he’s like, ‘How the hell did you see that?’”

RELATED: NASCAR All-Star Race weekend TV schedule

As Patton’s story illustrates, crewmen must be ready for the unknown and must be prepared to respond in the blink of an eye, all in addition to locking in on their routine, individual responsibilities. Difficult as it may be to imagine, TJ Semke, jackman on the No. 9 team, said hearing is paramount, even in one of the loudest places imaginable – pit road. 

Additionally, having a sixth sense, one that successful athletes in other sports display, is paramount as well. 

“Honestly, it kind of sounds silly, but you’re trying to use all of your senses,” TJ Semke, * on the No. 9 team said. “As I’m putting the right-front tire on, I can’t see what’s going on behind me, but I can hear it. I can hear when the gun stops. I can hear the tire slam on. I can hear the gun, and you can kind of feel that energy behind you too. You learn to trust your senses.

“You’re trying to listen but really, you feel what is going on around you and a lot of that comes with experience. A lot of the younger guys rely solely on their eyes to see what’s happening. But it’s kind of like being a quarterback in the pocket; you’ve got to feel what’s going on around you, sense where to move your body just like they have to sense when to throw or when to run without visually seeing four or five guys coming at them. You want to feel it more than anything.”