One of the sore spots heading into the 2026 season was NASCAR moving the annual All-Star Race to … Dover Motor Speedway.
A place that had held two points races not too long ago was relegated to a sole exhibition event with no championship consequences up for grabs.
Fans were understandably upset as that decision took place, including those in the Northeast. These circumstances raise questions about not only the future of the All-Star Race but also Dover. Ultimately, does NASCAR need an All-Star Race in the grand scheme of things? Danny Peters and Thomas Dunn evaluate that on this week’s 2-Headed Monster.
Hey Now, You’re an All-Star
Count me as one of those that believes NASCAR, like all the other major sports, definitely needs an All-Star Race. Giving the Cup teams the opportunity just to race all out for a big check (quite literally) is in many ways a welcome respite to the relentless need to scratch and claw for every possible point — especially under this revised points format this year.
The NASCAR All-Star Race first ran all the way back in 1985, and the goal was to celebrate both the top drivers and the pit crews with a high-stakes, high-reward event. The aim was to promote aggressive, all-out racing with zero championship consequences.
And while it hasn’t been the case each and every running, we’ve had some genuinely iconic moments that still reverberate through the sport’s illustrious history. These include Dale Earnhardt’s “Pass in the Grass” in 1987, as well as “One Hot Night” in 1992, the first Superspeedway (Charlotte Motor Speedway was considered an one at the time) race under the lights, when Kyle Petty spun Earnhardt on the final lap and drag-raced eventual winner Davey Allison to the line.
Other memorable moments were Jeff Gordon winning in a backup car in 2001 (after a massive wreck on the opening lap with drivers allowed to pull out their backup vehicles); the infamous tricked out T-Rex car of Gordon in 1997 and Kasey Kahne failing to qualify, winning the fan vote and coming all the way from last place to win in 2008.
Look, too, at the list of some of the current (and future) Hall of Fame drivers who have won this event: Darrell Waltrip, Bill Elliott, Earnhardt, Rusty Wallace, Terry Labonte, Allison, Gordon, Mark Martin, Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Tony Stewart, Kurt Busch, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney and Denny Hamlin. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is an impressive list — true All-Star wheelmen.
I was fortunate enough to cover the most recent iteration at Dover last weekend, and it was a packed house with an ebullient crowd. But, and it’s a fairly sizable but, the format was confusing, leading to drivers like Elliott and Ross Chastain never even making the “main event.” Others, like Christopher Bell and Blaney raced but with crash-damaged cars from the first two segments.
So for me, while I absolutely believe we need an All-Star event, we need simplicity and clarity. Race it under the lights for starters, have an “open” style race first for those who haven’t qualified, then the main race. We cannot have a driver as popular as Elliott not turning a lap in anger as we saw on Sunday (May 17).
Sometimes, less is more. I’m fine with a tweak or two. The invert format worked really well, but it has to be something you can explain in an elevator pitch. That was not the case this past weekend.
One final point, the venue should rotate year after year and, if possible, be at tracks that haven’t hosted NASCAR races before. Make it simple, make it special and bring back the magic of the event that we have seen over the last four decades. – Danny Peters
If This Is What It’ll Be, We Don’t Need an All-Star Race
I’ve had conflicted feelings on the All-Star Race for some time now. Given the volume of races on the schedule, it’s supposed to be a natural change of pace when the weekend hits. But when it feels like just another race with …. no points on the line, then what really is the point?
Yes, the MLB has an All-Star Game despite having 162 games. Same with the NBA despite its 82-game schedule.
But NASCAR is different. The problem is the sanctioning body isn’t treating it like such.
With the way the All-Star Race is currently constructed, there’s no need for it.
In acknowledging that racing is different in terms of seeing the same guys week in and week out, you still need that bit of special sauce to make things different.
It’s great there’s a million-dollar incentive, but these aren’t the days of one hot night at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Tracks are rotating, and in this case, just handing a facility the ASR for the sake of having it.
Given we don’t see anything different in terms of the week-to-week product despite the field getting an arbitrary cut, this doesn’t need to continue.
Now if NASCAR wants to fix this straight away by dedicating a track or using some mixed class racing with the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts and Craftsman Truck series, then you may have something to work with.
But Denny Hamlin getting asked if the All-Star Race began on lap 0 or lap 150 tells you all that you need to know regarding the current iteration of the All-Star Race. We don’t know the final attendance numbers, but it’s hard to imagine that a points race would not have done better.
Ultimately, NASCAR being different could be the addition of a 37th points race or finding a way to make the product atypical. The aforementioned leagues split their players up into pods that aren’t commonplace. Meanwhile, this ASR is the same drivers with the same opponents trying to fight amongst themselves in just about the same context as they do 37 other weeks of the year.
NASCAR needs to ask itself what it wants its All Stars to be. Chase Elliott among others practically didn’t have an All-Star Race to run. It’ll be a fascinating question for new NASCAR CEO Steve O’Donnell to answer. – Thomas Dunn
Danny Peters has written for Frontstretch since 2006. An English transplant living in San Francisco, by way of New York City, he’s had an award-winning marketing career with some of the biggest companies sponsoring sports. Working with racers all over the country, his freelance writing has even reached outside the world of racing to include movie screenplays.
Thomas is in his second year covering NASCAR at Frontstretch. A Bay Area NASCAR fan for over 15+ years, he found his love for the sport through Jeff Gordon. He helps manage the 2-Headed Monster Column.
Thomas has enjoyed several trips to Sonoma Raceway in his time and currently covers college athletics in the Bay Area, writing about the California Golden Bears and doing play by play broadcasting.
Get Elon Musk to change the name to something like Spring X.
I would have liked to see 100 mile open, then 200 mile all-star race. No stages, so you must make a pit stop. And award 10 to 1 points to the top ten, plus the prize purse. Rotate the tracks every year, including ones that aren’t on the Cup schedule like Rockingham and Kentucky, but keep it close to the home bases in Charlotte.
I’d even vote for the Roval as the all-star race, but that would just hand it to SVG.
The only reason the NBA and NFL All-Star games are better, and they are a joke, than NA$CAR’s “All-Star” event is they have actual All-Stars participating. NASCAR “All-Star” product has the same lineup with the same participants for every event.
Hmmm. The exact same argument I use for not having an entire season championship without limiting it to a few drivers.
Nascar doesn’t need an All Star because we see the same drivers competing against each other each week. The MLB Allstar game has players from different teams competing to see which league is the best.
The MLB All-Star game has players who treat their All-Star game the same as every other game…pitcher tries to get the batter out and the batters try to get a hit. That isn’t true for the NBA and NFL farces and NA$CAR’s entertainment product has competitors that aren’t close to “All-Star” status.
Agreed, Kathy. And really, for baseball I think it’s as much about nostalgia as anything. Other sports don’t have that heritage behind their all star events.