Stewart-Haas Racing: NASCAR All-Star Open and NASCAR All-Star Race of North Wilkesboro - Speedway Digest

NASCAR All-Star Open: 100 laps, with a break in competition at or around lap 50

● Race winner: Ty Gibbs from Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)

● Second place: Bubba Wallace from 23XI Racing (Toyota)

● Fan Vote Winner: Noah Gragson of Stewart-Haas Racing (Ford)

Note: The All-Star Open was the prelude to the NASCAR All-Star Race, in which non-qualified drivers attempted to earn their spot in the All-Star Race by winning the Open, finishing second in the Open, or by fan voting fight for.

NASCAR All-Star Race: 200 laps, with breaks in competition on or around lap 100 and lap 150

● Race winner: Joey Logano from Team Penske (Ford)

Note: The NASCAR All-Star Race consisted of drivers who won a points race in 2023 or 2024, full-time drivers who previously won the All-Star Race, full-time drivers who won a NASCAR Cup Series championship, and drivers who have done advanced from the All-Star Open.

SHR finish in the NASCAR All-Star Open

● Josh Berry (Started 7th, finished 3rd/Running, completed 100 of 100 laps)

● Noah Gragson (Started fifth, finished fifth at finish/race, completed 100 of 100 laps)

● Chase Briscoe (started third, finished seventh / race, completed 100 of 100 laps)

● Ryan Preece (started twelfth, finished eighth / race, completed 100 of 100 laps)

SHR goal in the NASCAR All-Star Race:

● Noah Gragson (started 20th, finished 11th / race, completed 200 of 200 laps)

SHR notes:

● This was Gragson's second career All-Star appearance. Last year he finished 23rd.

● Gragson secured his way into the All-Star race by winning the fan vote for the second straight year.

● Berry won the All-Star Open last year and advanced to the All-Star Race.

Race notes:

● Joey Logano won the All-Star race by 0.636 seconds over runner-up Denny Hamlin.

● This was Ford's 14th victory in the All-Star Race.

● The All-Star Race saw two lead changes between two different drivers. The field of participants consisted of twenty drivers.

Audio samples:

“I started way back and went back a lap early, then got the Lucky Dog and got back to 11th. Just never really got the balance right all weekend. Pretty loose. We have to go back and definitely do our homework on this place. It's tough, it's a new place, but we're a better race team than we showed all weekend. We're extremely grateful for the fan support that gave us the opportunity to be in the All-Star Race. Overall, it was a fun weekend, just I struggled all weekend. Soft tires seemed to be better for our car than hard tires. But yeah, overall, it was a good time and I'm very grateful.” – Noah Gragson, driver of the No. 10 Overstock.com Mustang Dark Horse

“I don't know, we had really good training, we were easy in qualifying and that also had an impact on the first run. The guys on pit road had a great pit stop and gave us a good position on the track. I think the tire compound tightened us up a little and we were better. We had to get a little tighter. Without a doubt, I did everything I could. I really found a lot in (turns) one and two. I was quick in (turns) one and two, but just couldn't quite get it together to attack (turns) three and four. From the start we knew it was going to be hard, but all in all it was just a great effort. Everyone at Stewart-Haas Racing, Rodney (Childers, crew chief), the whole team of 4, Harrison, for everything they do. I hate not being there (for the All-Star race), but we were probably there for the whole show, from the looks of it. I did everything I could, but I just couldn't make it to 23 (Bubba Wallace, runner-up). I got a little better the last few laps, but it would have been hard to pass him without really pissing him off.” – Josh Berry, driver of Harrison’s No. 4 Ford Mustang Dark Horse

“We just didn’t really have the short-yardage speed. It seemed like once we were eliminated it was hard to keep going unless you were really, really good. On the normal tire we were very, very loose at the beginning and on the soft tire we were very, very tight. I felt that if the race had been 100 laps we would have been fine. We were pretty good on the long runs, but we just didn't quite have it on the short runs. We just have to do a better job. Especially this weekend it's just a bit difficult having different tires, but I have to do a better job and understand from training what I need for the short track versus the long track. We all hated it. We've had really, really good speed here lately, so I hope that wasn't a momentum killer. But overall, I'm grateful to HighPoint. I wish we could have given them a little better chance in the All-Star Race, but we'll just go to the Coke 600 next week and see what we can do.” – Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 1 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse 14

“We just needed better balance, better track position, pretty much everything. I don't know, I think we just didn't have what it took today to be in the all-start race.” – Ryan Preece, driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse

Next up:

The NASCAR Cup Series returns to points racing on Sunday, May 26, with the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte (NC) Motor Speedway. The longest race on the series schedule begins at 6:00 p.m. EDT with live coverage from FOX and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

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