NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. — Brad Keselowski checked the second box on Saturday.
Having won the pole for Sunday’s NASCAR All-Star Race, Keselowski backed up his victory in Friday’s time trials with a win in Saturday’s first All-Star heat race at North Wilkesboro Speedway.
Already guaranteed the top starting spot, Keselowski will lead the field to green in Sunday’s $1-million-to-win exhibition event (8 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Christopher Bell, second in Friday’s qualifying, secured the other front-row starting position with a decisive victory in the second heat.
Though the box score shows Keselowski leading 74 of 75 laps in the first heat, his victory wasn’t easy.
During the competition caution at Lap 31, Keselowski stayed on the track on old tires, as did Tyler Reddick Austin Dillon and Josh Berry. William Byron, Ross Chastain, Ryan Blaney, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Alex Bowman pitted for new tires at the break.
Over the final 38 laps, both Byron and Chastain took turns challenging for the lead, but Keselowski stubbornly held his position in the superior top lane and held off his challengers.
“That’s what this is supposed to be,” Keselowski said. “It’s supposed to be a fun race, and I think I ran beside the 45 (Reddick), the 1 (Chastain), the 24 (Byron) for at least a dozen or maybe two dozen laps. It was a good battle.
“I’m glad that we came out on top, but that’s the way it’s supposed to be, right?”
On Lap 54, Chastain nosed ahead to lead the lap as he and Keselowski raced side by side, but Chastain’s advantage was short-lived.
After finishing second in a 10-lap drag race against Byron, Chastain will start third in the All-Star Race, as the finishing order for the heat set the inside row grid positions for the main event.
In the second heat, which established the starting order for the outside row on Sunday, Bell led every green-flag lap. He surrendered the top spot only during a two-tire stop under the competition caution called on Lap 31, when Chase Briscoe stayed on the track and led six laps under yellow.
Unlike Keselowski in the first heat, Bell didn’t face any meaningful challenges for the lead. He finished 2.085 seconds ahead of runner-up Joey Logano, the winner of last year’s All-Star Race.
“It was really refreshing to be able to get out there and just cruise those first 30 laps,” Bell said. “I didn’t know how it was going to work out with Joey having four tires right behind me, but this thing (the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota) was on rails.
“I’m really happy and excited about the opportunity tomorrow.”
Logano will start fourth on Sunday night, with third-place finisher Chase Elliott behind him on the outside row, fourth-place finisher Kyle Busch on the outside of the fourth row, and so forth.
Chris Buescher, Daniel Suarez, Briscoe, Austin Cindric, Harrison Burton and Denny Hamlin finished fifth through 10th in the second heat. Hamlin fought severe handling issues with a car that had difficulty turning through the corners.
In the first heat, Byron finished third, followed by Blaney, Bowman, Berry, Reddick, Dillon and Stenhouse. Justin Allgaier, who practiced and qualified Kyle Larson’s No. 5 Chevrolet on Friday, did not compete in the heat.
After qualifying 21st fastest in Saturday’s time trials for the May 25 Indianapolis 500, Larson will race his car at North Wilkesboro on Sunday.
Larson and the 19 drivers who competed in the heats on Saturday already are locked into the All-Star Race. Two more drivers will be added to the rear of the field from the All-Star Open earlier on Sunday.
An additional driver will be selected through the All-Star fan vote, which Noah Gragson has won for the last two years.
–Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service. Special to Field Level Media
