Brad Keselowski’s All-Star Heat Win Against William Byron & Ross Chastain Could Be a Preview to His Race on Sunday

Brad Keselowski is the driver best poised to take home $1 million on Sunday by winning the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro. The RFK Racing co-owner had already secured pole position after winning Friday’s time trials. To add further weight to his chances, he went on to win the first Heat Race on Saturday as well.

He led 74 of 75 laps to dominate his competitors but the win was far from easy. Tyler Reddick, Ross Chastain, and William Byron put up a strong fight, forcing him to extract everything out of his No. 6 Ford Mustang Dark Horse. Also, his decision to stubbornly stay on the superior top lane aided him.

“That’s what this is supposed to be,” he later said. “It’s supposed to be a fun race, and I think I ran beside the 45 (Reddick), the 1 (Chastain), the 24 (Byron) for at least a dozen or maybe two dozen laps. It was a good battle.” While the top lane favored Keselowski, the bottom line hampered his rivals.

This is a strong preview for the main event. Keselowski could claim the top lane early and defend it at all costs. Aware of the advantage now, the likes of Christopher Bell, who will start alongside him on the second row, and Chastain, who will start third, will try to force him off his preferred line. It will be intriguing to see who gets the better of the rest.

Keselowski wants North Wilkesboro to have a points-paying race

From 1987 to 2019, the All-Star Race was traditionally held at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The historic North Wilkesboro Speedway came into the picture in 2023 and has received rave reviews since. Based on what he’s seen so far, Keselowski believes this 0.625-mile oval short-track should become a points-paying venue in the Cup Series calendar.

But this means removing an existing fixture. And the track that he wants to axe is the Charlotte Roval. He told the press, “I think this needs to be a points racetrack. I’d like to see the All-Star Race most likely return to Charlotte. That’s my personal opinion.”

Keselowski added, “I think the Charlotte racetrack, particularly since it only has one race on the oval, I think that’s a miss for our sport. It’s a great racetrack and puts on some of the best racing, so it would make sense to me if we were to revert back to that and make this a season race, and probably get rid of a race like the Roval or something like that.”

One of his biggest reasons? The Charlotte Oval consistently draws far more fans than the Roval.