The always highly-anticipated, high-action NASCAR All-Star Race moves to a new venue for this year’s edition, Dover Motor Speedway. The Monster Mile, as Dover’s concrete high-banks are known, will host the $1 Million to-win race for the first time Sunday afternoon with all the action beginning at 1 p.m. ET (FS1, FOX Deportes, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
While the title of All-Star race winner may not pay points toward the NASCAR Cup Series championship standings, it has absolutely turned into a good indicator of championship paths. Thirteen times the All-Star race winner has gone onto claim the series title, including three of the last six years with Chase Elliott (2020), Kyle Larson (2021) and Joey Logano (2024).
Motivation will not be a problem this weekend.
Currently 19 drivers are locked into the All-Star Race final 200-lap “segment” and trophy-determining portion of the event – including championship leader Tyler Reddick and his fellow 2026 race winners Ty Gibbs and Carson Hocevar. Joining them are 2025 race winners Shane Van Gisbergen, Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe, William Byron, Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Austin Dillon, Ross Chastain, Josh Berry, Austin Cindric, Joey Logano, Bubba Wallace and defending All-Star race winner Christopher Bell.
Kyle Busch has an automatic ticket as a former All-Star race winner as does Brad Keselowski as a former series champion. His three runner-up finishes are tied with Ken Schrader and Sterling Marlin for second most all-time without a win.
Reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Larson has won three of the last seven All-Star races.
The first two segments of Sunday’s event are 75-laps followed by the 200-lap finale which includes the 19 drivers locked in, plus six more from the first two segments plus a “Fan Vote.”
Before the race’s green flag, the three-lap qualifying event will feature the always exciting Pit Crew Competition. After making one lap at speed, drivers will pit for a four-tire stop with the fueler “simulating” a fuel stop, before the car returns on track to complete one more lap at speed. The pit stop will be timed from the scoring loop just in front and beyond their stall with the fastest pit crew receiving the $100,000 prize money in addition to the number pit selection.
Joe Gibbs Racing has won two of the last three Pit Crew Competitions with Ty Gibbs’ No. 54 Toyota winning in 2023 and Bell’s No. 20 Toyota the following year. Michael McDowell’s No. 71 Spire Motorsports team is the defending winner.
Even though it doesn’t pay championship points, the All-Star race may very well be what the doctor ordered for Hendrick Motorsports’ Larson and Team Penske’s Logano – both multi-time series champions currently enduring season-long winless streaks.
Larson’s three All-Star wins (joining Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt) are second all-time only to Jimmie Johnson’s four wins. Logano’s current streak of 11 top-10 finishes is the high mark all-time as are his 369 laps led. And Larson and Logano are the only repeat All-Star winners in the last 13 years.
“I think the format will make for good racing,” said Larson, driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. “Dover is the type of track where you need long runs and traffic to produce good racing. I feel like the higher-horsepower, lower-downforce car package will positively impact the on-track product.
“I think the racing will be better, and the drivers will definitely have their hands full. We get to race for a million bucks, and that is something we all love. Hopefully, the No. 5 HendrickCars.com team can figure it out better than everyone else and get back to Victory Lane.”
Hendrick Motorsports is the all-time winningest team in the All-Star Race with 11 trophies. Penske is second with five.
Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney, the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion, smiled anticipating the high-stakes brand of All-Star racing this weekend. His strategy was pretty straight-forward.
“You hope you don’t get run over by some of those guys that need to get in and trying to get your best average that you can to set yourself up for the end,” said Blaney, the driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford, who announced a contract extension last week.
“I’ll be aware of who is not locked in and you just kind of take into account that this person might be desperate to get in, which they have to do everything they need to do to try to race for a million dollars,” he added. “You just take all of that into account and who you’re racing around and the situation that you’re in.”
-NASCAR Wire Service
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