NASCAR All-Star Race Preview: Old School All-Star Race

NASCAR takes a break from the regular season schedule this Sunday night to hold its annual All-Star Race festivities. Most fantasy racing leagues don't recognize this event in the fantasy racing season, but some do along with daily fantasy racing and many racing pools that form specifically for this event and its unique format. After a two-season stint at Texas Motor Speedway for this exhibition race, NASCAR moved the event to the newly restored North Wilkesboro Speedway two seasons ago. Millions of dollars were spent bringing back to life a part of NASCAR's rich history. The 5/8-mile oval with 14-degree corner banking used to produce some of the most exciting short track action NASCAR had to offer. The speedway hosted NASCAR's top division from 1949 to 1996 and saw a number of legends win on its unique configuration. NASCAR successfully revived and restored some of that past history by putting its current stars on the legendary oval two seasons ago. Those All-Star events were so popular and such successes, we're back for a third All-Star Race under the lights at North Wilkesboro Speedway.

This exhibition weekend is divided into several events. The racing begins Saturday evening with two qualifying heat races (75 laps each) to set the starting grid for Sunday night's All-Star Race. Then on Sunday evening the All-Star Open, a 100-lap sprint race divided into two segments (50/50 laps) with a mandatory 4-tire pit stop in between. As many as three Open drivers can transfer into the All-Star Race, the top two finishers of the Open, and a third driver by winning an internet fan vote. To qualify for the Open, a driver must have finished inside the Top 50 of the 2024 Cup Series standings, attempted to qualify for the 2025 Daytona 500 or competed in a NASCAR Cup Series event during the 2025 season. This is an exciting heat race, because the winner and runner-up are usually drivers that are not normally contenders for the victory on most Cup Series race weekends. 

After the Open and later Sunday night is the Cup Series All-Star Race. This is the night's main feature. It is a 250-lap event divided into three segments with breaks at lap 100 and 150. The lap 100 break will feature a mandatory 4-tire pit stop. The drivers who transfer from the Open join the drivers who are race winners from the previous and current Cup Series seasons, past All-Star event champions and Cup Series champions who are active drivers and have competed in at least one series event during the 2024 or 2025 season. The starting grid is set by pole-qualifying heat races held the previous day and then the green flag drops for the first 100-lap segment. The winner of the third and final stage earns a hefty $1 million purse. NASCAR overtime rules apply to the All-Star Race, so there will be no finishes under caution.

Since this is an exhibition racing event and a departure from NASCAR's normal racing format, as well as a relatively new track that has been brought back out of retirement, we have to look at performance statistics a bit differently this week. We have just two races of data at North Wilkesboro Speedway, but we also have some very recent races this season on other short tracks. We'll take a close look at the results from both to form our driver rankings for this week. However, we've outlined in the table below the statistics from the last two All-Star Races at North Wilkesboro Speedway.

This weekend's race is unlike any of the normal Cup Series events, so we'll handle the prognostications a bit differently as well.  We'll give you our picks for who'll contend for the win in the All-Star Open, and then our picks for who'll contend for winning the Cup Series All-Star Race.

The Open Contenders – Drivers in the hunt for the win

Bubba Wallace – Wallace qualified fourth on the grid and finished runner-up in the All-Star Open last season. He raced his way into the field for the main event in 2024. The 23XI Racing veteran is poised to do so again this time around. Wallace has been a steady short track performer this season with one Top-5 and two Top-10 finishes on the small ovals and he was a very impressive third-place at Martinsville Speedway a few weeks ago. Wallace has grabbed one Top-5 and two Top-10 finishes in his last two All-Star Races at North Wilkesboro so he has the oval pretty well figured out. He's a threat to not only win the Open but also the All-Star Race itself. 

Josh Berry – Berry won the 2023 All-Star Open which was the first event held at North Wilkesboro since its revitalization.  That 100-lap qualifier was a shootout between Berry and Ty Gibbs with Berry prevailing in the Hendrick No. 48 Chevrolet. Last season he finished an impressive third-place in the Open for his former team at Stewart Haas Racing. Berry has proven he can drive this oval well and he's been a good short track performer in 2025. He's scratched the win column already this season in the Wood Brothers Racing No. 21 Ford so he shouldn't be overlooked in this thinner field of NASCAR talent.  

Ty Gibbs – He left us with a good look in his last short track outing. Gibbs raced to a strong third-place finish at Bristol Motor Speedway in mid-April. That impression is a good one to carry into this weekend's All-Star Open. The driver of the No. 54 Toyota finished runner-up in the 2023 Open at North Wilkesboro and he won last season's Open and transferred into the evening's main event in both starts. The Joe Gibbs Racing youngster has yet to find victory lane in the 99 Cup Series starts in points paying events, but he's been zeroed-in for these exhibition races at North Wilkesboro. Gibbs is a good bet to win this season's Open and transfer into the All-Star Race.

AJ Allmendinger – The veteran driver didn't compete in last season's All-Star Open but Allmendinger did race in the 2023 installment at North Wilkesboro Speedway. The Kaulig Racing driver was a big mover in that 100-lap heat race two seasons ago and moved from 10th on the starting grid to a strong fifth-place by the checkered flag. Allmendinger has made 11 prior starts in this exhibition race at all its various track locations. He's won the Open once (2008) and finished runner-up once (2014). The driver of the No. 16 Chevrolet has been a mixed performer on the short tracks this season but his most recent outing netted a strong ninth-place at Bristol Motor Speedway. Allmendinger has the ability to upset this race field.   

