- Start Your Engines
NASCAR All-Star Race
North Wilkesboro Speedway
Sunday, May 19 | 8 p.m. ET
WHAT’S IN A NUMBER: With his three wins in the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season, William Byron continues to extend the history and legacy of the No. 24. The iconic car number is third on the all-time list with 106 Cup Series wins, trailing only the No. 43 (200 wins) and the No. 11 (234 wins). Byron’s 13 premier series wins have come in the No. 24, while Hendrick Motorsports vice chairman Jeff Gordon accounts for 93 wins. Heading into this weekend’s NASCAR All-Star Race, the No. 24 has won this race three times – tied for the second-most wins by a car number in the exhibition event, all coming with Gordon. If Byron were to end up in victory lane on Sunday, the No. 24 would be tied for the most wins in all-star history with the No. 48 (four).
NEXT GEN DUO: Since the Next Gen Cup Series car was introduced in 2022, Byron and crew chief Rudy Fugle have a series-leading 11 wins. The duo is ahead of teammates Kyle Larson (nine wins) and crew chief Cliff Daniels (eight wins). Fugle and Byron rank fourth for the most wins by an active driver and crew chief pairing with 12 victories.
LOCKED IT IN: Sunday will mark Byron’s sixth start in the All-Star Race, but for the fourth time in his Cup Series career, Byron heads into the event already locked in thanks to his three wins this season. In the past, when he had to race his way into the main event, Byron has gotten the job done in the Open qualifier races in 2019 and 2020. Across his five All-Star Race starts, Byron has two top-10 finishes. His best showing came in 2021 at Texas Motor Speedway when he led the most laps (30), had the lowest cumulative finishing position across the first four rounds and scored his best finish of seventh after being shuffled from the front row for the final 10-lap dash.
PIT ROAD PROWESS: After 13 races in the 2024 season, the No. 24 pit crew continues their success from last year. The five-person crew ranks third for the fastest average four-tire pit stop (10.849 seconds).
RAPTOR® TOUGH: In this weekend’s event at North Wilkesboro, Byron will sport his RAPTOR paint scheme that will run the majority of the season on the No. 24 Chevy. RAPTOR® is a durable protective coating from Axalta designed to tolerate the weekend’s climatic conditions and can be applied to a wide range of items, including truck beds, lawnmowers, outdoor furniture and more. With 16 pre-mixed colors available, it’s easy to personalize anything you want to protect. RAPTOR® is available at local paint distributors, auto parts stores and online retailers.
WILLIAM BYRON ON THE IMPORTANCE OF THE ALL-STAR RACE: “This race is just as competitive. It’s a chance to win a million dollars. It’s a stat that people talk about even after your career is over. It’s ‘how many championships do you have, how many DAYTONA 500 wins and how many All-Star wins?’ It matters. The difference is you know that there’s no points on the line, so it’s a bit more aggressive. We were lucky enough to do the tire test this year but that was before we knew about the option tire. We ran about 600 laps that test, so we feel pretty good about our setup.”
FUGLE TALKS WEEKEND: “I’m really not sure what to expect for the All-Star Race. I think there’s an opportunity with the option tires that they’re going to be quite a bit quicker. The question is how much longer are they going to be quicker for and will they be quick enough that you can get underneath somebody and get in a position to make the pass. It’s going to be tough with some trial and error. I think the heat races are going to be the best time to try to answer some of those unknowns. It looks like we’re going to get some rain this weekend, which may eliminate some of that track time and could make for a great race if we’re all going into it guessing like we are now.”
HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS
WINNING TRIO: William Byron (three wins), Kyle Larson (two wins) and Chase Elliott (one win) have tallied six wins through the first 13 races of the 2024 season for Hendrick Motorsports. The Concord, North Carolina, based squad has won at least six races in a year in 19 of the last 24 seasons. The six-victory start to this year matches the team’s second-best mark (along with 1996 and 1997) at this point in a season, with 2007’s nine wins through 13 races as the best start to a campaign in organizational history.
