Posted on by Staff Report

RFK Racing driver and co-owner Brad Keselowski sped to the Busch Light Pole Award on Friday, setting a blistering pace in a unique qualifying effort that included a four-tire pit stop.

Keselowski will start first in both the opening Heat Race on Saturday night, then the main event itself on Sunday.

The full lineup will be set by Heat Race results. See below for the full qualifying times.

POSITIONCARDRIVERTimeSpeed
16Brad Keselowski87.36377.264
220Christopher Bell88.25376.485
348Alex Bowman88.36176.391
419Chase Briscoe88.64976.143
524William Byron89.1275.741
622Joey Logano89.25775.624
73Austin Dillon89.61975.319
811Denny Hamlin89.92275.065
945Tyler Reddick90.17174.858
109Chase Elliott90.45174.626
1147Ricky Stenhouse Jr.90.47474.607
128Kyle Busch91.22473.994
1321Josh Berry91.24173.98
1451Harrison Burton94.43371.479
155Justin Allgaier94.9571.09
1617Chris Buescher98.27268.687
171Ross Chastain98.88668.26
182Austin Cindric99.05768.143
1912Ryan Blaney100.33867.273
2099Daniel Suarez106.93163.125
Posted on by Staff Report

Michael McDowell’s No. 71 Spire Motorsports crew earned the $100,000 grand prize in Friday evening’s NASCAR Cup Series All-Star Pit Crew Challenge at North Wilkesboro Speedway.

Crew members Brandon Chapman (fueler), Dax Hollifield III (jackman), Luke Bussel (tire carrier), Max Marsh (front changer) and Ty Boeck (rear changer) all contributed to the winning stop at 12.587 seconds.

The No. 71 crew bested Trackhouse Racing’s No. 99 crew (12.600 seconds) and the No. 4 crew (12.669 seconds) from Front Row Motorsports to claim the prize.

RELATED: Live lineup tracker | At-track photos: North Wilkesboro

“Honestly, I’m still trying to pinch myself. I think this is a dream,” said No. 71 jackman Dax Hollifield III. “We’re all rookies. We have half our team, this is our 12th race. So we’ve been working hard for the past year, just doing the little things right, and once you do enough of those, things are going to turn out right, you know? We just work on getting better each and every day, and it showed today.

“It’s super awesome. I mean, these guys have been growing and developing,” said Travis Peterson, crew chief of the No. 71 team. “They’re one of the youngest crews at Hendrick this year and we got them. At the beginning of the year, we had to keep getting better, and these guys get better every week, and we’ve started to see the fruits on the race track, too. We put a lot of effort into this, whether it was our setup and these guys coming to the shop to check it, and all we said was we wanted to repeat what they did in practice, because it was an eight-three (8.3-second stop), and that’s what they did. Awesome on them. So badass for these guys.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Nos. 19 (12.695 seconds) and 20 (12.709 seconds) crews rounded out the top five. Christopher Bell’s No. 20 crew entered the day as the two-time defending champions of the Pit Crew Challenge.

On-track action for the Cup Series resumes Saturday evening at 5:10 p.m. ET for the All-Star Heat Races (FS2, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Contributing: Zack Albert | NASCAR.com

Posted on by Reid Spencer

NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. — A flawless entry into pit road during Friday’s time trials propelled Brad Keselowski to the pole position for Sunday’s NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway (8 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

In a unique qualifying format that features three laps and a mandatory four-tire pit stop, Keselowski and his team posted a total time of 87.363 seconds (77.264 mph) to earn the top starting spot both for Saturday’s first of two heats and for the $1-million-to-win main event on Sunday.

RELATED: Live lineup tracker | At-track photos

In a major upset during the All-Star Open qualifying session that preceded time trials for drivers already qualified for the All-Star Race, Michael McDowell’s over-the-wall crew, composed of ex-football players, won the $100,000 Pit Crew Challenge. The No. 71 Spire Motorsports crew fired off a stop in 12.587 seconds, and that time stood up against the 20 All-Star crews that followed. Daniel Suárez’s crew came closest with a time of 12.600 seconds.

