Brad Keselowski leads over the field during the Heat Race No. 1 for the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway. (Photo Credit: Phil Cavali | The Podium Finish)
NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. — It’s been a very successful weekend so far for one of the teams that’s needed it the most throughout this 2025 season, despite not paying points this weekend, Brad Keselowski and the No. 6 RFK Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse have been firing on all cylinders since unloading their car on Friday, as they picked up the victory in the NASCAR All-Star heat race 1.
The driver from Rochester Mills, Michigan, backed up his pole award during Friday evening’s qualification session by leading all but one lap of the 75-lap sprint.
Keselowski and Alex Bowman fired off from the front row, which saw Keselowski check out from the rest of the field before the competition caution was displayed on Lap 30, which saw the driver of the No. 6 stay out on his current set of Goodyear tires with most of the field not coming in to service their race cars.
Ross Chastain was able to maneuver his way into second place in the late goings of the heat race, as he was the only other to lead a lap on Lap 54 in a tight battle with Keselowski, in which the 2012 NASCAR Cup Series champion threw down a 2-second margin over Chastain and William Byron.
As Keselowski crossed the finish line, Chastain narrowly beat Byron for second place. The result allows Chastain to start third and Byron to start fifth in Sunday’s All-Star Race.
Ryan Blaney and Bowman, who drove back through the field after falling as far as ninth in the heat, came back to round out the top 5 finishers.
Josh Berry, Tyler Reddick, Austin Dillon, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. rounded out the remaining finishers that started the race.
Kyle Larson, who was originally scheduled to participate in the heat race, but due to his commitment to qualifying for the Indianapolis 500, he was unable to attend the activities at North Wilkesboro Speedway on Saturday. However, he will travel from Indianapolis to North Wilkesboro to start 19th in Sunday’s All-Star Race.
Christopher Bell Cruises To Victory In Heat Race 2
Christopher Bell charging over the rest of the field in the NASCAR All-Star Race Heat #2. (Photo Credit: Phil Cavali | The Podium Finish)
Just like Brad Keselowski’s dominance in the first heat race, Christopher Bell picked right where he left off with his dominating performances in 2025, leading a race-high 69 laps en route to the victory in the NASCAR All-Star heat race 2.
In almost a similar fashion to how the tables turned in the first heat race, Bell led his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate of Chase Briscoe, from pole position, holding down the top spot for the majority of the heat.
As the competition caution came out, Briscoe was the only car that elected to stay out while all nine other cars pitted to get on fresher tires for the remainder of the heat.
Briscoe led the first six laps after the restart before Bell took the lead for good on Lap 40.
Unfortunately, the gamble to stay out on older tires didn’t pay well for the Mitchell, Indiana native of Briscoe, who found himself getting shoved out of the groove after Bell shot past him for the lead, which saw the driver of the No. 19 make contact exiting Turn 4 with Daniel Suarez, spinning his Toyota Camry XSE to bring out the second and final caution of the heat.
After the situation was resolved, Bell created a significant gap from the rest of the field, winning the second heat race by over 2 seconds ahead of Joey Logano.
Chase Elliott, Kyle Busch, and Chris Buescher were the top 5 after the second 75-lap heat.
Suarez, Briscoe, Austin Cindric, Harrison Burton, and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top 10.
With the victory, Bell locks up the front row, starting alongside pole-sitter Brad Keselowski for Sunday’s All-Star Race.