PIT CREWS TAKE CENTER STAGE: This weekend will highlight the pit road athletes of Hendrick Motorsports. During Friday’s All-Star Race qualifying (6:20 p.m. ET on FS1) at North Wilkesboro Speedway, the Pit Crew Challenge will take place. During the second lap of qualifying, teams will proceed to one of the two NASCAR designated pit stalls for a four-tire stop and mock fuel input (the fueler must engage the fuel can, but the car won’t be fueled). The fastest stop during qualifying (without penalties) will be the winner of the Pit Crew Challenge.
FORMAT FOCUS: Friday’s qualifying will set which heats the NASCAR All-Star Race drivers will be assigned. The heats will occur on Saturday night (starting at 5:20 p.m. ET on FS2) with two races of 60 laps each and a caution scheduled for lap 30. The results of Heat 1 will set the inside row for the All-Star Race and the results of Heat 2 will set the outside row for the All-Star Race. Alex Bowman will race in Sunday’s All-Star Open (5:30 p.m. ET on FS1), which is a 100-lap race with a caution at lap 50 and will look to be one of the top two finishers to transfer into the main event (or win the Fan Vote to advance). The All-Star Race on Sunday night (8 p.m. ET on FS1) will be 200 laps with cautions at laps 100 and 150. This will be the first race with multiple sets of tire options available. The winner of the event will take home $1 million prize.
CHAD TO GIVE THE COMMAND: NASCAR Hall of Famer and Hendrick Motorsports vice president of competition Chad Knaus was named the grand marshal for Sunday’s All-Star Race. Knaus, who won seven Cup Series championships and a series-best four All-Star Races as the crew chief for Jimmie Johnson, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in January. His seven championships rank second among crew chiefs and his 82 wins are the third-most among those who spent time atop the box.
WILKESBORO REWIND: Last year’s return to North Wilkesboro saw Larson dominate the race. The driver of the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 led 145 laps, including all but one of the last 146 circuits. Elliott came in fifth in the 200-lap event. The race was the first Cup Series event at the 0.625-mile track in 27 years. In points-paying events, Hendrick Motorsports recorded four wins at the facility. Team vice chairman Jeff Gordon won the last Cup Series points race there on Sept. 29, 1996. Terry Labonte won the spring races in 1994 and 1996 and Geoff Bodine won the fall race in 1989.
HEY NOW, YOU’RE AN ALL-STAR WINNER: Hendrick Motorsports has won the All-Star Race 11 times, which leads all organizations and is more than double all the teams tied for second (at four wins). Five drivers have accounted for Hendrick Motorsports’ all-star victories, which is also the most among all teams. Johnson leads the way with four wins (2003, 2006, 2012 and 2013), the most among all drivers in all-star history. Gordon is next with three wins (1995, 1997 and 2001) and is the event’s youngest winner at 23 years, nine months and 16 days. Larson has two All-Star wins for the squad (2021 and 2023). Labonte (1999) and Elliott (2020) have won the event once with the organization. The Johnson, Gordon and Labonte victories all came at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Elliott won at Bristol Motor Speedway and Larson won at Texas Motor Speedway in ’21 and North Wilkesboro in ’23.
STAR-FILLED STREAK: Counting this year’s event, the Rick Hendrick-owned organization has now had at least three cars in the All-Star Race field for 25 consecutive years. That streak is more than double that of the next closest team, which sits at 12 straight years. The team has had four entries in the All-Star Race on 21 occasions.
TRANSFERRING TO THE BIG SHOW: The organization has had a driver transfer from the All-Star Open into the main event on eight occasions. Gordon (1994), Ricky Craven (1997), Brian Vickers (2005), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (2012) and Josh Berry (2023) all won the All-Star Open to advance. Bowman (2018) and Byron (2019 and 2020) won a stage in the Open to transfer into the main event.
EXHIBITION KINGS: Hendrick Motorsports has 39 wins in non-points-paying events. Sixteen victories have come in the Daytona Duels, 11 in the All-Star Race, seven in the Clash and five in the All-Star Open.