For Keselowski, the pole was a welcome high point in a season that has been difficult so far. He’s currently 33rd in the Cup Series standings, with no top 10s and five DNFs (did not finish) through 12 races.

“This event, this format pushes you to your limits, from a driver perspective, a team perspective, pit crew,” Keselowski said. “I stuck my part — I knew I stuck the entry (to pit road). The exit, I was like, ‘Maybe I left a little on the table’  — it’s really hard to tell.

“But it all came together for an excellent run. The pit crew, they didn’t try to be heroes. They just gave me a really solid stop. (Crew chief) Jeremy Bullins and the team gave me a car that was pretty fast. They just gave me the ball and said, ‘Go play,’ and that’s what we did.”

Christopher Bell and his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing team, the two-time defending winners of the Pit Crew Challenge, qualified second at 76.485 mph (88.253 seconds). Slight trouble on the left-front tire cost Bell’s crew a chance for a third straight $100,000 bonus.

Alex Bowman was third-fastest, followed by Chase Briscoe, William Byron and defending winner and reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano.

Though Keselowski is guaranteed to start on the pole for the All-Star Race, Friday’s qualifying session set the order for the two heat races on Saturday. The first heat establishes the starting order for the inside row in the All-Star Race, while the second heat orders the outside row.

RELATED: Full All-Star schedule

Austin Dillon, Denny Hamlin, Tyler Reddick and Chase Elliott were seventh- through 10th-fastest, respectively.

Using his road racing prowess to get on and off pit road in the unique qualifying format, New Zealand’s Shane van Gisbergen won the pole position for the NASCAR All-Star Open, which precedes the All-Star Race on Sunday night.

The top two finishers in the Open transfer to the 21st and 22nd starting positions in the main event.

MORE: Full Open lineup

In his three-lap attempt with a four-tire pit stop, van Gisbergen recorded a time of 88.685 seconds (75.112 mph). That was good enough to edge Carson Hocevar (75.942 mph) for the top starting spot in the Open by 0.199 seconds.

Van Gisbergen’s total time was also 1.109 seconds faster than Logano’s pole-winning time for last year’s All-Star Race, which Logano won decisively, leading 199 of 200 laps.

“I did a decent job getting in and out of pit road,” Van Gisbergen said, “but my guys did a great pit stop, too (13.175 seconds)… It’s been difficult on the left-handed tracks, but I feel like we are getting better, though.

“I guess my actual lap was good, too, so things are starting to look up.”

Noah Gragson was third-fastest among Open qualifiers at 75.338 mph. Michael McDowell was fourth in time trials, thanks in part to his pit crew, which won the Pit Crew Competition and $100,000 bonus. Crew members on McDowell’s team are Dax Hollifield III (jackman), Max Marsh (front tire changer), Ty Boeck (rear tire changer), Luke Bussel (tire carrier) and Brandon Chapman (fueler).

RELATED: Hear from winning pit crew

Practice recap

All-Star racers and Open hopefuls shared the track for a combined 45-minute practice session Friday afternoon with Tyler Reddick pacing the 38-car group with a best speed of 123.640 mph.

Chase Elliott (123.403 mph), Bubba Wallace (123.376 mph), Christopher Bell (123.186 mph) and Erik Jones (123.146 mph) completed the top five. Wallace and Jones are not yet locked into Sunday’s All-Star Race but ranked fastest of the Open cars on single-car speed. Ross Chastain and Brad Keselowski, sixth and seventh respectively overall, were the next fastest cars locked into the All-Star Race.

Elliott scrubbed the wall between Turns 1 and 2 late in Friday’s session but avoided any significant damage. Joey Logano, the defending Cup Series champion and 2024 winner of the All-Star exhibition, posted the 10th-fastest lap in practice. Ryan Blaney, the 2022 All-Star Race winner, was 17th on the leaderboard ahead of Denny Hamlin in 18th.

