NASCAR Cup Series

Kyle Larson leads NASCAR All-Star Race practice at Dover

Kyle Larson leads NASCAR All-Star Race practice at Dover

As Dover hosts the All-Star Race for the very first time, NASCAR provided teams with an extended 90-minute practice session on Friday.

Defending NASCAR Cup series champion Kyle Larson topped the speed charts at 22.792s lap (157.95mph) around around the one-mile concrete oval.

All 36 entries are taking part in the 350-lap All-Star Race this weekend, but ten drivers will be dropped ahead of the final segment. Every 2025/2026 race winner and former Cup champions still competing full-time are locked into Segment 3 already.

Michael McDowell, who was second overall, was the fastest of those not yet locked into the final segment. The next-best drivers in the same situation were Ricky Stenhouse Jr (13th overall) and then Riley Herbst (14th overall), Connor Zilisch (16th overall), and Erik Jones (17th overall).

Behind Larson and McDowell, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, and Ty Gibbs filled out the rest of the overall top five.

Busch led the way in five-lap averages, but it was Carson Hocevar who dominated the long-run speeds. The Talladega winner led all drivers in ten-lap, 15-lap, 20-lap, 25-lap, and 30-lap averages.

Read Also:

The 2026 NASCAR All-Star Race Dover format explained

Chastain was the first driver to run a lap under 23 seconds, but it was Larson who quickly jumped to the top and remained there for the remainder of the session.

There was a close moment as Bubba Wallace was rolling down pit road and Shane van Gisbergen was exiting the garage, but they avoided contact. Several drivers were practicing their pit-in and getting into the pit box as that will be an integral part of this weekend's qualifying format.

Later in the session, Ryan Blaney reported a flat left-rear tire, but he got back to the garage without any drama. He was the fastest Ford driver in single-lap speeds.

The only real incident was when Chase Briscoe hit the outside wall at the exit of Turn 2, immediately heading back to the garage with damage to the right-side of that No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

Chase ran the most laps, complete 101 laps during the Friday practice session.

Watch: Briscoe brushes wall late in All-Star practice

1

5

Kyle Larson

Chevrolet

73

22.792

 

 

157.950

2

71

Michael McDowell

Chevrolet

71

22.810

0.018

0.018

157.826

3

11

Denny Hamlin

Toyota

65

22.839

0.047

0.029

157.625

4

8

Kyle Busch

Chevrolet

77

22.864

0.072

0.025

157.453

5

54

Ty Gibbs

Toyota

86

22.866

0.074

0.002

157.439

6

20

Christopher Bell

Toyota

81

22.870

0.078

0.004

157.411

7

12

Ryan Blaney

Ford

48

22.905

0.113

0.035

157.171

8

77

Carson Hocevar

Chevrolet

72

22.922

0.130

0.017

157.054

9

6

Brad Keselowski

Ford

54

22.942

0.150

0.020

156.917

10

2

Austin Cindric

Ford

63

22.977

0.185

0.035

156.678

11

1

Ross Chastain

Chevrolet

48

22.980

0.188

0.003

156.658

12

9

Chase Elliott

Chevrolet

108

22.980

0.188

0.000

156.658

13

47

Ricky Stenhouse Jr

Chevrolet

64

22.990

0.198

0.010

156.590

14

35

Riley Herbst

Toyota

86

23.010

0.218

0.020

156.454

15

23

Darrell Wallace Jr

Toyota

98

23.017

0.225

0.007

156.406

16

43

Erik Jones

Toyota

67

23.019

0.227

0.002

156.393

17

88

Connor Zilisch

Chevrolet

75

23.019

0.227

0.000

156.393

18

48

Alex Bowman

Chevrolet

63

23.038

0.246

0.019

156.264

19

16

AJ Allmendinger

Chevrolet

43

23.038

0.246

0.000

156.264

20

17

Chris Buescher

Ford

66

23.057

0.265

0.019

156.135

21

24

William Byron

Chevrolet

59

23.067

0.275

0.010

156.067

22

21

Josh Berry

Ford

53

23.080

0.288

0.013

155.979

23

60

Ryan Preece

Ford

73

23.082

0.290

0.002

155.966

24

22

Joey Logano

Ford

51

23.096

0.304

0.014

155.871

25

45

Tyler Reddick

Toyota

82

23.105

0.313

0.009

155.810

26

51

Cody Ware

Chevrolet

31

23.107

0.315

0.002

155.797

27

19

Chase Briscoe

Toyota

72

23.133

0.341

0.026

155.622

28

97

Shane van Gisbergen

Chevrolet

74

23.180

0.388

0.047

155.306

29

42

John Hunter Nemechek

Toyota

75

23.190

0.398

0.010

155.239

30

4

Noah Gragson

Ford

83

23.214

0.422

0.024

155.079

31

7

Daniel Suarez

Chevrolet

61

23.271

0.479

0.057

154.699

32

38

Zane Smith

Ford

53

23.274

0.482

0.003

154.679

33

41

Cole Custer

Chevrolet

51

23.413

0.621

0.139

153.761

34

10

Ty Dillon

Chevrolet

55

23.418

0.626

0.005

153.728

35

3

Austin Dillon

Chevrolet

40

23.428

0.636

0.010

153.662

36

34

Todd Gilliland

Ford

31

23.643

0.851

0.215

152.265

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