NORTH WILKESBORO
Saturday, May 17 — NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, 1:30 p.m. ET (FS1)
Sunday, May 18 — NASCAR Cup Series, 8 p.m. ET (FS1)
This will mark the third straight year North Wilkesboro Speedway hosts the NASCAR All-Star Race, along with a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event. Ford is the defending winner of the annual non-points race after Joey Logano led all but one lap in last year’s event. The Blue Oval has won the event 14 times overall, including two of the last three seasons after Ryan Blaney won in 2022 at Texas Motor Speedway.
HIGHWAY PATROL ON DUTY
The Mustang Dark Horse will be pacing this weekend’s races at North Wilkesboro Speedway, but on Sunday night it will be joined briefly by a family member. That’s because the North Carolina State Highway Patrol is scheduled to showcase one of its 25 new Mustang GTs during the initial parade lap. This marks the 75th year Ford, which is the top selling vehicle brand in the law enforcement segment, has been serving police customers.
BACK-TO-BACK
Last season, Joey Logano dominated the NASCAR All-Star Race like nobody ever had, leading all but one of the 200 laps and winning the $1 million bonus for the second time in his career. Logano won the pole, thanks in part to his pit crew that put together a solid stop in a modified qualifying format, and never looked back once the green flag fell. He bolted to the lead on the softer tire compound that Goodyear made available, in addition to the regular tires usually used on race weekends, and controlled the race until the checkered flag.
FORD’S ALL-STAR LINEUP
There are seven Ford drivers guaranteed a place in the All-Star field with additional spots available through the preliminary Open qualifying race and fan vote. Currently, defending series champion Joey Logano is joined by Team Penske teammates Ryan Blaney and Austin Cindric while the RFK duo of Brad Keselowski and Chris Buescher are also included. Josh Berry rounds out the field after winning earlier this year at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the Wood Brothers while Harrison Burton will drive the No. 51 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Rick Ware Racing.
MULTIPLE ALL-STAR WINNERS
Logano’s win a year ago put him in a select group of Ford drivers who have won the NASCAR All-Star Race more than once. The only others are Davey Allison and Mark Martin. Allison was the first to win the non-points exhibition in back-to-back years (1991-92) and then Jimmie Johnson joined him (2012-13). Martin’s victories came in 1998 and 2005 driving the No. 6 Ford for car owner Jack Roush. Logano could become the fifth person to win the event more than two times if he finds Victory Lane on Sunday.
RYAN BLANEY: WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE ALL-STAR FORMAT? “I like it. I like how you keep pit crews involved by doing the competition there. I think those guys really enjoy it. They compete every weekend multiple times, but being on that stage is really good for them. I was saying that there are gonna be a lot of gifts sent to Marcus (Smith) and his family since they announced that (promoter’s caution). He’s gonna have more friends than he’s ever had, that’s for sure. It is what it is. We race to the format, and I think it’s obviously big for us to go back to Wilkesboro. People in that area really love us being back there. I love being back there.”
CHRIS BUESCHER: WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE ALL-STAR FORMAT? “I think about the format we have, knowing we’re gonna have a caution in there at some point that we won’t be able to predict isn’t much different than stages. We know we’re gonna have cautions at some point. We know exactly when they are for all of our other races, but I don’t think it’s ultimately going to change a whole lot just given the tires, new asphalt and what the race looked like last year. The groove did move around a lot, which I was pretty stoked about because we don’t typically get that with new asphalt, so that was solid.”
ELLIOTT WINS ALL-STAR RACE IN FRONT OF HOMETOWN FANS
The first time Ford won the All-Star Race was in 1986 when Bill Elliott drove his Thunderbird to Victory Lane, but that race is remembered for another trivial fact as well. That marked the only time, prior to this year, that the event has been run at a track other than Charlotte Motor Speedway. Elliott’s home track of Atlanta Motor Speedway served as host on Mother’s Day that year, a date NASCAR traditionally does not race. With only 10 cars making up the field, Elliott darted to the lead from his outside front row starting position and never gave it up as he led all 83 laps en route to a popular victory with the fans.