In 10-lap averages, Reddick was fastest at 122.116 mph over Christopher Bell, Keselowski, Kyle Busch and Josh Berry, all All-Stars this weekend. The fastest Open car in 10-lap averages was Bubba Wallace in 11th at 121.328 mph. Below are the full results for best single-lap speeds in Friday’s practice session:

POSITIONCARDRIVERTimeSpeed
145Tyler Reddick18.198123.64
29Chase Elliott18.233123.403
323Bubba Wallace18.237123.376
420Christopher Bell18.265123.186
543Erik Jones18.271123.146
61Ross Chastain18.274123.126
76Brad Keselowski18.29123.018
824William Byron18.294122.991
98Kyle Busch18.307122.904
1022Joey Logano18.313122.864
1121Josh Berry18.32122.817
1254Ty Gibbs18.321122.81
132Austin Cindric18.327122.77
1434Todd Gilliland18.349122.622
1599Daniel Suarez18.361122.542
1642J.H. Nemechek18.364122.522
1712Ryan Blaney18.373122.462
1811Denny Hamlin18.39122.349
1935Riley Herbst18.4122.283
2010Ty Dillon18.416122.176
217Justin Haley18.42122.15
2260Ryan Preece18.421122.143
2347Ricky Stenhouse Jr.18.423122.13
245Justin Allgaier18.434122.057
2519Chase Briscoe18.437122.037
264Noah Gragson18.44122.017
2777Carson Hocevar18.441122.011
2888Shane Van Gisbergen18.447121.971
2938Zane Smith18.471121.813
3017Chris Buescher18.476121.78
3116AJ Allmendinger18.487121.707
3248Alex Bowman18.5121.622
3371Michael McDowell18.512121.543
3451Harrison Burton18.529121.431
353Austin Dillon18.549121.3
3641Cole Custer18.58121.098
3715Cody Ware18.682120.437
3866Chad Finchum19.212117.114

Contributing: Staff report

Posted on by Zack Albert

NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. — One day after NASCAR officials levied an L1-grade penalty against them, RFK Racing’s No. 17 team was back to business Friday, the first day of tuning for the NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway.

The punishment for unapproved reinforcement of its front bumper cover during last weekend’s event resulted in a 60-point deduction for driver Chris Buescher and the team in the Cup Series standings, a $75,000 fine and a two-race suspension for crew chief Scott Graves. RFK Racing indicated Friday that Graves would begin serving his suspension this weekend with veteran Doug Randolph filling in, but that its final determination on what happened and whether to appeal was ongoing.

“There’s been a lot going on,” said Brad Keselowski, in his fourth year as an owner-driver. “I mean, honestly, I was traveling most of the week with media appearances, sponsor stuff, and I haven’t got all of it dialed in yet to fully understand. We have till Monday to do so, and we’re going to exhaust that time period and evaluate everything by then.”

RELATED: All-Star Weekend schedule | Cup Series standings

The penalty knocked Buescher from 14th place in the provisional Cup Series Playoffs standings to a below-the-bubble 24th — 27 points on the minus side. No points will be on the line during this weekend’s All-Star exhibition at North Wilkesboro, meaning the team will have to wait until the Coca-Cola 600 on May 25 to attempt to regroup.

In the meantime, Buescher has his sights on the task at hand — his fifth All-Star Race appearance.

“Yeah, it’s already behind me right now,” said Buescher, who notched his career-best All-Star finish in third here last year. “You know, we’re here at the race track, we’ve been prepping for this race for a really long time already. Nothing’s changing on our weekend. For us, we’ll deal with that during the work week, but it’s race weekend now. So yeah, with the speed we’ve had this year and what we’ve been able to do at a lot of different styles of race tracks, it’s the same opportunity we felt like we had before Thursday. So yeah, I’m ready to go for this one.”

Keselowski, for one, said he had faith in Buescher’s ability to bounce back.

“Oh, they’ve got a lot of great races in front of them, for them,” Keselowski said. “Chris is a phenomenal road-course racer, a great racer in general, but a lot of potential there.”

Buescher has six top-10 finishes through the first 12 races of 2025, including an eighth place at Kansas, where he qualified a season-best second. The Texas native has led just two laps this year, but as Keselowski mentioned, road courses hold a certain level of promise; the most recent of Buescher’s six Cup Series victories came in convincing fashion at Watkins Glen last September.

He’s no slouch on short tracks, either, with Bristol and Richmond among the venues where he’s been victorious. Adding North Wilkesboro to that list this weekend won’t help his points predicament, but the opportunity for some hard-nosed competition and bragging rights is the more pressing goal.

