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Kyle Larson completed the NASCAR weekend sweep by winning the All-Star Race on Sunday night. He transformed the recently restored North Wilkesboro Speedway into his own little playground.
Larson matched his dominant performance from Saturday when he won the legendary 0.625-mile short track's historic Truck Series race. His triumph in the All-Star Race also earned him the $1 million top prize.
Larson sped through the field on fresh tires. He even extended his lead to 12 seconds before the halfway point, despite receiving an early pit road speeding penalty.
In the second stage, he mostly continued from where he left off, and finally beat Bubba Wallace to the finish line by 4.537 seconds to win.
By doing so, Larson became just the fourth driver to take home at least three All-Star Race victories. Jeff Gordon, and Dale Earnhardt also each have three victories, with Jimmie Johnson having the most with four.
Larson previously won the All-Star race in Texas in 2021 and Charlotte in 2019. His triumph on Sunday meant he became the first driver to win All-Star races at three individual tracks.
"I can’t even tell you what it means. My third All-Star win at my third different track, we could feel the atmosphere all weekend. We had a great car on the long run there, just was thinking that for sure there was going to be a caution, right?" Kyle Larson said after the race.
The North Wilkesboro track resurfaced this week after receiving multi-million dollar improvements from Speedway Motorsports. It will host a week of racing, including Sunday's NASCAR All-Star Race, Late Models, and Trucks.
At the All-Star race, Bubba Wallace came in second, Tyler Reddick third, Chase Briscoe fourth, and Chase Elliott rounded out the top five. Ryan Blaney, Daniel Suarez, Erik Jones, Ty Gibbs, and Joey Logano made up the top 10.
Since Jeff Gordon won the final Cup Series race hosted at the circuit in 1996, Saturday was the first points-paying event in any NASCAR series at the race track.
Bubba Wallace finishes as runner up for the NASCAR's All-Star race at North Wilkesboro
A unfortunate event that occurred at the end of the NASCAR All-Star Race on Sunday night tainted Bubba Wallace's great effort.
Wallace's performance continued a recent streak of solid performances over the previous month. This included a pair of top-five finishes at Kansas and Darlington.
The second-placed finish on Sunday would probably have made him feel much better had it been a regular race.
"I didn’t know anything coming into this race, and after the first run, I had to go into conserve mode – conserve the rear tires. That was the biggest thing, after last night, I was really skeptical on how we were going to run – we weren’t very good," Wallace said during the post-race interview.
Early in the race, Wallace and his No. 23 Toyota showcased strength.
He stopped early for new tires along with Larson and Reddick during the opening 20 laps of the race when there was a yellow. Wallace trailed Larson off the pit road after pit stops, but there was no caution in the second half and he never got another chance to catch up.