WALTRIP-WOOD FIRST-TIME WINNERS
Michael Waltrip’s win in 1996 marked his first victory in NASCAR’s top division and was the first in the event for Wood Brothers Racing. Waltrip almost didn’t get into the big show because he had to battle it out in the preliminary Winston Open, where he grabbed the final transfer spot by holding off Johnny Benson to finish fifth. That meant he started last in the 20-car main event, which was called the Winston Select. After the first two 30-lap segments had been completed, Waltrip found himself fourth for the final 10-lap shootout. He passed Rusty Wallace for third after an aborted restart, and then was riding behind Dale Earnhardt and Terry Labonte, who were battling side-by-side. As the two entered turn one with eight laps to go, they made contact which slowed them down enough to allow Waltrip to dart to the inside and pass both of them for the lead. He held on the rest of the way to post his first win of any kind in NASCAR’s top division.
LOGANO AND KESELOWSKI FINISH 1-2
Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski made All-Star history as they became the first teammates to sweep the top two spots in the All-Star Race when they did it in 2016. Logano came out on top of a side-by-side battle with Kyle Larson in the final two laps, getting clear with just over one lap to go after Larson hit the outside wall coming off turn two. That enabled Keselowski to get the runner-up spot and successfully commemorate the 50th Anniversary of car owner Roger Penske’s career in motorsports. It marked Ford’s 11th All-Star Race win and first in five years since Edwards won in 2011.
GARCIA GOING STRONG
Jake Garcia has captured two of the last three NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series poles going into this weekend’s race at North Wilkesboro Speedway. After earning the first pole of his career at Rockingham Speedway three weeks ago, he took the top spot again at Kansas and ended up as the top running Ford in seventh. Garcia, who is seventh in the series point standings, has ended up seventh or better in five of the last six events with his best result being a runner-up finish at Rockingham. A year ago at North Wilkesboro, he led the first laps of his NASCAR career, 40 total, and was in front with under 100 to go before a tire issue developed and forced him to nurse his F-150 home in 21st place.
FORD NASCAR CUP SERIES
ALL-STAR RACE WINNERS
1986 – Bill Elliott (Atlanta)
1991 – Davey Allison (Charlotte)
1992 – Davey Allison (Charlotte)
1994 – Geoffrey Bodine (Charlotte)
1996 – Michael Waltrip (Charlotte)
1998 – Mark Martin (Charlotte)
2002 – Ryan Newman (Charlotte)
2004 – Matt Kenseth (Charlotte)
2005 – Mark Martin (Charlotte)
2011 – Carl Edwards (Charlotte)
2016 – Joey Logano (Charlotte)
2018 – Kevin Harvick (Charlotte)
2022 – Ryan Blaney (Texas)
2024 – Joey Logano (North Wilkesboro)
FORD’S NASCAR CUP SERIES WINNERS
AT NORTH WILKESBORO
1955 – Buck Baker (2)
1957 – Fireball Roberts (1)
1958 – Junior Johnson (Sweep)
1963 – Marvin Panch (2)
1964 – Fred Lorenzen and Marvin Panch
1965 – Junior Johnson (Sweep)
1966 – Dick Hutcherson (2)
1967 – Darel Dieringer (1)
1968 – David Pearson (1)
1969 – David Pearson (2)
1979 – Bobby Allison (1)
1980 – Bobby Allison (2)
1990 – Mark Martin (2)
1992 – Davey Allison and Geoffrey Bodine
1994 – Geoffrey Bodine (2)
1995 – Mark Martin (2)
FORD’S NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES WINNERS AT NORTH WILKESBORO
1995 – Mike Bliss
1996 – Mark Martin
The Ford Mustang, celebrating its 61st anniversary in 2025, is the world’s best selling sports car. It is also one of the planet’s most popular race cars. With Mustang-based race cars competing in international sports car competition (GT3 and GT4), NASCAR, NHRA, Formula Drift, in Australian Supercars, at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb and in its own bespoke one-make series – Mustang Cup and Mustang Challenge – the platform has an unprecedented global reach. This weekend, 30 Mustang race cars are scheduled to race across all disciplines. Learn more at FordPerformance.com.