“You’ve got to rough people up for a million dollars, I guarantee it, and that’s the way it should be,” Buescher said. “It’s supposed to be good, hard racing here. We’ve had some great racing through the years here, well before we came back, and we’re trying to be a part of more coming back to this historic raceway here.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Trackhouse Racing driver Shane van Gisbergen claimed the Busch Pole Award for Sunday’s NASCAR All-Star Open, besting the field in Friday’s unique qualifying.

Van Gisbergen put his No. 88 Chevrolet atop the pylon with a qualifying time of 88.685 seconds. Qualifying includes a four-tire pit stop for this weekend’s All-Star festivities.

See below for the full lineup.

POSITIONCARDRIVERTimeSpeed
188Shane van Gisbergen88.68576.112
277Carson Hocevar88.88475.942
34Noah Gragson89.59675.338
471Michael McDowell89.6175.326
560Ryan Preece89.68875.261
638Zane Smith90.47874.604
77Justin Haley90.49574.59
842John Hunter Nemechek90.84174.306
954Ty Gibbs90.91874.243
1010Ty Dillon91.44473.816
1141Cole Custer92.0573.33
1243Erik Jones95.59770.609
1335Riley Herbst99.6567.737
1423Bubba Wallace99.6967.71
1515Cody Ware99.79167.641
1616AJ Allmendinger110.94260.843
1734Todd Gilliland122.69555.014
1866Chad Finchum144.02546.867
Posted on by Holly Cain

High winds and unusually warm temperatures at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway characterized Fast Friday practice for the upcoming Indianapolis 500 qualifying weekend with NASCAR champion Kyle Larson suffering a setback on track in preparation for his second Indy 500 start — part of the Memorial Day Weekend Double when he will compete in both the Indy 500 and the NASCAR Cup Series’ Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

In the final 90 minutes of practice Friday in Indianapolis, Larson crashed his No. 17 Arrow McLaren Racing Chevrolet into the Turn 3 and Turn 4 SAFER barriers at the historic 2.5-mile speedway — his car hitting the walls twice before coming to rest. The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion climbed out of his damaged car on his own and remained in good spirits afterward — still very optimistic about his chances for qualifying this weekend and ultimately the May 25 Indy 500 race.

MORE: Best photos from Larson’s 2025 Double

“I’m okay,” the 32-year-old Californian Larson said. “Just a lot of front grip there in [Turn] 3, so just felt it coming around and it comes around quick once it does that. Bummer, but it is what it is.

“At least we’ve found both ends of the spectrum,” he added with a slight smile. “The open test I hit [the wall] with the right front and today I backed it in.

“I’m not too worried about it. I think we’ll be fine. We’ll adjust on it a little bit and track conditions will be better tomorrow. We’ll still be fast.”

Larson, driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in the Cup Series only managed to complete three full laps Friday at speed, his Arrow McLaren Racing team waiting toward the end of the six-hour practice to put him on track. With all the cars running extra horsepower Friday, Larson did top the 230-mph mark and remained confident in both his team’s response to the setback and his own ability to rebound Saturday.

Kyle Larson's crew works on his IndyCar in the garage.
Matt Fraver | Penske Entertainment

The team quickly repaired the car with a new front wing and rear wing assembly and he went out in the closing minutes of practice just to shake it down in preparation for the weekend.

“Just wanted to come out here and just get up to somewhat of a speed and make sure all was good and thankfully it was,” the NASCAR Cup Series points leader Larson said afterward. “So, reset for tomorrow and just have a better day.”

Fast Friday is traditionally the day teams focus most on qualifying but all the drivers conceded the weather conditions are likely to look and feel much different for Saturday qualifying. They do not expect the same heat (temperatures close to 90 degrees) and wind (gusting to nearly 40 mph at times) experienced on track Friday afternoon with thunderstorms expected to roll in Friday night.

“Obviously, it’s tricky, I spun,” Larson said of the conditions. “I don’t know, I was kind of caught off guard a little bit there, but like I said I think we’ll be fine. I tend to get over things pretty quickly. I know I spun but my [car’s] balance felt pretty close to being good. Just work on it a little bit. We’ll be good tomorrow. The track will be cooler. We’ll be fine.”

