Larson dominates in NASCAR All-Star win
Kyle Larson didn't mince words after his third All-Star race victory in the last five years.
“That was an old school (butt)-whipping, for sure,” Larson said.
Larson turned in a dominating effort to run away with his third All-Star race and earn $1 million Sunday night in the Cup Series' return to North Wilkesboro Speedway following a 27-year absence.
He became only the fourth driver to win the All-Star race at least three times. Jimmie Johnson has the most with four victories, while Larson, Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt have three. Larson is the first to win the AllStar race at three different tracks, also having won in Charlotte in 2019 and Texas in 2021.
He celebrated the win with a full lap of burnouts around the .625-mile track as Hendrick Motorsports won its 11th All-Star race.
Bubba Wallace finished second in the 200-lap nonpoints exhibition race, followed by Tyler Reddick, Chase Briscoe and Chase Elliott. But only Larson collected prize money in the winner-take-all event.
Wallace joked he won the “best of the rest.”
“Larson was lights out, so congrats to him,” Wallace said. “They have been hitting it on the head all season, so to run second to them is not a bad thing. But to run second in the All-Star race sucks because you go home with nothing.”
Larson overcame an early speeding penalty on lap 24, and ran away from the field.
After being sent to the back of the field on lap 24, he drove his No. 5 Chevrolet blowing past 16 cars on fresh tires, including polesitter Daniel Suarez on lap 56 to take the lead. Larson went on to build an 11-second lead before the first competition caution at lap 100.
The competition caution didn't slow Larson, who was never seriously challenged in the second half of the race.
“We had a great car in the long runs and I was thinking that for sure there was going to be a caution,” said Larson, who also won the Trucks Series race at North Wilkesboro on Saturday. “I got out to a big lead and I could see everybody's cars were driving like crap in front of me.”
If fans came to see wrecks, they walked away disappointed. There were none. And the only pass they saw for the lead was Larson moving past Suarez in what amounted to yet another short track snoozer in a season where NASCAR has struggled with noncompetitive races.
“It's no secret that everybody in the industry, the fans have been vocal about wanting better short track racing, so I think what happened tonight goes along with what that narrative has been lately,” Reddick said. “NASCAR is working on it and we are all going to put our heads together and try to make short track racing better.”
North Wilkesboro Speedway's patched-up asphalt track held up fairly well following a week of racing despite not having been paved in more than three decades.
The track, which sat mostly dormant and became overgrown with weeds, was restored with help of Speedway Motorsports CEO Marcus Smith and Hall of Fame driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. for NASCAR's 75th year anniversary season.
Palou wins pole position for Indy 500
Alex Palou will lead the field to green in the Indianapolis 500 after the young Spaniard put together the fastest fourlap pole run in history, edging Rinus VeeKay and Felix Rosenqvist to give Chip Ganassi Racing its third consecutive pole in “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.”
Palou, who won on the road course race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway last weekend, whipped four laps around the historic 2.5-mile speedway at an average of 234.217 mph. That was a mere 0.007 mph faster than VeeKay, who still gave Ed Carpenter Racing a front-row starting spot for the ninth time in the last 11 years.
“It means the world to me now, to the boys, to everybody,” said Palou, who is likely moving to Arrow McLaren next year.
He roared when Rosenqvist missed out on the pole for Arrow McLaren in the last run of the day.
“I'm just super happy,” Palou said.
Palou surpassed the record pole run of 234.046 mph that Ganassi teammate Scott Dixon put up last year. It also was the second-fastest qualifying effort, trailing only Arie Luyendyk's 236.986, which he set the day after pole qualifying in 1996.