Van Gisbergen locked in for All Star Race

A debut NASCAR All Star Race has been confirmed for Shane van Gisbergen, whose American adventure will enter a new phase next month.

Van Gisbergen is one of 18 drivers already locked in to take part in the famous $1 million non-championship race at North Wilkesboro Speedway on May 20 AEST.

To be eligible for automatic qualification for the 200-lap All Star race a driver must have won a Cup Series race in 2023 or 2024, race full-time or enjoy success in an All Star Race.

In addition to the Kiwi, Kaulig Racing teammate AJ Allmendinger, Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney, Chris Buescher, Kyle Busch, Will Byron, Ross Chastain, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, Michael McDowell, Tyler Reddick, Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Daniel Suarez and Martin Truex Jr have also been locked in.

Joining them will be the top two drivers from the All Star Open, plus a third driver from the fan vote.

With races at Dover, Kansas and Darlington before the All Star Race, new winners from those races will also join the field.

Larson won last year’s All Star Race, which was the first at North Wilkesboro Speedway that has since been repaved.

NASCAR has also announced the format for the 2024 race which returns to the historic 0.625m oval.

A new strategy element will be introduced from multiple tyre choices and a new-look qualifying format.

The three compounds on offer for drives will be the baseline “prime”, softer but more wearing “option” and wet-weather compounds.

Teams will have nine sets of tyres, five primes, four options and three wets for practice, qualifying, heats and open preliminaries before two sets of the two slicks for the 200-lap race.

Qualifying for both the All Star Open and Race was conducted on primes whilst the start of the race will be held on options.

The Pit Crew Challenge will also take place which will determine pole position. The winner will be the fastest car to complete two laps, plus a tyres and fuel stop before returning to the chequered flag.

NASCAR Senior Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer John Probs said the All Star Race is being used as a trail run of potential formats of future races.

“I would say that we’ve often used the All-Star Race in the past to try some things,” Probst said.

“It’s an opportunity for us without the pressure of points being paid, and certainly … with the cooperation of Goodyear and our teams, in this case, a chance to just try something. 

“When we were at Bristol, we certainly saw a very entertaining race there when tire wear became something they had to manage, and so it’s just an opportunity for us to try it. If it does look good, we will certainly consider it.”

Fans can take part in the fan vote here.

Photo by Nigel Kinrade / NKP / LAT Images

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