Who … should you be talking about after the checkered flag?
It shouldn’t be a surprise that Denny Hamlin was the class of the field at Dover Motor Speedway. His three points race wins tie him with Kyle Busch for the most among active drivers, and he had led almost 900 laps at The Monster Mile leading into the 2026 All-Star Race, hosted at Dover for the first time.
Hamlin started the day on the pole and was nipped in the first segment by Bubba Wallace. The field was inverted for the second round, but that barely deterred Hamlin, who raced his way from the back to finish third in the second 25-lap run, giving him the top start in the 200-lap final segment. From there, Hamlin was the class of the field. He led five times for 103 laps, one of just five drivers to lead a lap in the segment and just three to lead multiple laps.
Hamlin beat teammate Chase Briscoe by .887 seconds to win his second career All-Star event. And the million-dollar prize that comes with it. Erik Jones, Austin Dillon and rookie Connor Zilisch rounded out the top five.
On the other hand …Â
Several of the sport’s biggest names had terrible luck on Sunday, but perhaps none so unfortunate as Chase Elliott. Elliott was collected in a lap two incident in the first 75-lap segment that involved nine cars and brought out the red flag for cleanup after Ryan Preece’s car caught fire.
His team got him back on the track and he was already locked into the final segment, but Elliott was caught in a second multi-car incident late in the same segment. His team was unable to repair the car after that incident, and Elliott didn’t get to get back on track for a shot at the prize.
What … is the big question everyone should be asking after the race?
After dropping to just one points race a year to just the All-Star event, Dover has been under scrutiny from all sides. The Next Gen car has not helped the racing at the one-mile oval, and in reality, the racing hasn’t been all that compelling for a while now. Still, the broadcast assured fans that this event was not a last hurrah for Dover and that NASCAR and the Cup Series will return. The track’s social team confirmed a 2027 race on its social media
There were no more details, and likely there were none yet to give, but the track deserves a place on the schedule. It’s a unique track, one mile of concrete and the most banking of the one-mile tracks on the Cup schedule.
But what is Dover’s future in NASCAR?
In some ways, it was a good host for the All-Star event. The crashes were an unfortunate side effect, but the hard racing to make the main show made drivers race hard every lap, and the first two segments were entertaining. While it lacked the glamour of running under the lights, the racing benefitted from the hot sunny afternoon. The format of the race wasn’t the track’s fault, and parts of the race were solid.
On the other hand, Dover can be a test of drivers’ stamina, and in the days when races were 500 laps, the cars’ longevity. A single, yearly race wouldn’t be a bad test in The Chase. Alternately, the track does benefit from heat, so a mid-summer date would also be an option.
Whatever it looks like, Dover belongs on the schedule once a year.
Where … did he come from?Â
He didn’t get a lot of love from the television broadcast, but Jones had a great day at Dover. Jones qualified third overall for the first segment, and from there, he put together a very strong race. Jones finished 13th in the first segment, which only cost him one spot for the 26-car inversion after that run. He started the second segment 14th and raced his way to sixth. That was good enough to make the main event and start seventh.Â
Over the final 200 laps, Jones was able to run with the leaders, finishing third. 2026 has been a bit of a struggle for Jones and Legacy Motor Club, but the No. 43 team members can hold their heads high this week.
When … are we going to talk about the points?
We aren’t. It’s the All-Star Race, so no points were on the line.
But next week marks the midpoint of the regular season, so there are certainly some teams that need to look at them long and hard.
For drivers like Tyler Reddick, Hamlin and Elliott, who all have race wins and have run consistently strong, the focus may shift a bit in the next few weeks to prepare for their Chase runs. While Charlotte is the only track left that also appears on the Chase schedule, they may try some things at tracks that are similar to Chase tracks, like New Hampshire Motor Speedway and North Wilkesboro Speedway.
But for teams close to the 16th-place cutoff, the pressure is mounting. Preece is just 19 points to the good in 13th after 12 weeks. Behind him, Daniel Suarez, Austin Cindric and Shane van Gisbergen have even less of a cushion. Van Gisbergen has just six points to play with. He and his team will need to focus hard on the ovals this summer in order to make the cut, let alone have a strong Chase run.
On the outside looking in, Briscoe, Joey Logano, Ross Chastain and AJ Allmendinger are within 48 points of the cut but have lacked consistency and will have to find that in the summer heat if they want to keep their title hopes alive.
