It’s that time of year, NASCAR fans!
How we’re at the All-Star Race already is another story, but here we are. On Sunday (May 17) at Dover Motor Speedway, NASCAR’s elite will race for nothing but a million dollars and a pocketful of glory.
But…does anyone really care?
The format leaves something to be desired. The All-Star event has traditionally consisted of winners and past champions, with a last-chance race for a couple of others to make it in. But not this year. This year’s event is an odd mashup of both races in three segments that will somehow shake down to the winners and past champions plus the fan vote winner and a few other drivers by the end of the day.
Running the first two segments as a full field is certainly a choice. It takes away from the intensity of the old Open race while spotlighting the same drivers who are in the spotlight every week as they ride around waiting for the final segment. The Open shifted that spotlight to the rest of the field for a little while and fans could see how hard the drivers raced for the win because, frankly, a win—any win, points or no—still actually means something big to them. If you don’t believe that, go watch Ryan Preece in tears after winning this year’s Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium.
After two segments of 75 laps each of a field on two entirely different agendas, the final segment will pare down to winners from 2025 and 2026, full-time past champions or All-Star winners not already in on wins (that’s Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski), the fan vote winner and…enough other drivers to bring the field to, for some reason, 26 drivers, for 200 laps which is about 150 laps too many. With 20 drivers locked in and one fan vote winner, that’s four spares who will be chosen by their combined finish in the first two segments. No trophy or a few minutes in victory lane for them like there was for the Open winner, presumably.
Oh, also, it’s at one in the afternoon.
And it’s at Dover.
The track itself hasn’t exactly produced a great race lately. The Next Gen car is only part of the problem; winning margins of over a second were common before the current car, and the Next Gen has produced some of the closest finishes in the last few years. The problem is, they haven’t really been all that close or all that compelling.
Dover debuted on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule in 1969 and hosted two races a year from 1971 to 2020. Until the mid-1990s, those races were 500 miles each, which was grueling on Dover’s high-banked mile of racing surface, which was asphalt until 1994. It was changed to concrete because asphalt is hard to maintain in colder climates, particularly with high banking.
Unfortunately, concrete is a more consistent track surface than asphalt. It’s less temperature sensitive and doesn’t get slippery at higher temperatures the way asphalt does.
A whole 500 laps on a high-banked, slick asphalt track with banks that wore on a driver’s body was daunting. Cars tended to slide up the track in a spin, often collecting other cars, so crashes were common. Mechanical attrition was another challenge in an era when teams built their cars on the ragged edge and 500 laps on a Sunday afternoon meant mechanical failures were much more common than they are today. G-forces pulled on drivers’ bodies every lap as races of four hours and up were the norm.
In the earlier days, there was a horse track inside the paved oval that hosted harness racing. A few of NASCAR’s bigger names, including Dale Earnhardt, once drove horses on the track as a publicity stunt.
The current product at Dover doesn’t really resemble the early days much. Seating capacity has shrunk from 140,000 seats to 54,000, and the racing just hasn’t been all that compelling, particularly at the Cup level. Two races a year became one.
Will the All-Star race be enough to keep Dover on the schedule, or will it fall by the wayside completely?
Between the format and the current car, it’s unlikely that the All-Star Race will be enough to make fans clamor for more. That worked for North Wilkesboro Speedway because, well, it’s North Wilkesboro. Dover has a long history, but not that long and not that storied, though the memory of Dale Earnhardt Jr. carrying the American flag on a victory lap when he won the first race after the September 11 terrorist attacks stands as one of the sport’s most powerful.
Still, it would be a shame to see the track go away completely. The list of winners is largely a list of Hall of Famers. Jimmie Johnson won at Dover a record 11 times. The only others to score half as many were Richard Petty and Bobby Allison with seven each. Of the 24 drivers with two or more Dover wins, just three are Hall of Fame eligible and have not been elected. Three are still active and one retired but is all but a lock for eventual enshrinement.
In other words, Dover separates the cream from the milk.
Because of that, it feels wrong to see it erased from the sport completely. Perhaps the All-Star Race will provide a spark with its million-dollar prize. Perhaps it’s better suited as a standalone track for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck or O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, a la Rockingham Speedway. But perhaps it’s just time to let her go and keep the memories.
Amy is an 20-year veteran NASCAR writer and a six-time National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) writing award winner, including first place awards for both columns and race coverage. As well as serving as Photo Editor, Amy writes The Big 6 (Mondays) after every NASCAR Cup Series race. She can also be found working on her bi-weekly columns Holding A Pretty Wheel (Tuesdays) and Only Yesterday (Wednesdays). A New Hampshire native whose heart is in North Carolina, Amy’s work credits have extended everywhere from driver Kenny Wallace’s website to Athlon Sports. She can also be heard weekly as a panelist on the Hard Left Turn podcast that can be found on AccessWDUN.com's Around the Track page.
This article is written by someone who obviously does not like Dover. While attendance is down, it’s like that in most entertainment venues. Dover is a great place to watch a race,and the track management goes above and beyond putting on a terrific fan zone. Unfortunately, NASCAR, I feel has dropped the ball with the schedule. I like the idea of moving the All Star race to different venues, but it should be held at a track that is able to run at night. The difference between the haves and have not in regards to the competition is also glaring. But at least NASCAR is trying and not sitting on their hands. Here’s an idea. All locked in cars don’t race the first 2 segments. Only the winner moves on. One from each segment. A fan vote. The invert the starting order by fan vote of how many spots. Again, jmho.
I don’t want to see Dover go away, either. Perhaps it will take the place of the San Diego race, and Rockingham can be the new all-star race.
I don’t plan to tune in for this one. The “All Star Race” lost its shine years ago, just as the NFL Pro Bowl and the NBA All Star game did. All three seem to be grasping at straws, trying to find some sort of magic formula. All three have failed thus far.
I’d like to see Dover take a spot from one of the cookie cutter tracks, though that probably won’t happen due to who owns those tracks, and the corporate politics which come with this.
Possibly NASCAR could take a page out of F1’s book, having certain tracks rotate in and out of the schedule. Just don’t take away any more short tracks, please!
If Cody B. Ware is considered by NA$CAR an “All-Star” what does that tell everyone about their definition of the term?
Dover, like many other tracks since the introduction of the COT, doesn’t race like it did a decade ago.
I don’t want Dover to go away but the all star race which isn’t that exciting is not going to help it stay on the schedule. Many yrs ago we had a group of ppl that fillled 4 buses twice a yr for the races but the races became less exciting. The year I was able to stretch out on the seats and SLEEP thru the e middle of the race was our last race
I used to attend the Dover fall race starting in the 90’s when it was 590 miles and we sat on temprary bleacher seats which were scaffolding and you could camp in the infield with a van. The races were ok but just like nascar itself the place exploded to all those seats and also like nascar, popularity waned and seats disappeared. It is sad to see but I hope there is still a spot for dover on the schedule. The track always hosted great events just like jrs flag win- which I was lucky to attend.
Sorry typo- 500 miles
In the middle of the season, Pinecrest Speedway had a 35 lap feature instead of the usual 20 lapper and called it the Mid-Season Championship. Maybe NA$CAR could call their event something with “Mid Season” in it?