Qualifying for the Indianapolis 500 has evolved throughout the race’s 109-year history. The current format is two days. On Saturday, cars will turn in a four-lap average speed with the fastest 12 cars and the slowest four cars running again on Sunday. Positions 13-30 will be set on Saturday with coverage of the day’s on-track activity beginning at 8 a.m. ET on FS2 then moving to FS1 at 11 a.m.

On Sunday at 4:05 p.m. ET, the top 12 cars from Saturday will post laps and the fastest six of them will advance to the Firestone Fast Six to decide the Indianapolis 500 pole position. The slowest four cars from Saturday will vie for the final three starting spots in the field in Last Chance Qualifying (5:15 p.m. ET). One car and one driver will be eliminated.

Last year’s Indianapolis 500 polesitter, Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin was fastest on Fast Friday in single lap speed with a lap of 233.854 mph in the No. 3 Penske Chevrolet — up significantly from the previous fast lap of 227.546 mph set by Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou on Wednesday.

Ganassi veteran driver and six-time series champion Scott Dixon was second fastest in single lap speed with a lap of 232.561 mph in the No. 9 Honda but most tellingly and most importantly, the 2008 Indy 500 champion was quickest in four-lap averages (232.386 mph).

His teammate Palou was third quickest in single lap speed Friday (232.528 mph) with Andretti Global teammates Kyle Kirkwood (232.107 mph) and Colton Herta (232.066 mph) rounding out the top-five in their Hondas.

Palou (232.307) and McLaughlin (232.212 mph) were second and third fastest in four-lap averages.

Larson expected to put some track time in early Saturday to help prepare for qualifying.

“I’m sure at this point we’ll probably want to get out there and shake it down I imagine,” Larson said. “That would be good, but if not, you still get time to make a few runs tomorrow. Like I said, the track conditions will be better and I’m sure we’ll pack a little extra downforce that first run and get a run in. I’m not too worried about it.”

“Just a little bump but nothing too bad in the forecast of things,” he added.

Posted on by Staff Report

Tyler Reddick paced the field in Friday evening’s practice session at North Wilkesboro Speedway, turning a fast lap of 123.640 mph (18.198 seconds).

Reddick was one of two drivers to log more than 100 laps in the session, setting his fastest time on Lap 54. He turned 101 laps, behind only Joey Logano’s 110.

Chase Elliott (All-Star Race), Bubba Wallace (All-Star Open), Christopher Bell (All-Star Race) and Erik Jones (All-Star Open) completed the top five. See the full results below.

POSITIONCARDRIVERTimeSpeed
145Tyler Reddick18.198123.64
29Chase Elliott18.233123.403
323Bubba Wallace18.237123.376
420Christopher Bell18.265123.186
543Erik Jones18.271123.146
61Ross Chastain18.274123.126
76Brad Keselowski18.29123.018
824William Byron18.294122.991
98Kyle Busch18.307122.904
1022Joey Logano18.313122.864
1121Josh Berry18.32122.817
1254Ty Gibbs18.321122.81
132Austin Cindric18.327122.77
1434Todd Gilliland18.349122.622
1599Daniel Suarez18.361122.542
1642J.H. Nemechek18.364122.522
1712Ryan Blaney18.373122.462
1811Denny Hamlin18.39122.349
1935Riley Herbst18.4122.283
2010Ty Dillon18.416122.176
217Justin Haley18.42122.15
2260Ryan Preece18.421122.143
2347Ricky Stenhouse Jr.18.423122.13
245Justin Allgaier18.434122.057
2519Chase Briscoe18.437122.037
264Noah Gragson18.44122.017
2777Carson Hocevar18.441122.011
2888Shane Van Gisbergen18.447121.971
2938Zane Smith18.471121.813
3017Chris Buescher18.476121.78
3116AJ Allmendinger18.487121.707
3248Alex Bowman18.5121.622
3371Michael McDowell18.512121.543
3451Harrison Burton18.529121.431
353Austin Dillon18.549121.3
3641Cole Custer18.58121.098
3715Cody Ware18.682120.437
3866Chad Finchum19.212117.114
Posted on by Zack Albert

NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. — Ricky Stenhouse Jr. held court at the back of the Hyak Motorsports hauler Friday afternoon, feet kicked up along a row of director’s chairs. His placement in the garage was just about where we last saw him at North Wilkesboro Speedway, where he tussled with Kyle Busch at the end of last year’s NASCAR All-Star Race.

