By Luis Torres, Staff Writer/Photographer
Pit strategy played a pivotal role in Sunday’s NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway with Joey Logano’s bid at back-to-back million-dollar victories coming up one spot short.
After taking command for most of the 250-lap main event feature, Logano’s time up front boiled down to when the optional promoter’s caution would drop before the Lap 220 window.
That would unfold on Lap 215, erasing Logano’s half-second lead over Christopher Bell and an additional 1.5 seconds over Chase Elliott.
Some pomp and circumstances were had during the caution period ranging from fireworks to Michael Waltrip dropping the yellow flag onto the track.
"OHHHH! Michael has dropped the flag!" 😂 pic.twitter.com/IblyV5uAKZ
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) May 19, 2025
Festive and botch aside, that’s where the fun ended as it was crunch time for the field whether to make one more pit stop or stay out for the closing laps.
Unlike most of the field behind Logano, he opted to stay out with Bell being the most noteworthy driver who pitted in what would proved to be the most crucial outcome of the night.
When asked about the caution call, Logano’s opinion was 50/50.
As far as staying out, the initial plan was for him to put two tires, but that changed at the last minute which led to the situation he was put into late in the race.
“I thought six cars was gonna be enough,” Logano commented after leading 139 laps. “It was a similar situation to what Brad (Keselowski) had in the heat race – 30 or so laps on the tires. He stayed, he was able to manage, but the difference is it’s a heat race to the feature and what are people willing to do in a heat race versus a million dollars for the win at the All-Star Race.”
Logano held onto the lead, but Bell wouldn’t give him an inch and fought hard to take the top spot for several laps.
Coming to eight laps remaining, Bell pinched Logano in Turn 3 and took the lead for good.
NEW LEADER: CHRISTOPHER BELL! pic.twitter.com/q3fTUYBOrw
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) May 19, 2025
From there, Logano faded away as Bell went on to score his first All-Star victory.
“We didn’t fire off as fast as we needed to the first eight laps of that run,” Logano said on the final restart.
“We didn’t make the right call. We go down together. We do all this stuff together. We had the best car, and we did mostly everything right. We just made one decision off, so we’ll take second.
“What does second pay? Not a million, I guess.”
This was far from Logano’s remarks about finishing second. Much of his frustration focused on multiple topics, beginning with the evolution of the tire fall off throughout the main event.
“I felt like the falloff wasn’t too bad as the sun went down. Yeah, six cars or so stayed out with us,” Logano added on the tire falloff and staying out compared to most of the field.
“Thought maybe we could hold him off but (Bell) had a good enough restart, cleared too many of them too fast. I couldn’t get away in time,” Logano continued.
“I did all I could do to hold him off and he got under me and released the brake and gave me no option. Kind of just ran me up into the wall, and if I could’ve got to him, he was going around after a move like that, I just couldn’t get back to him. Just too much to try to make up with the tire deficit.
“Just frustrated after you lead so many laps and the car is so fast and you don’t win, it hurts quite a bit.”
Logano additionally called out the promoter’s caution, which he wasn’t a fan of. More so that it negatively impacted his night and wanted to have word with SMI President Marcus Smith.
“I’m all about no gimmicks with the caution. I am all about that,” said Logano. “I’m a little — me and Marcus aren’t seeing eye to eye right now.”
Logano’s frustration comes down to having the fastest car among the 23-car field only to see his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse not in victory lane.
“I’m pissed off right now. Just dang it, we had the fastest car,” said a frustrated Logano. “The Shell-Pennzoil Mustang was so fast. I’m trying to choose my words correctly on the caution situation. Obviously I got bit by it, so I am the one frustrated obviously.”
"NORTH WILKESBORO – BEST SHORT TRACK ON THE SCHEDULE."- Christopher Bell after his All-Star win pic.twitter.com/W1Hl8nfIDA
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) May 19, 2025
During Bell’s victory lane interview, he exclaimed North Wilkesboro is the best short track NASCAR runs on the calendar.
Logano had a different perspective on Bell’s comment:
“With a gimmick caution, yeah. Sure.”
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