How does the Pit Crew Challenge work for the NASCAR All-Star Race?

NASCAR is at North Wilkesboro Speedway this weekend for the 2023 All-Star Race, and the weekend will bring back an old favorite event. The Pit Crew Challenge makes its return for the first time since 2012.

All-Star weekend has featured some rather complicated qualifying in the past, but this year it has been simplified. There will be one qualifying event for the heat race and the All-Star Open starting lineups, and then we’ll have the All-Star Race without any additional qualifying.

The two heat races on Saturday will feature the 22 drivers who pre-qualified for Sunday’s Race and the Open on Sunday will feature all remaining drivers attempting to earn the remaining three positions for the Race.

The lineups for the two heat races and the Open will be determined through the Pit Crew Challenge on Friday. It will air at 5:30 p.m. ET on FS1 and will feature all the drivers. Each car will run a four-tire pit stop and the qualifying time will be based solely on their pit stop time. Relevant rules include:

• No penalty for speeding
• Time starts one box before designated pit stall and ends one box after
• 5-second penalty for each infraction: infractions include letting equipment out of the box and crew jumping off the wall too early
• A loose wheel coming out of the pit stop is instant disqualification

The event ran indoors from 2005 to 2012 and you can watch the 2012 version on YouTube.