Track: Dover Motor Speedway
Location: Dover, Del.
Track length: 1 mile
When: 1 p.m. ET
Where to tune in: FS1, FOX One, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Race purse: $3,093,000
Race distance: 350 laps | 350 miles
Segments: 75 | 75 | 200
Sunday’s starting lineup | Cup Series pit stall assignments
Battle for $1 million hits Delaware … with plenty of potential standouts
DOVER, Del. — Welcome to the club, Dover Motor Speedway. The 42nd All-Star Race will call Delaware’s concrete confines home, with the “Monster Mile” becoming the sixth venue to host the exhibition (Charlotte, North Wilkesboro, Texas, Atlanta, Bristol).
The new venue for the exhibition contest will also have a fresh format for the 36-car field to navigate. Sunday’s race will encompass 350 laps, split into three segments; the first two will be 75 laps each, and the final segment will be 200 laps. Each segment will be treated as a new race, with Segment 1’s lineup determined by Saturday’s qualifying. Segment 2’s lineup will be the inverse of the top 26 drivers from Segment 1’s results, while the final segment’s field — encompassing 26 drivers — will be determined by the best average finish across the first two segments.
Nineteen drivers — spanning 2025 or 2026 race winners, past All-Star Race victors and former NASCAR Cup Series champions — have already clinched a berth in the final segment, meaning six drivers (plus a Fan Vote winner) have yet to cement their position and will have 150 laps to leave their mark in the best of ways to battle for the $1 million grand prize.
MORE: How 2026 All-Star Race works
A format tweak to the non-points-paying event isn’t a new development; since the inaugural 1985 All-Star Race, there have been 24 formats (excluding this year’s), ranging from differing lap and segment totals to mandatory stops. And through all of the tweaks, continuous themes have still emerged.
Hendrick Motorsports drivers have won the All-Star Race in three of the last six years, and the team’s 11 All-Star Race victories lead all teams; the next closest is Team Penske (five), which has won the event in two of the last four seasons. Hendrick’s 11 All-Star wins are split among five drivers. NASCAR Hall of Famer Jimmie Johnson has four All-Star Race triumphs, leading all wheelmen.
Hendrick driver Kyle Larson, however, is knocking on Johnson’s door. Larson’s three All-Star Race triumphs are tied with Dale Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon for the second most, but in Larson’s case, all three All-Star Race wins have come at a different venue (2019, Charlotte; 2021, Texas; 2023, North Wilkesboro), giving the 34-year-old the honor of being the only driver to win an All-Star Race at three different tracks.
“It would mean a lot, and to add another race track to it would be pretty cool,” Larson said. “All my All-Star wins have come at different tracks, I believe, so I mean, they weren’t as fortunate. I don’t think they raced in at many tracks for the All-Star Race, but yeah, I think just to add another track would mean just as much as you’re just adding in another one.”
MORE: Weekend schedule | At-track photos
In terms of past points-race history at Dover, Hendrick has also excelled, with 22 wins to its ledger, second-most among all NASCAR tracks. That said, another organization — Joe Gibbs Racing — has thrived here, too. JGR has 12 Dover wins, second only to Hendrick, including each of the last three points-paying races.
For Denny Hamlin, who is locked into the main event and is looking to continue his recent success at the 1-miler, the mindset in tackling this season’s All-Star Race format will not be complex.
“I think it’s pretty simple from my standpoint: Go get all the spots that you can,” said Hamlin, who has won back-to-back Dover points races. “So it is pretty straightforward in the sense that there is no laying back in any one of the 75 [lap] segments. My job is to get every spot that I can, and the math will work itself out, and certainly I think if I can put myself somewhere in the top four to five, within that to get to the last segment, I think I’ll be in a good spot.”
With such a unique format separate from the usual points-paying contests, perhaps a different team emerges as a wild card. With fresh resin applied to the top and bottom of each corner, the variables are wide-ranging, and with a $1 million payday on the line instead of points, the on-track possibilities are endless.
In the details …
No matter the venue, NASCAR’s premier stars have stood out, and the All-Star Race is no exception. Spanning multiple eras, a slew of NASCAR’s top names have excelled in the All-Star Race, from current superstars to NASCAR Hall of Famers from the past.
Among those with a minimum of four All-Star Race starts, here are the 13 drivers with the best average finish in the exhibition:
Driver
Average Finish
Starts
Joey Logano
5.80
15
Ken Schrader
6.13
8
Davey Allison
6.14
7
Dale Earnhardt
7.13
16
Bubba Wallace
7.25
4
Chase Elliott
7.70
10
Jimmie Johnson
7.79
19
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
8.39
18
Bill Elliott
8.44
18
Matt Kenseth
8.53
19
Kyle Larson
8.56
9
Alex Bowman
8.83
6
Ryan Blaney
9.00
9
Speed reads
Race-day essentials:
• Dover hub: Key information, pit stalls, additional results | Read more
• Sunday Setup: Differing opinions on resin entering exhibition| Read more
• Elite club: A look at drivers to win All-Star Race, title in same season | View gallery
• Paint Scheme Preview: Liveries slated for concrete showdown | View gallery
• Hauler Talk: NASCAR developing system to expedite crash data | Listen now
• Power Rankings: Is Bell ready to turn the page, go back-to-back in All-Star Race? | This week’s ranks
• NASCAR Classics: Inside the video vault from Dover | Watch now