Mention of that proximity made Stenhouse smile and motion with his thumb to his right. “The trailer’s in the same spot,” he says, but it seems the altercation was a few doors down.

RELATED: All-Star Weekend schedule | Paint Scheme Preview

The hot-button moment from last season was an All-Star Race powder keg, resulting in a $75,000 fine to Stenhouse for throwing and landing a punch that ignited a brawl among the rival crews. A year removed from that post-race fracas, the pair of one-time combatants arrived back at North Wilkesboro to open the All-Star festivities with cordiality restored and some added perspective.

“Oh yeah, we’ve talked,” Stenhouse told NASCAR.com. “I mean, I’ve apologized to him for like, ‘hey, sorry that kind of got out of hand.’ And on the other hand, he’s like, ‘yeah, it’s kind of deserving, right?’ So he knew what he did on purpose, and so I would say we both probably could have done things different, but yeah, just part of it.”

The heart of the issue stemmed from contact between the two drivers shortly after the green flag waved. Stenhouse’s No. 47 Chevrolet took the brunt of the fender-banging, and he parked his car in the Richard Childress Racing No. 8 pit stall in disgust with just two completed laps in the books.

Stenhouse ominously hinted that he’d handle the situation in post-crash interviews, and because the 0.625-mile track has no infield tunnel for pedestrian or vehicle traffic, he had the remaining 198 laps to consider his next course of action. After Busch dismounted on pit road, Stenhouse was waiting to greet him and the conversation escalated from there.

“I wouldn’t say regrets. I think I would still be fired up if I got crashed on Lap 1 again this weekend — on purpose, obviously,” Stenhouse said, looking back. “So I mean, if you get crashed on accident, it’s one thing. Crashed on purpose is a totally different thing, especially an exhibition race, not going for the win. So yeah, I mean, definitely no regrets. I think I gained a decent amount of fans out of it. It cost a little bit, but yeah, it’s part of it. I think, hopefully this year, I don’t plan on being out the first lap and plan on making the end of the race, so hopefully that all works out.”

Busch, winner of the 2017 edition of the All-Star Race, said that the two have sorted out the differences they had back then.

“I haven’t looked back on any of it, but him and I have just soft-spoken, just kind of how we were beforehand,” Busch said. “If there’s occasions where we’re next to each other at driver intros, you know, it’s no big deal. Just is what it is. Move on and put that behind us.”

One year later, the two drivers are in close quarters again — this time, with their positioning in the Cup Series Playoffs standings. After next weekend’s Coca-Cola 600 (Sunday, May 25, 6 p.m. ET, Prime Video, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), the circuit will be exactly halfway through the regular season, and the competition for postseason spots is already ratcheting up.

MORE: Power Rankings | All-Star memorable moments

Stenhouse is on the plus side of the bubble, 14 points up on the provisional elimination line. The single-car team has made the most of its consistency, with no DNFs and a sixth-place result two weeks ago at Texas being the most recent of their two top 10s.

“We’re thrilled where we’re at, because I know that we’ve got more potential in our race car,” Stenhouse said. “We haven’t nearly got the speed out of our car that I feel like we have in it somewhere, so we’re continuing to look for that. We’re continuing to try and figure out how we can qualify better. That’ll make our race days go better, but we’re executing, we’re finishing races well, making sure we get to the end and capitalizing on that. So if we can get our car speed better, then I think that’ll put us right where we need to be come season end, obviously, depending on winners and things like that, but to be where we’re at right now in points, we’re definitely thrilled.”

Busch is still mired in the longest winless streak of his career, which reached 69 races since his last triumph (Gateway, 2023). He’s currently the first driver outside of the provisional 16-driver playoff field — minus-7 behind RFK Racing’s Ryan Preece — and though he’s cooled since an early-season stretch of three consecutive top-10 finishes (Atlanta, Circuit of The Americas, Phoenix), he’s been encouraged by the attention to details so far.

