CHARLOTTE, N.C. — With NASCAR's return to North Wilkesboro Speedway just over a month away, the format for the NASCAR All-Star Race has now been announced.
The format was announced on Thursday on NASCAR Race Hub. The race will be a 200-lap event on May 21 and feature a competition break at lap 100. Following lap 100, teams will only be allowed to change tires one time.
NASCAR's All-Star weekend begins on May 19 with the return of a timely classic: the pit crew challenge.
The pit crew challenge will consist of each team doing a four-tire stop with no fuel. The results of the pit crew challenge will determine the lineups of the heat races on May 20 and the open race on May 21.
Two 60-lap heat races will determine the lineup for the All-Star Race.
The open race will be 100 laps long and feature a competition break at lap 40. The top two finishers of the open race will earn their spot in the All-Star Race. A fan vote will determine the final starter in the main event.
All race winners from 2022 and 2023 along with previous NASCAR Cup Series champions and NASCAR All-Star Race winners are already locked into the NASCAR All-Star Race.
This will be the first time the NASCAR Cup Series races at North Wilkesboro since 1996. Notable efforts by Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the Wilkes County community helped bring racing back to the venue which hosted NASCAR races as far back as 1949.
NASCAR hosted a pit crew challenge from 1967 to 2003 at Rockingham Speedway before it moved to Charlotte for All-Star Weekend in 2005, where it was held at the Spectrum Center until 2012. The return of this event is just one of many ways NASCAR is honoring its past for its 75th season.