Carson Hocevar – We tend to think more of the young driver on the intermediate ovals than the short tracks, but Hocevar shouldn't be overlooked in this All-Star Open. The Spire Motorsports youngster has qualified and finished reasonably well on the short tracks this season with his most recent finish being 11th-place at Bristol. Hocevar competed in his first-career Open last season so he does have experience on this North Wilkesboro oval. He raced to a respectable 10th-place finish in that 20-car field in 2024. The driver of the No. 77 Chevrolet will put into practice what he learned from that race last season and should be even more competitive this time around.        

Ryan Preece – Preece has all the tools to upset this 18-driver field in the NASCAR All-Star Open. He's finished fourth- and eighth-place in the last two Open's at North Wilkesboro Speedway and he enters this one in about the best team situation he's ever been a part of at NASCAR's top level. The Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing driver is coming off a strong seventh-place finish this past week at Kansas and has an impressive seventh-place finish on the short track at Martinsville in his recent credits. Preece has an extensive racing background in Modifieds before moving to the upper divisions of NASCAR and his short track experience is pretty deep.  

The All-Star Race Contenders – Drivers in the hunt for the win

Kyle Larson – The three-time All-Star winner and two-time Open winner checks in at the top of the contenders list this week. Larson has been a real performer in these exhibition races with three All-Star wins, one runner-up All-Star performance and two victories in the All-Star Open. He dominated this event two seasons ago on the North Wilkesboro oval and carries that experience into this weekend. The driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet has been one of the season's top performers on short tracks with a Bristol win and Top 5's at both Phoenix and Martinsville. When the lights flip on this Sunday night, he'll be ready to race.    

Christopher Bell – This weekend will mark Bell's fifth start in the All-Star Race, and while he's yet to make his mark on this special exhibition event, he will one day soon. The Joe Gibbs Racing youngster won earlier this season on the Phoenix oval, finished runner-up at Martinsville Speedway and cracked the Top 10 at Bristol. That's a good sign heading into this weekend's short track battle. Bell is coming off an impressive runner-up finish this past week at Kansas and is riding that momentum into All-Star weekend. If there are any of the younger drivers capable of pulling the upset in the All-Star Race, it would very likely be Bell and his No. 20 Toyota team.

Denny Hamlin – Hamlin has been the short track dominator this season. The driver of the JGR No. 11 Toyota has claimed a runner-up finish at Phoenix, win at Martinsville and runner-up at Bristol. He didn't do particularly well in this event two years ago (13th-place) but he rebounded nicely in last season's All-Star Race, finishing runner-up to Joey Logano in 2024. The 21-year Cup Series veteran has a long history of performing well in the All-Star Race. Hamlin has one win, two runner-up finishes and eight Top 5's in these exhibition races. Given how well this driver and team's short track program has been performing, we have to include him among the top tier contenders at North Wilkesboro Speedway.

Joey Logano – A two-time winner of the All-Star Race and won last season's exhibition on the North Wilkesboro oval, Logano brings that kind of upside to this weekend's race. He dominated last year's event by leading 199 of the 200 laps and walking away with the big payday and prestige of being a two-time All-Star victor. He'll face tough odds to defend this win on Sunday night. The Penske Racing star has been reasonably good on the short tracks with an eighth-place finish at Martinsville Speedway a few weeks ago. However, the driver of the No. 22 Ford has not been overwhelming in this form of racing. As usual, we can't discount Logano anytime he take the spot light on the big stage racing under the lights.       

Chase Elliott – Elliott is the 2020 All-Star winner and he has a track record of performing well in these exhibition races despite the fact that they've moved venues in recent seasons. That 2020 victory is noteworthy because it too came on a short track in Bristol. Elliott finished fifth- and eighth-place in the last two All-Star Races at North Wilkesboro Speedway which is a good level of performance. The driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet qualified on the outside pole and finished fourth at Martinsville Speedway back in late-March, so Elliott has that type of potential at North Wilkesboro Speedway. He's always been a good short track performer so this exhibition race is right up Elliott's alley.   

Ryan Blaney – The Penske Racing star won the 2022 All-Star Race at Texas Motor Speedway in the event's last appearance at that oval before moving to North Wilkesboro. Blaney has remained rock solid in this event despite NASCAR moving it to a smaller oval. The driver of the No. 12 Ford has stacked up strong sixth- and fifth-place finishes in his last two All-Star Races since the move to the historic North Carolina short track. Blaney comes into this All-Star weekend racing extremely well. He's stacked up third-place finishes in his last two events (Fort Worth and Kansas) and looking to build on that momentum for his possible second victory in the All-Star Race.   

Chris Buescher – The Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing veteran is one of the longer odds shots in the field coming in at 16-to-1 in the opening lines. However, Buescher can't be overlooked as a real threat to win this All-Star Race. He gave his personal best performance in this exhibition race one year ago with his third-place finish in last season's North Wilkesboro All-Star event. Not only did he finish well he also qualified well, which speaks to his short track skills. Buescher has been a mixed bag performer on the short tracks this season, although he did finish an impressive fifth-place at Phoenix Raceway earlier in the spring.      

William Byron – Byron has yet to leave his mark on the NASCAR All-Star Race. He's made six starts in this exhibition event with only a top finish of seventh-place (2021). However, Byron is a 14-time winner at NASCAR's top level and he has collected three of those wins at short tracks (Martinsville Speedway and Phoenix Raceway). For that reason alone, we can't overlook the driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet. Byron is a longer odds driver than most of the others in this list, but he's a homerun threat due to his experience and skill. The Hendrick Motorsports star is the deep sleeper of the contenders this weekend, but don't sleep on this driver and team.