Finally, for the drivers currently 30th and below in the standings, there’s enough season left to make meaningful improvements. Are they going to make The Chase and have a Cinderella title run? No. And while someone will always have to be in those points positions, they don’t have to be the same ones there now, and that should be motivation for teams who have room to improve. While the field at Dover was depleted somewhat, Zilisch, Alex Bowman and Noah Gragson had strong finishes to build from.
Why … should you be paying attention this week?
The All-Star Race is about nothing but the prize, but the revived Chase system means that every position will matter on Sunday night as the Cup Series revs up for the season’s longest race, the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Along with being one of the most prestigious races on the NASCAR circuit, this year’s race will be doubly important for Chase hopefuls as the Bank of America 400 returns to the oval this fall in the midst of the title run. That may lead to some differing strategies as some teams will use at least part of the race to learn what works and what doesn’t for the fall race — while some will be willing to sacrifice the win for the data despite the crown jewel status of the race.
Chastain is the defending race winner, and a repeat would certainly boost his season as he has struggled so far in 2026. Another driver looking for a win is Brad Keselowski, who’s also the only current driver with more than one win on the Charlotte oval.
Reddick leads active drivers in average finish at 10.3, but his sample size is relatively small at 7 starts, thanks to the oval only being run once a year recently. Elliott has also been strong in recent races.
There was a time when looking at Busch as a dark horse would have been ludicrous, but given his recent woes, that’s exactly what he is. A solid one, though, because in the last 10 Charlotte races, he has six top 10s and his 10.7 average trails only Elliott and Reddick.
Also, Katherine Legge will attempt to become the first woman to run both the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 on the same day. She qualified 27th for the Indy 500 on Sunday and will attempt to make the field in Charlotte this weekend. Legge will be the sixth driver to take on the challenge of the Double.
How … did this race stack up?
Dover hasn’t been known for its exciting races in the last few years, but early on, the race featured some action because in the first two segments, drivers not already qualified for the last segment had something to race for from the drop of the green flag.
Unfortunately, that action looked more like the action at Talladega, with 18 cars involved in crashes in the first segment alone. The early chaos meant that a couple of qualified All-Stars, including perennial most popular driver Elliott, didn’t even start the final segment. That’s … not good.
And then the final segment was too long. Tire wear and management should be a part of the race, but the final segment should be a no-holds-barred, knock-down-drag-out sprint to the finish to decide it all. Yes, fans at the track deserve their money’s worth, but a 25-lap final segment would have been a much better show. The longer segment with green-flag stops should have been earlier in the day.
Of the 2026 race winners, only Hamlin and Ryan Blaney finished on the lead lap. Carson Hocevar finished a lap down to Hamlin, and van Gisbergen fell three laps down after racing for the lead in the second segment. Reddick, Elliott and Ty Gibbs all failed to finish, with Elliott missing the final segment altogether. Also failing to finish were the two most recent Cup Series champions, Kyle Larson and Logano.
Meanwhile, four of the top 10 finishers have not won this year or last. Two of them (Zilisch and Gragson) have never won at the Cup level. While it’s always a good story when underdogs do well, it can be argued that they aren’t really the best the sport has to offer in 2026. Having so many drivers transfer into the final segment watered down the ‘All-Star’ feel.
The bottom line is that the format was a terrible decision. Not only did qualified drivers get taken out before the real race even started, but having the drivers trying to make it lumped in with the rest of the field meant that they didn’t get the spotlight as the broadcast focused on the same drivers they focus on every week.
For smaller teams, that can’t be great from a sponsor’s standpoint. The Open race that decided the last entry or two gave those teams center stage for at least a little while, and a driver or two had the chance to celebrate and enjoy the trappings of winning while their sponsors had the chance for some good air time, which is what they’re paying for.
This format didn’t make the transfers seem special. There were too many of them, and because of the combination of the two segments determining who moved on, no clear winner.
Also, fans should not at any point in a race have to do math to see who moves on or where their favorite driver will start the final part of the race. Just no.
The All-Star Race could work at Dover. A hot afternoon on a slick track produces better racing than a night race. But bring back the Open with one transfer plus the fan vote winner and run it at high noon, a true showdown. Change the main event to a 50-lap opener, throw in your gimmick like an inversion and/or elimination, then run 200 laps. Maybe eliminate a couple more and re-rack for 25 laps for all the marbles.Â
The race had enough raciness early on that make it worth bringing back for another try, but it needs to be done better, no matter the venue.
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.