“I mean, I would presume it’s just a lot of little things, you know?” Busch said. “So that’s basically what you’re dealing with in this day and age — just so many little details. If you can find 100 small, tiny details, then that’s going to all add up. So guys at the shop have been doing a good job and working on all of that, whether it’s car build or little things in the setups and whatnot. Then, that’s where it’s coming from.”

Posted on by Holly Cain

SPEEDWAY, Ind. — It was another productive full-day of work at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for NASCAR star Kyle Larson and his McLaren Racing IndyCar team on Thursday. The current NASCAR Cup Series championship leader added 63 laps to his Indy resume continuing to familiarize himself with the car during a six-hour practice at the track – the third session of the week in anticipation of the May 25 Indianapolis 500.

Larson’s best lap Thursday was all deuces, 222.222 mph around the 2.5-mile speedway; 17th fastest among the 34 cars on track ultimately vying for the 33-car Indy 500 field. His fastest lap of the three days of official practice was on Tuesday when he recorded a top speed of 223.985 mph.

The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champ has now turned 215 total laps in three days preparing for the May 25 Memorial Day “Double,” when the 32-year old Californian will race in the Indy 500 Sunday afternoon and then fly to Charlotte, N.C. to run NASCAR’s longest race of the season, the Coca-Cola 600, that same evening for his Hendrick Motorsports team.

He will join the late John Andretti, Tony Stewart, Robby Gordon and Kurt Busch to run the two premier races on the same day.

RELATED: Kyle Larson’s month of May schedule

Not only has Larson truly put the work in this week to prepare for his second Indianapolis 500 start, but Thursday his McLaren Racing Team Principal, Tony Kanaan completed a Refresher Test on track too.

Most team executives don’t find themselves behind the steering wheel, but the 2013 Indy 500 champion Kanaan will jump in Larson’s No. 17 HendrickCars.com McLaren Chevrolet should the race be delayed and threaten Larson’s ability to return to his full-time job in the NASCAR Cup Series’ No. 5 Chevy in time for the green flag at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

“I truly didn’t think it was any different,’’ said Kanaan, who ran 30 laps to show series officials he was still proficient should he be called into race action in relief of Larson. They were his first laps in the new hybrid technology being used in the cars.

“I think the only answer I can give you is probably I had a two-year pause so I had time to reset a couple things,’’ Kanaan said of the new cars. “I truly didn’t think there was anything different. By myself, it was going to feel good. I knew we had a decent car. Honestly, it was good to feel the difference with deploying. I think it’s been a talk. Honestly, probably had to run in traffic a little bit. I truly didn’t feel anything.”

While Larson’s speed hasn’t topped the charts, he has proven to be fast and consistent. And on Thursday, he also proved to be nimble. Larson was directly behind Christian Rasmussen’s car on a lap with just under two hours remaining in practice when Rasmussen got loose, nicked the wall and spun in front of Larson.

Fortunately, Larson was able to power through with no damage.

MORE: Larson’s Day 2 Indy 500 practice recap

“Thankfully when he spun, he spun down the track,’’ Larson said of the near-miss.

Overall, he was pleased with the day, finishing up with pit stop practice after his laps on track.

“Practice went pretty good today,’’ Larson said. “I thought our car was a little bit more competitive in dirty air so I was thankful for that.”

The field has primarily been working on race pace, but Friday’s upcoming practice is called “Fast Friday” for a reason. That’s when the teams will focus more on pure qualifying speed. Indianapolis 500 qualifying is Saturday and Sunday to set the 33-car field. Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin started on pole position in 2024. Larson started fifth last year and finished 18th.

Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden was fastest overall Thursday putting Team Penske cars atop the speed chart for the second time in the three days of practice so far. The two-time defending Indy 500 winner set Thursday’s pace with a lap of 226.632 mph in the No. 2 Penske Chevrolet – his first time above the 226-mph mark and only the second driver to eclipse 226 mph. In fact, he was so confident in the car Thursday he only ran 35 laps, calling it a day 45 minutes before the checkered flag flew.

Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon – the 2008 Indy 500 winner – was second fastest on Thursday with a lap of 225.457 mph in the No. 9 CGR Honda. Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Conor Daly was third quickest, the Indianapolis-native a resounding crowd favorite.

Larson’s McLaren Racing teammate Pato O’Ward was fourth fastest in his first appearance in the top tier of the speed chart this week, followed by another former Indy winner, 2014 champ Ryan Hunter-Reay for Dreyer and Reinbold Racing.

Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou – the current NTT IndyCar Series championship leader – has set the fastest mark of the three days with a lap of 227.546 mph on Wednesday. He was sixth quickest on Thursday.

Cars return to the track Friday with practice from noon-6 p.m. ET (noon-4 p.m on FS2 and 4-6 p.m. ET on FS1). Qualification Draw will be held at 6:15 p.m. ET to set Saturday’s qualifying order.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

If you‘re trying to find a predictor of the eventual NASCAR Cup Series champion, the winner of the All-Star Race might be a good place to look.

In three of the last five years, the All-Star Race winner has gone on to win the title: Chase Elliott at Bristol in 2020; Kyle Larson at Texas Motor Speedway in 2021; and Joey Logano at North Wilkesboro Speedway last year.

Add Ryan Blaney’s All-Star victory at Texas in 2022, and you have another impressive statistic: the organization that has won the All-Star Race has won the Cup championship in four of the last five years — Hendrick Motorsports in 2020 and 2021 and Team Penske in 2022 and 2024.

Moreover, Logano credits last year’s March 14 tire test at North Wilkesboro, leading up to the All-Star Race, as one of the factors that flipped the switch for Team Penske and propelled him toward his third Cup championship.

MORE: Weekend schedule | All-Star format explained

As one of 20 drivers already qualified for the event, Logano will defend his victory in Sunday’s NASCAR All-Star Race at the iconic 0.625-mile short track (8 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

“I’m looking forward to getting up there,” Logano said. “The track’s really wide for a repave. It’s a really good race track. I’m looking forward to seeing where it gets to this year. Last year it widened all the way out to the wall. …

“Where the dominant lane is will be interesting, even in qualifying.”

Three more drivers will be added to the 20-driver field before the green flag, two from the 100-lap All-Star Open and one chosen through the All-Star Fan Vote.

Qualifying for both the Open and All-Star Race will take place on Friday and includes a Pit Crew Challenge component. Those time trials will set the starting order for a pair of Saturday heat races that will determine the grid for the All-Star Race.

The first 75-lap heat sets the order for the inside row of the All-Star lineup, with the second heat ordering the outside row. The qualifiers from the Open and Fan Vote will be added to the rear of the field.

Front Row Motorsports driver Noah Gragson has won the last two Fan Votes. Josh Berry and Ty Gibbs are the two Open winners at North Wilkesboro. Berry already is eligible for this year’s All-Star Race because of his victory in March at Las Vegas.

The All-Star Race itself is scheduled for 250 laps (up from the 200 laps run in the first two editions of the race at North Wilkesboro), with a competition caution to take place at or around Lap 100.

In addition, a single, optional promoter’s caution — at the discretion of Speedway Motorsports Inc. CEO Marcus Smith — can be used to reshape the race before Lap 220 but cannot be used after Lap 200 if preempted by a naturally occurring caution.

There are six former winners of the NASCAR All-Star Race already qualified for Sunday’s 41st running of the event: Larson, Logano, Blaney,  Elliott, Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin.

RELATED: Every All-Star Race winner 

Larson has three All-Star Race victories to his credit (2019, 2021 and 2023) and can tie NASCAR Hall of Famer Jimmie Johnson for most all-time with another win.

Hendrick Motorsports has compiled a series-best 11 All-Star victories. Team Penske is next with five. Busch claimed the most recent All-Star victory for Toyota in 2017.

Logano relishes not only the competition but also the history North Wilkesboro embodies.

“It was shut down for years, just sitting there empty,” Logano said. “Now you see it come back, and so many people are there. They did such a tasteful job renovating the place, where they’ve kept a lot of that old feeling but a lot of the newer amenities fans have become accustomed to.”