Kyle Busch Secures Pole for All-Star Race at Texas

The 38th running of NASCAR's All-Star Race takes place this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. This is just the second time that the event will take place at Texas, as Kyle Larson is the defending race winner.

This new format for the All-Star Race provides a major incentive to win any of the opening three stages or the pit stop competition during the break between Stage 2 and Stage 3. The winner of Stage 1 will start on pole position in the final stage, as long as he finishes in the top 15 in Stages 2 and 3. The winner of Stage 2 starts 2nd in the final stage, using the same criteria. The Stage 3 winner will start 3rd in the final stage, which is 50 laps in length.

Between Stage 2 and Stage 3 is the Pit Stop Competition, where each team must pit and perform a four-tire stop. The team with the shortest time on pit road (pit in/pit out) wins the pit crew award and the driver will start fourth in the final stage as long as he finishes 15th or better in Stage 3.

While all of that may seem confusing, just remember one thing. There are no points being awarded this weekend. It is all about the money tomorrow, as the winner earns a cool $1 million.

Tyler Reddick won the pole for the Open Race but will be going to the back of the field after making unapproved adjustments on his No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. That will move Daniel Suarez into the top starting position with Ricky Stenhouse Jr moving up to the outside of the front row. There are 16 drivers entered in the Open Race.

"It drove great," Reddick said. "I feel like I could have been a little more adventurous coming up to speed and run a little bit higher in Turns 3 and 4. Ultimately, I could have gotten a little more through Turns 1 and 2. We qualified first for the Open but we won’t be starting there. We have to go to the back because we had to make some changes to the car. It’s unfortunate but the good thing is the car is fast."

Four drivers will transfer into the All-Star Race through the Open. Three will happen by winning a segment and the fourth will be the Open winner. Four drivers have won the All-Star Race after transferring in from the Open. Those drivers are Michael Waltrip (1996, final transfer), Ryan Newman (2002, won Open), Kasey Kahne (2008, fan vote), and Larson (2019, won Open).

There are 20 drivers already in the All-Star Race, where Kyle Busch will start from pole position. Ryan Blaney joins him on the front row with Hendrick Motorsports teammates William Byron and Larson starting from Row 2. Busch beat Blaney in a new “drag race” style competition for the pole. It was an idea that everyone seemed to like.

"Any time you’re able to showcase the pit crew’s ability and their athleticism in this competition and qualifying format, I enjoy that," Busch said. I think my favorite part of the year is coming to the All-Star race and coming down pit road and sliding into the box. Having those guys go over the wall certainly means a lot, especially the No. 18 bunch I’ve had a lot of success with over the years. We’ve always been a threat to be reckoned with when it comes to getting on the pole for the All-Star race."

"I thought our stop was honestly a little faster than his," Blaney said. "I was on the top for the first round, bottom in the second round, and top in the last round. I could notice a big difference. The bottom launched a lot better after you got done with your stop. Whether it was cleaner or whatever it was, fresh asphalt or something. It just seemed to launch better."

This is the fourth time that Kyle has secured the pole in the All-Star event. He won the race in 2017 and has four Cup Series wins on the 1.5-mile oval. Busch won the battle of the Kyle's as he and Larson went head-to-head in the final round. The reigning series champion made a mistake and stalled his No. 5 Chevrolet, conceding the win to Busch.

"I just stalled it," Larson admitted. "I didn’t want to spin my tires too bad and obviously got a little too greedy and just stalled it. I’m the only guy that stalled so pretty embarrassing. I feel good about my chances in the race. I felt like my car was decent, there was room to improve it, but I feel we’re in the ballpark to compete for the win."

Hendrick has won the last two All-Star races (Chase Elliott, 2020 Bristol and Larson, 2021 Texas) but no team has ever won it three consecutive times. A driver has never won three in a row either, which Larson could do as he won his last two starts after missing the 2020 race.

Brad Keselowski is still searching for his first All-Star race win, although he has three runner-up finishes in the event, including last year. Kevin Harvick is making his 22nd straight start in the All-Star race, while Kurt Busch is making his 21st. The record of 24 consecutive appearances is held by Mark Martin.

The action begins at 5:30 ET tomorrow with the Open Race on FS1. Coverage continues at 8:00 with the All-Star Race.