NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. (AP) – Kyle Larson is back on track for the start of Sunday night’s All-Star Race after a busy afternoon in which the NASCAR star qualified for the Indianapolis 500 with a fifth place finish. – Arrived at Wilkesboro Speedway. Larson is aiming for his fourth All-Star Race victory, tying Jimmie Johnson for the most wins in history.
Larson arrived by plane at the Wilkes County Airport, was taken by helicopter to a truck and then to transportation by golf cart to begin preparations for the $1 million, 200-lap exhibition race. Fans cheered as he arrived at the track, and he waved to them along the way. “I’m happy to be here,” Larson said at the beginning of the pit row. “The atmosphere is great. Hopefully we can put on a good show tonight and win here.”
Larson did not do any laps on the newly paved course this week and was not here for qualifying, so he will have to start at the back of the 20-car field.
But last year he won the All-Star race and the truck race here. “I’m just going to try to learn as quickly as possible here at first and get used to the rhythm,” Larson said. “Then we can slowly move forward. It’s 200 laps, so I think we have a chance to move forward. ”
NASCAR and its broadcast partner FOX worked together to accommodate the sport’s biggest draw and front-runner by pushing back the start of the race by 16 minutes to 8:30 p.m. . This is to ensure that the driver, who shocked the racing world by qualifying for the Fast 6 in Indianapolis, arrives on time. Based on their performance to date, 17 drivers qualified for the race.
All-Star Open champion Ty Gibbs and runner-up Bubba Wallace entered Sunday’s race along with first-round pick Noah Gragson. Joey Logano set the best time in Saturday’s qualifying and will start from pole position.
Two 60-lap heats that were supposed to determine the rest of the starting grid were canceled due to rain on Saturday night, and the rest of the field was set up according to qualifying order. Larson dominated last year’s North Wilkesboro race, leading 145 of the 200 laps and at one point leading the rest of the race by 11 seconds.
Chad Knauss, vice president of competition for Hendrick Motorsports, marveled at what Larson was able to do in his first qualifying run in an open-top race car at Indianapolis against some of the best drivers in the world. “We watched him run and thought he was unbelievable,” Knauss said. “I asked myself, how could this happen? There is only so much time on the course. I did some tests. I was able to drive it up there and like other cars I’ve seen, it holds a pretty good steering wheel. He is an amazing talent. he understands that.
He is very mentally stable. Put him in virtually any environment and he will perform exceptionally well. ”
