It’s All-Star Sunday for the NASCAR Cup Series, as the best drivers aim to win the marquee event at North Wilkesboro Speedway.
It’s the second straight year North Wilkesboro, N.C., has hosted the All-Star Race.
Last season, Kyle Larson dominated to score his third career victory in this event.
FanDuel lists Denny Hamlin (+550), William Byron (+600) and Christopher Bell (+750) as the favorites.
There are no points on the line, so everyone should be aggressive in Sunday’s winner-take-all race.
Here’s who I’m backing:
Byron doesn’t have a great track record in the All-Star Race, as he’s never finished better than seventh in five starts. I expect that to change in a big way.
Byron has been one of the drivers to beat in 2024. He opened the season with a Daytona 500 victory, leading the Cup Series with three wins.
It’s important to note his most recent victory came at Martinsville. That’s the closest comparison to North Wilkesboro, as it’s a short-flat track. Byron also took part in a tire test at North Wilkesboro in March.
That test should give him an advantage over the field. His speed on short-flat tracks in 2024 makes him a top contender.
There hasn’t been a more consistent driver in 2024 than Elliott, who has a series-best 9.8 average finish and enters the All-Star Race with five top-five finishes in seven races.
Elliott is another driver who has been fast on short-flat tracks this season. He had a pair of solid performances before finishing third at Martinsville.
Despite not winning, he had the fastest total speed ranking.
He scored a fifth-place finish in last year’s All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro.
That came not long after he returned from a leg injury.
Elliott is in a much better place compared to last season.
He should challenge Byron and other top contenders for his second career All-Star Race victory.
It’s been a rough season for Logano, as the two-time champion is below the playoff cutline.
Perhaps an exhibition race will bring out his best as he looks to build confidence.
If there’s any solace for the 2024 season, it’s that Logano has run well in the past two races on short-flat tracks.
He scored a runner-up finish at Richmond and finished sixth at Martinsville.
Logano had a strong run in last year’s All-Star Race, but a pit road penalty cost him what likely would’ve been a top-five finish.
Like Byron, Logano took part in March’s tire test at North Wilkesboro.
That’ll be a big boost for a potential top-three finish.
We’re looking at a pair of Toyota drivers for my favorite matchup of the week.
Bell is a big favorite, but I like Reddick for the All-Star Race.
Bell had a great start to 2024, but he has been irrelevant over the past six weeks.
He led six laps and produced one finish better than 13th in that stretch.
Reddick was the car to beat last week at Darlington before suffering a flat tire.
It should have been his fourth top-five in the past six races.
Reddick was much faster in last year’s All-Star Race and this year’s Martinville race.
Take the value with the better driver.