3 takeaways from today's NASCAR Cup Series All-Star Race
Kyle Larson won the latest NASCAR Cup Series race at North Wilkesboro Speedway, his third career victory in the event.
After an early speeding penalty, Larson stormed through the field and led the vast majority of the race. At one point, he led by over 11 seconds over the second-placed driver.
Here are three takeaways from Sunday’s (May 21) NASCAR Cup Series All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway.
#3 The All-Star Open once again delivers
One common trend with the All-Star Race weekend is that the All-Star Open is typically the better of the two races. With drivers desperate to get into the big show, all let it all hang out for a shot to race for one million dollars.
Today was no different as the All-Star Open offered up plenty of drama and suspense. While it started tame, things changed when a caution came out for a multi-car wreck.
Michael McDowell was not pleased with rookie Ty Gibbs, who caused him issues, which led to Josh Berry passing Gibbs for the Open victory.
Michael McDowell has let his displeasure with Ty Gibbs known and it costs the No. 54 the #AllStarOpen lead to Josh Berry! https://t.co/qNqJsuvBTB
The drama between Gibbs and McDowell, along with the bubble frenzy between Gibbs Aric Almirola and Ryan Preece made for a surprisingly entertaining Open.
#2 North Wilkesboro needs to stay
It's been a long journey for North Wilkesboro since its last race in September 1996. The facility had been dead for years and after numerous attempts to revive the track, it finally happened over 30 years later.
After all of the on-track action this weekend, the consensus is that North Wilkesboro should be a staple on the NASCAR schedule from here on.
CHECKERED FLAG: A wild All-Star Open goes to @joshberry!
The No. 48 and @TyGibbs are moving on to the #AllStarRace! https://t.co/pAEythCchl
While some things need to be improved, such as the short track package for the Next Gen car and the eventual repave of the track.
We did see some entertaining action on the track the entire week. Now it is up to NASCAR on what they want to do next.
#1 T-Rex 2.0
After an early speeding penalty on a track that is very hard to pass on, it looked like it would be a difficult night for Kyle Larson. Especially after showing no speed in practice or his heat race.
But Larson stormed his way through the field on fresh tires and took the lead and never looked back. At one point, he had a lead of over 11 seconds, a feat that we haven't seen in an All Star race in a long time.
Retweet to congratulate Kyle Larson on winning the #NASCAR #AllStarRace at North Wilkesboro Speedway! https://t.co/oHUVqRwyPY
The last time that we saw such a dominant All Star race performance was all the way back in 1997 with Jeff Gordon's infamous T-Rex car. A car so dominant that NASCAR banned it. While that will not happen to Larson's car tonight, that just puts his performance in tonight's race into perspective.