Suarez secures inside row for NASCAR All-Star race after Heat 1 win
NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. (AP) — Daniel Suarez won the first heat of All-Star race qualifying at North Wilkesboro Speedway and will start on the inside row for Sunday night’s $1 million exhibition race.
Suarez beat out Joey Logano in the 60-lap dash at the .625-mile renovated track on a night in which NASCAR experimented with its wet weather tire package for the first time on the NextGen cars following a light, but steady rain.
Logano will start on the second row, followed by Chase Briscoe, Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin.
The lineup for the outside row will be determined by the second 60-lap heat Saturday night.
The 21 drivers who qualified for the 200-lap All-Star race by virtue of their past accomplishments were divided into two heats as part of a unique format for this year's race. They will be joined for the All-Star race competition by the top two finishers from Sunday's All-Star Open, which precedes the actual All-Star race, and the top fan vote getter.
Suarez, driving the No. 99 Chevy, passed Chase Elliott on lap 27 and led the rest of the way.
He has never won an All-Star race.
“It was fun to go through the transitions and learn about the tire and learn about the track," Suarez said. “I'm proud of our team and we have had a lot of speed lately.”
NASCAR used the heats as a way to experiment with their wet weather tire package, something they've wanted to do for some time.
They threw a competition flag halfway through the first heat, and all but one of the drivers radioed in that they were wanted to stick with the wet weather tires for the remainder of the race.
“I felt like we had more grip with the wet weather tires,” Suarez said.
Logano said the drivers could have raced on the regular tires because the track wasn't that wet, but he said he understands the decision and the opportunity to see how they performed.
“I thought it went pretty good,” Bell said of the wet weather tire experiment.
Like many Cup drivers, Bell ran the Truck Series race earlier in the day and said he learned something about the track.
“This place is very unique,” Bell said. “There are a lot of patches that you can manipulate your car to get it to do certain things.”
North Wilkesboro, which hasn’t hosted a Cup Series event since 1996, was restored with help of Speedway Motorsports CEO Marcus Smith and Hall of Fame driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. for NASCAR’s 75th year anniversary season.
Although it will be a non-points exhibition race, Logano said drivers will be geared up Sunday night.
"There's a million dollars on the line and I'm coming in relaxed for that,” Logano said. “It matters to me. I know points matter as well, but there are not many races where you can race for a million bucks and you probably need to take that pretty serious.”
___
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports