NASCAR All-Star Race 2023 Live Stream
For the first time since 1996, it’s NASCAR race weekend at North Wilkesboro Speedway.
The NASCAR All-Star Race is back in the state of North Carolina and shifts to the 0.625-mile oval in Wilkes County at the historic short track, which welcomes back the Cup Series and its modern-day stars on Sunday night (8 ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
With the All-Star Race comes unique changes to the weekend format, at the forefront of which are a Pit Crew Challenge and heat races. The main goal, however, remains a simple, easy-to-follow setup that’s bound to excite throughout this special weekend.
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Here’s how it works:
– Lineups for the two heat races and the All-Star Open were determined by Friday’s Pit Crew Challenge, which featured each team performing a four-tire pit stop. The winning No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing team of driver Ty Gibbs will start Sunday’s All-Star Open from the pole position.
– The 21 teams locked into the All-Star Race were split into two heat races on Saturday night. Those who finished first, third, fifth and so on in the Pit Crew Challenge competed in the first heat race; those who finished second, fourth, sixth and so on competed in the second heat.
– The two 60-lap heats helped determine the starting positions in Sunday night’s $1 million main event. The results of the first heat set the inside row — first, third, fifth and so on — for the starting grid of the All-Star Race, while Heat 2 set the outside, even-numbered positions.
– The 16 drivers not yet locked into the main event will fight through the 100-lap All-Star Open event to earn one of two transfer positions into the All-Star Race. The top two finishers will advance to the All-Star Race. In addition, the Fan Vote winner will also bump from the Open into the All-Star Race. The award is granted to the driver with the most votes who did not already advance via the transfer positions.
Heat Race No. 1: Results
A switch to wet-weather tires before the race didn’t sway the field from attempting to put on their best during the 60-lap sprint to the finish. After Chase Elliott initially rose atop the field, Daniel Suárez vaulted ahead of the No. 9 Chevrolet on Lap 27 and held strong to hold off a resurgent Joey Logano to win the opening heat.
“I think we had more grip with the wets than we did with the drys,” Suárez said of the tire choice for his heat. “These tires, for some reason, they had so much forward drive … I feel like our car was pretty damn good.”
| Finishing Spot | Car Number | Driver |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 99 | Daniel Suárez |
| 2 | 22 | Joey Logano |
| 3 | 14 | Chase Briscoe |
| 4 | 20 | Christopher Bell |
| 5 | 11 | Denny Hamlin |
| 6 | 12 | Ryan Blaney |
| 7 | 9 | Chase Elliott |
| 8 | 29 | Kevin Harvick |
| 9 | 2 | Austin Cindric |
| 10 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. |
| 11 | 43 | Erik Jones |
Heat Race No. 2: Results
A perfect game might mainly refer to baseball or bowling, but in the case of the second heat race, it also applied as Buescher swept all 60 laps en route to the win. Contact with the wall bumped Kyle Larson back to an eighth-place finish.
“I liked our Fastenal Mustang on slicks — I was really happy with it,” Buescher said. “I didn’t want to put ‘rains’ on. I felt like it was still pretty dry out there. I guess it was starting to drizzle a little.”
| Finishing Spot | Car Number | Driver |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 17 | Chris Buescher |
| 2 | 3 | Austin Dillon |
| 3 | 24 | William Byron |
| 4 | 6 | Brad Keselowski |
| 5 | 23 | Bubba Wallace |
| 6 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. |
| 7 | 8 | Kyle Busch |
| 8 | 5 | Kyle Larson |
| 9 | 1 | Ross Chastain |
| 10 | 45 | Tyler Reddick |
All-Star Open: Lineup (Sunday, 5:30 p.m., FS1)
| Starting Spot | Car Number | Driver |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 54 | Ty Gibbs |
| 2 | 48 | Josh Berry |
| 3 | 7 | Corey LaJoie |
| 4 | 21 | Harrison Burton |
| 5 | 31 | Justin Haley |
| 6 | 34 | Michael McDowell |
| 7 | 38 | Todd Gilliland |
| 8 | 41 | Ryan Preece |
| 9 | 10 | Aric Almirola |
| 10 | 16 | AJ Allmendinger |
| 11 | 78 | Josh Bilicki |
| 12 | 77 | Ty Dillon |
| 13 | 13 | Chandler Smith |
| 14 | 51 | Ryan Newman |
| 15 | 42 | Noah Gragson |
| 16 | 15 | JJ Yeley |
FULL STARTING LINEUP FOR ALL-STAR RACE (Sunday, 8 p.m. ET, FS1)
| Starting Spot | Driver | How determined |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Daniel Suárez | Heat Race No. 1 winner |
| 2 | Chris Buescher | Heat Race No. 2 winner |
| 3 | Joey Logano | Heat Race No. 1 second place |
| 4 | Austin Dillon | Heat Race No. 2 second place |
| 5 | Chase Briscoe | Heat Race No. 1 third place |
| 6 | William Byron | Heat Race No. 2 third place |
| 7 | Christopher Bell | Heat Race No. 1 fourth place |
| 8 | Brad Keselowski | Heat Race No. 2 fourth place |
| 9 | Denny Hamlin | Heat Race No. 1 fifth place |
| 10 | Bubba Wallace | Heat Race No. 2 fifth place |
| 11 | Ryan Blaney | Heat Race No. 1 sixth place |
| 12 | Martin Truex Jr. | Heat Race No. 2 sixth place |
| 13 | Chase Elliott | Heat Race No. 1 seventh place |
| 14 | Kyle Busch | Heat Race No. 2 seventh place |
| 15 | Kevin Harvick | Heat Race No. 1 eighth place |
| 16 | Kyle Larson | Heat Race No. 2 eighth place |
| 17 | Austin Cindric | Heat Race No. 1 ninth place |
| 18 | Ross Chastain | Heat Race No. 2 ninth place |
| 19 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Heat Race No. 1 10th place |
| 20 | Tyler Reddick | Heat Race No. 2 10th place |
| 21 | Erik Jones | Heat Race No. 1 11th place |
| 22 | All-Star Open winner | |
| 23 | All-Star Open second place | |
| 24 | Fan Vote winner |
Contributing: Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service