Four things we learned from Joey Logano's All-Star Race win at North Wilkesboro

After a slow start, Ford has found its swagger

Make that two straight victories for the Ford Motor Company in the NASCAR Cup Series. The All-Star Race may not officially count in the record books, but after an extremely slow start to the season, Ford will take a win however it can get it. Three Fords finished inside the top five on Sunday night, while Logano led essentially wire-to-wire. If Ford can win at Charlotte next Sunday — not a bad bet considering Penske driver Ryan Blaney is the defending winner of the Coke 600 — it will officially have found its footing.

Kyle Larson is simply not human

After locking himself into the 2024 Indianapolis 500 on Saturday, Kyle Larson qualified fifth for the world's biggest race on Sunday. Instead of celebrating, however, Larson had to fly to Wilkes County as quickly as possible to compete in Sunday's All-Star Race. While Larson didn't repeat as the winner of NASCAR's All-Star event, he finished fourth after restarting 10th on the final restart. There's simply no other driver on the planet who is as versatile as Larson and he looks to continue to build on his legendary status as the week goes on. 

NASCAR still needs to fix the short tracks

After Denny Hamlin lauded NASCAR's "option" tires in Friday's practice session, fans assumed that tire fall-off and wear would play a big role in Sunday's race. Just as in 2023, however, fresh tires proved to be of little value to the field.

Kyle Larson did charge from 10th to fourth on the final restart, but the advantage in his tires quickly wore out. With another relatively lackluster short-track race in the rearview mirror, it's time for NASCAR to go back to the drawing board in order to save the tracks that made NASCAR what it is. 

NASCAR's fighting legacy lives on

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was understandably frustrated with Kyle Busch after an early incident relegated Stenhouse to a 20th-place finish. Just as many drivers before him have done, Stenhouse decided to express his frustration with his fists, keeping NASCAR's long legacy of fighting alive.