1. Dover Needs to Be Back on the 2026 NASCAR Schedule
Dover Motor Speedway is far from the most visually impressive NASCAR facility. There’s nothing especially noteworthy about its location on US-13, tucked in among strip malls, restaurants and other sprawl, in the overall vicinity of — but definitely not at — the beach.
The track has done a great job amping up the food and entertainment options outside the gates over the years, but once you enter, The Monster Mile is pretty Spartan too. It’s mostly just a bunch of bleachers overlooking the action, leaving fans mercilessly exposed to the elements.
Despite all that, Dover has a special place in my heart. As a resident of central Pennsylvania, I consider it more my home track than Pocono Raceway ever was. I have great memories there as both a journalist and fan, including the single most pleasantly surprising interaction I’ve ever had with a NASCAR driver, which took place nearly a decade ago.
All of this is to say that I’m biased. I don’t want Dover to fade away for selfish reasons, and I’ve been desperately looking for signs that NASCAR shouldn’t give up on it.
All-Star weekend might have just provided them. Not the event itself, which we’ll get to shortly. But the racing, boosted by a higher horsepower, lower downforce package, was legitimately compelling, at least for stretches.
There’s also no other circuit quite like the high-banked concrete oval that makes up The Monster Mile. Uniqueness alone isn’t enough to save a track’s date anymore, but maybe that plus good racing plus fan support (the crowd looked pretty good this time and has certainly been better since Dover got only one weekend a year) will be enough.
The venue itself, as well as Mike Joy, said Dover will be back in some form in 2027. I hope that’s true, as I’m not ready to let it go.
2. There’s Only 1 Right Answer for the Silliest All-Star Format Tweak Ever
NASCAR is a sport that’s as ripe for thinkpieces as any, but there’s nothing that brings out the full range of pre-event hand-wringing and post-mortem griping like the NASCAR All-Star Race. And there’s good reason for that, since a seemingly never-ending string of gimmicks and tweaks has left the event so confusing that even people watching it live aren’t sure what the rules are.
One reason I don’t get caught up in the discourse too often is that this problem is one all major sports face. The NFL has given up on the Pro Bowl, and the NBA has been attempting to bring back luster to its All-Star Game for years. Stock car racing isn’t alone in asking existential questions about its midseason showcase.
So while the different formats don’t bother me much, one thing that made zero sense this year was having drivers locked into the final run for $1 million running around with the drivers trying to race their way in. Not only did it take some of the spotlight off the underdogs trying to battle for a chance at the big prize, but it also meant that some of the biggest names in the sport faced the possibility of wrecking out before the last segment.
And guess what? They did! Chase Elliott, the very definition of an All-Star since he’s a former champ who still wins races and is the most popular driver around, didn’t get to compete at the end.
Let’s never do this again. NASCAR execs, if you’re reading, please change things again to either bring back the Open or otherwise ensure the 2027 All-Star Race has rules to prevent a repeat.
3. Ryan Preece Has Some of the Worst Wreck Luck of All Time
We’re not talking about being caught up in wrecks he didn’t cause, because it sure appeared that Ryan Preece was the cause of the early incident in the first segment of the All-Star Race that ended his day.
That doesn’t mean he deserved this.
Fortunately, even with his car looking like it was doing an impression of the Robbie Reyes Ghost Rider’s vehicle, Preece emerged unscathed. It was an unusually hard left-side hit that caused the blaze, one that the FOX broadcast team spent some time analyzing afterward.
As someone who was at Daytona International Speedway for his summer 2023 crash and thankful he got out of the car, it’s unreal to see these kinds of things keep happening to him. You never want to see any driver in a dangerous wreck, but Preece surely has earned some time off from this type of thing.
4. Is Joey Logano Really Going to Miss The Chase?
The timing of the All-Star Race was a tiny bit off this year, but we’re still close to the halfway point of the Cup Series regular season. That’s perfect since it’s enough time to have some trends solidify while leaving enough time for drivers who got off to slow starts to rally, especially since “win and you’re in” is no longer a thing.
That’s relevant mostly due to the fact that if The Chase started today, Joey Logano would not be participating. Team Penske’s elder statesman entered All-Star Weekend in the midst of an absolutely horrific stretch of results, finishing 30th or worse in his last four points races and five of his last seven.
Logano has time to make up the gap to the man currently in the final Chase spot, Shane van Gisbergen. The problem is he is also 30-plus points behind Chase Briscoe, who also figures to have a solid shot at making a second-half charge.
It’s also hard to see where Logano will make his move. Since he finished second back in 2019, the Coca-Cola 600 hasn’t been an especially welcoming race for the No. 22 team, with Logano averaging a 17th-place finish there in the 2020s.
Nashville Superspeedway could be a boon since he nabbed a top five there last season, but Michigan International Speedway, Pocono Raceway and EchoPark Speedway in Atlanta were all middling to bad days in 2025. San Diego and Chicagoland Speedway are wild cards since neither venue was on the schedule last year.
Logano has a history of performing well at new and returning tracks, so perhaps that’s what he’ll need to spark a surge up the standings. He’s going to have to get it in gear soon, however, or missing out on a chance to compete in The Chase will become a real possibility real fast.
5. What Can Prime Video Do for an Encore?
Even though NASCAR’s increasingly fractured broadcast schedule is better for its coffers than for the viewing experience of its fans, the 2025 debut of Prime Video for a package of late spring/early summer races was a breath of fresh air.
It helped that Prime took the baton from FOX, which hasn’t quite reached zero f’s given status with the races it airs but also doesn’t treat NASCAR as the priority it once did. That allowed Prime, which is still a mere infant in live sports terms, to swoop in with a fun combination of new presentation features and … well, just plain caring.
The question now is whether the honeymoon period is over. Will the races on Prime still feel innovative and refreshing, or will they feel just like any other broadcasts?
The commercials with an excited Dale Earnhardt Jr. have me leaning toward the former, but we’ll find out for sure this weekend.
Excited for Amazon’s coverage. I get why many don’t care for NASCAR being hidden behind a pay wall, but just looking at the quality of coverage alone, Amazon was head and shoulders above all other broadcasters last year.
Though I wasn’t a Dale Jr. fan when he was driving, he’s far and away my favorite current NASCAR announcer. He sometimes forces the coverage to lesser known teams and drivers, just by force of will, being unwilling to let it go and talk about the top five being strung out. He tends to notice when a wreck is about to happen more quickly than anyone else, which indicates he is fully plugged into what’s happening all over the track. His passion for the sport is obvious, and his background as both a driver and owner means he has the knowledge to break down the action, and do so in layman’s terms, without dumbing down whatever topic he is discussing. Somehow, he does all this without a whiff of sounding arrogant or entitled. It’s truly impressive.
In my opinion Kevin Harvick is the best all around announcer, not Junior, and I miss Jeff Burton.