Keselowski on All-Star Pole; 71 Spire Motorsports Pit Crew Wins $100K

Kyle Beckman | NKP for Ford Performance

Brad Keselowski will start Sunday's NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway from the pole position after he clocked in the fastest time in NASCAR All-Star qualifying on Friday evening. In the unique All-Star qualifying round, which features three timed laps for the drivers, including a four-tire pit stop mixed in, Keselowski recorded a time of 1 minute, 27.363 seconds.

Keselowski topped Joe Gibbs Racing's Christopher Bell (1 minute, 28.253 seconds) by nearly a second to take the pole position.

STARTING LINEUPS: NASCAR All-Star Heat Races at North Wilkesboro

"It doesn't hurt being on the pole. It feels really good, especially to win the pole by that much. Just a total team effort. This event, this format pushes you to your limits from a driver perspective, team perspective, pit crew. And I stuck my part, I mean it felt really good. I knew I stuck the entry."

While many pit crews made massive mistakes on pit road during qualifying as they were chasing the $100,000 bonus, Keselowski credited his crew for not going over the edge. The No. 6 RFK Racing pit crew had the 10th-fastest pit stop on the night, which was enough mixed with the speed of the car to lock up the pole position.

"It all came together for just an excellent run," Keselowski said. "The pit crew, they didn't try to be heroes. They just gave me a really solid stop, and Jeremy Bullins and the team gave me a car that was pretty fast. Like I said, they just gave me the ball, and said, 'Go play,' and that's what we did."

While he has the pole position secured for Sunday's NASCAR All-Star Race, Keselowski will need to compete in Saturday night's Heat Race 1, which he will also start from the pole in. The Heat Race 1 finishing results will determine the remainder of the inside line of cars behind Keselowski in the starting lineup for the NASCAR All-Star Race.

Christopher Bell will lead the field to green in Heat Race 2, which will set the lineup for the outside row of the NASCAR All-Star Race.

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No. 71 Spire Motorsports Pit Crew Takes $100,000 Win in Pit Crew Challenge

How about that for an upset? Heading into Friday's Pit Crew Challenge, the No. 71 Spire Motorsports pit crew was ranked 32nd among the 36 pit crews in the NASCAR Cup Series this season. I don't think theyll be rated 32nd-best anymore.

Michael McDowell was the 15th driver to go out onto the North Wilkesboro Speedway in NASCAR All-Star Open qualifying, and during the three-lap qualifying run, McDowell's No. 71 team ripped off a 12.587-second pit stop (includes pit stop time as well as the time spent going through the stall before the team's pit box and the stall after the team's pit box), which launched them to the top of the scoreboard.

That stop withstood the entirety of the 18-car NASCAR All-Star Open field, but many wondered if it would hold up against the 20 teams competing in the NASCAR All-Star Race qualifying session, which followed Open qualifying.

As team after team made mistake after mistake, the No. 71 Spire Motorsports team held on to take the victory in the Mechanix Pit Crew Challenge. And in doing so, the team netted the $100,000 bonus.

The No. 71 Spire Motorsports pit crew is comprised of Fueler Brandon Chapman, Front Changer Max Marsh, Rear Changer Ty Boeck, Tire Carrier Luke Bussel, and Jackman Dax Hollifield.

Heading into the Pit Crew Challenge, Hollifield admitted he had trouble sleeping as he was thinking about what he needed to do to help his team win the contest.

"Yeah, man, this is awesome. This is definitely beyond my wildest dreams," Hollifield said in an interview with FS1. "You know, I was up at like 1 or 2 o'clock in the morning on Monday night trying to figure out what I wanted for a setup. My man Travis and the No. 71 team done it for us. And we've been working hard this year. Probably the youngest team on pit road, and hard work and determination, that's part of it, I'd say. This is awesome."

NASCAR Pit Crew Challenge Results

Rank	Car	Team	Time
1	71	Spire Motorsports	12.587
2	99	Trackhouse Racing	12.600
3	4	Front Row Motorsports	12.669
4	19	Joe Gibbs Racing	12.695
5	20	Joe Gibbs Racing	12.709
6	48	Hendrick Motorsports	12.813
7	2	Team Penske	12.886
8	77	Spire Motorsports	13.059
9	60	RFK Racing	13.066
10	6	RFK Racing	13.081
11	88	Trackhouse Racing	13.175
12	3	Richard Childress Racing	13.269
13	17	RFK Racing	13.309
14	1	Trackhouse Racing	13.420
15	35	23XI Racing	13.559
16	54	Joe Gibbs Racing	13.741
17	24	Hendrick Motorsports	13.973
18	47	HYAK Motorsports	14.012
19	10	Kaulig Racing	14.038
20	38	Front Row Motorsports	14.040
21	22	Team Penske	14.064
22	7	Spire Motorsports	14.085
23	42	LEGACY MOTOR CLUB	14.166
24	11	Joe Gibbs Racing	14.460
25	45	23XI Racing	14.887
26	9	Hendrick Motorsports	14.999
27	12	Team Penske	15.041
28	8	Richard Childress Racing	15.287
29	23	23XI Racing	15.580
30	21	Wood Brothers Racing	15.623
31	15	Rick Ware Racing	15.794
32	41	Haas Factory Team	15.957
33	51	Rick Ware Racing	17.044
34	66	Garage 66	17.075
35	5	Hendrick Motorsports	17.722
36	43	LEGACY MOTOR CLUB	19.848
37	16	Kaulig Racing	24.690
38	34	Front Row Motorsports	26.417

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Shane van Gisbergen Takes All-Star Open Race Pole

While it has been a rough rookie campaign for Shane van Gisbergen through the opening 12 races of the NASCAR Cup Series season, the New Zealander collected the pole position for Sunday's NASCAR All-Star Open Race.

In the unique All-Star qualifying format, SVG completed three laps around North Wilkesboro Speedway mixed in with a four-tire pit stop, faster than any of the other 17 cars that were vying for the pole for the Open race.

SVG's time was 1 minute, 28.685 seconds, which was nearly two-tenths-of-a-second better than Carson Hocevar, who clocked in with the second-fastest qualifying effort. Noah Gragson, Michael McDowell, and Ryan Preece filled out the remainder of the top five of qualifying for the NASCAR All-Star Open Race.

Click here for the official NASCAR All-Star Open Starting Lineup.