North Wilkesboro (All-Star Race) Event Info: Date: Sunday, May 19 Time: 8 p.m. ET Series: NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) Location: North Wilkesboro, N.C. Format: Heat Races (Two) Saturday; All-Star Race: 200 Laps Sunday TV: FS1 Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90)
Weekend Schedule: Friday: 4:35 p.m. ET, Practice (FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) Friday: 6:20 p.m. ET, Qualifying – Pit Crew Challenge (FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) Saturday: 5:20 p.m. ET, Heat Races Begin (FS2, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) Sunday: 8 p.m. ET, Race (FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Pace Laps:
The annual All-Star Race returns to the historic North Wilkesboro Speedway for just the second time, as last season NWB hosted NASCAR for the first time since 1996.
The pit crew challenge again returns to the format this season, set for Friday night which will determine the starting lineups for Saturday night’s heat races.
Each heat race Saturday spans 60 laps, with the results of Heat Race 1 setting the All-Star Race inside row, and the results of Heat Race 2 setting the All-Star Race outside row.
6 Team Info: Crew Chief: Matt McCall Partner: NEXLIZET
17 Team Info: Crew Chief: Scott Graves Partner: Fastenal
Keselowski in the All-Star Race Starts: 15 Wins: — Top-10s: 9 Poles: —
Keselowski makes his 16th start in the All-Star Race this weekend. He has three second-place finishes in the exhibition event, first in 2012, then in 2016 and most recently in 2021.
A season ago he finished fourth in his heat and went on to finish 19th in the All-Star event.
Overall he has nine top-10s, four inside the top five, in the All-Star event.
Buescher in the All-Star Race Starts: 3 Wins: — Top-10s: 1 Poles: —
Buescher makes his fourth start in the All-Star Race this weekend, and is automatically locked in via his multiple wins in 2023.
Last season at North Wilkesboro, Buescher won his heat race and went on to finish 16th.
RFK Historically in the All-Star Race Wins: 4 (Mark Martin, 1998, 2005; Matt Kenseth, 2004; Carl Edwards, 2011)
All-Star Victories: RFK has earned four victories in NASCAR’s All-Star Main Event with drivers Mark Martin, Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards. Martin, who is a two-time All-Star race winner, first went to Victory Lane in 1998 for RFK before taking the checkered flag again in 2005. Kenseth earned the victory in the 2004 running of the event and Edwards visited the winner’s circle in 2011.
RFK Historically at North Wilkesboro Cup Wins: 2 (Mark Martin, 1990, 1995)
Tale of the Tape: Back in the early days of racing at North Wilkesboro, Jack Roush entered 30 Cup races at the track with two wins – both from Mark Martin – with 14 overall top-10s as four drivers combined competed in Cup for Roush at the historic track.
Roush Wins One of the Last: Jack Roush shares a couple of pieces of history at the last time NASCAR competed at North Wilkesboro, as Ted Musgrave put the No. 16 on the pole for the last-ever race there in 1996. A day earlier, Martin won the Truck Series race there.
RFK All-Star Wins
1998 Martin 2004 Kenseth 2005 Martin 2011 Edwards
Last Time Out & Where They Stand Darlington: Keselowski snapped a 110-race winless streak Sunday at Darlington, winning his first race as co-owner/driver at RFK. Buescher led with less than 10 laps remaining, but was wrecked, which ultimately led to Keselowski re-gaining the lead.
Points Standings (6: 11th, 17: 12th): Keselowski locked himself into the playoffs with the win on Sunday. Buescher sits just one spot back though in 12th.
