Ty Gibbs’ team wins All-Star Pit Crew Challenge

Ty Gibbs would not be born for another six years when North Wilkesboro Speedway held its final NASCAR Cup Series race. While it was not for a traditional race, Gibbs ended up the first Cup driver to stand in the track’s Victory Lane since 1996 when he and his #54 Joe Gibbs Racing crew won the Pit Crew Challenge, which will place him on the pole for Sunday’s NASCAR All-Star Open.

Gibbs’ team recorded a four-tyre stop in 13.012 seconds, beating Daniel Suárez by less than three-tenths of a second. Via his 2022 Sonoma win, Suárez is already qualified for the NASCAR All-Star Race on Sunday and being the best locked-in car means he will start on the pole for Saturday’s first heat race. As Gibbs has yet to win in the Cup Series, he needs to finish in the top two in the Open or win the Fan Vote to make the All-Star.

By finishing third in the Pit Crew Challenge, Chris Buescher starts first for Heat #2.

“We put in a whole lot of work in the other choreography,” said Gibbs’ pit crew coach Brian Haaland. “When it hit perfect, it is still the fastest way to do a pit stop, but the reality of it is when you get to pit road, there is a lot of different obstacles that take place, and everything has to be perfect for you to be able to run as fast as that stop is capable of. I think we also had to take a look in the mirror and say fundamentally, we are not as good as we need to be, so taking a step back and running this traditional pit stop to work on getting a little bit better visually and fundamentally within the pit stop, and maybe when we start to master that on a consistent basis, it is something that we take a look at again.”

Nine drivers were busted for penalties, which added five seconds to their time for each infraction. The biggest loser was perhaps Brad Keselowski, who had a loose wheel that relegated him from second to twenty-sixth.

The Pit Crew Challenge was a fan favourite event on All-Star weekend that ran from 1967 (eighteen years before the first All-Star Race) through 2012. Unlike the 2023 version, the predecessor did not impact the All-Star starting lineup.

Twenty-one drivers are already locked into the All-Star Race.

Results

Position	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Time	Margin
1	54	Ty Gibbs	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	13.012	Leader
2	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	13.297	+ 0.285
3	17	Chris Buescher	RFK Racing	Ford	13.381	+ 0.369
4	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	13.572	+ 0.560
5	48	Josh Berry*	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	13.677	+ 0.665
6	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	13.712	+ 0.700
7	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	13.835	+ 0.823
8	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	13.867	+ 0.855
9	7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	13.911	+ 0.899
10	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	14.089	+ 1.077
11	21	Harrison Burton	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	14.091	+ 1.079
12	31	Justin Haley	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	14.294	+ 1.282
13	1	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	14.373	+ 1.361
14	34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	14.509	+ 1.497
15	14	Chase Briscoe	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	14.674	+ 1.662
16	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	14.697	+ 1.685
17	38	Todd Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	14.707	+ 1.695
18	41	Ryan Preece	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	14.760	+ 1.748
19	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	14.776	+ 1.764
20	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	15.063	+ 2.051
21	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	15.115	+ 2.103
22	2	Austin Cindric	Team Penske	Ford	15.154	+ 2.142
23	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota	15.167	+ 2.155
24	29	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	15.579	+ 2.567
25	16	A.J. Allmendinger	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	15.796	+ 2.784
26	6	Brad Keselowski	RFK Racing	Ford	18.044	+ 5.032
27	78	Josh Bilicki*	Live Fast Motorsports	Chevrolet	18.281	+ 5.269
28	77	Ty Dillon	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	18.447	+ 5.435
29	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	18.819	+ 5.807
30	13	Chandler Smith*	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	19.004	+ 5.992
31	8	Kyle Busch	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	19.531	+ 6.519
32	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	20.064	+ 7.052
33	51	Ryan Newman	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	20.300	+ 7.288
34	42	Noah Gragson	Legacy Motor Club	Chevrolet	20.886	+ 7.874
35	45	Tyler Reddick	23XI Racing	Toyota	21.034	+ 8.022
36	15	J.J. Yeley*	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	21.066	+ 8.054
37	43	Erik Jones	Legacy Motor Club	Chevrolet	21.359	+ 8.347

Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for points