The All-Star Race at Dover Motor Speedway drew criticism from followers and drivers alike. The Athletic’s Jeff Gluck launched his weekly ” ballot on X, and it was met with a mere 35% approval ranking, with fewer respondents than normal claiming the race was entertaining.
The race format was actually questionable. The race was divided into three segments: 75 laps, 75 laps, and a closing 200-lap section, with a lap 225 competitors warning.
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Within the first two segments, drivers galore have been caught up in wrecks. Right here is each race incident earlier than the closing section:
Kyle Larson, Todd Gilliland, Ryan Preece, Daniel Suarez, , , Cole Custer, John Hunter Nemechek, Michael McDowell.
Lap 73: Riley Herbst, Alex Bowman, , Chase Elliott (2), AJ Allmendinger, Chris Buescher, Christopher Bell, Josh Berry, Riley Herbst, Zane Smith, John Hunter Nemechek (2).
Lap 81: Ross Chastain, Brad Keselowski, .
Lap 90: Shane van Gisbergen.
In complete, 24 completely different automobiles out of 36 within the race had been collected in a race incident earlier than the 200-lap race even started.
Earlier than the complete 350-lap All-Star Race, 19 automobiles had clinched a spot within the third section, plus one other Fan Vote Winner, which was Given the early incidents that occurred, Chase Elliott and Ross Chastain have been among the many few automobiles that didn’t even make it to the inexperienced flag after lap 150.
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Denny Hamlin Makes His All-Star Choice Clear
North Wilkesboro’s 2025 NASCAR All-Star Race. (Photograph by David Jensen/Getty Pictures)(Photograph by David Jensen/Getty Pictures)
The criticism from drivers and followers comes down to at least one large takeaway: why are clinched drivers racing within the first two segments once they’re within the closing section? They took pointless dangers, main drivers to overlook the ultimate 200-lap section of the race for the $1 million prize. averted an incident and gained the race — his and 4th since 2020.
“It (the All-Star Race) must be at evening, I feel it must be on a Saturday evening, and it must be on a shorter monitor,” Hamlin defined on his weekly podcast,
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Hamlin additionally steered that NASCAR ought to maneuver to a brand new venue, as he voices that Dover wants to remain on the circuit and retain its points-race standing.
“I feel you might want to usher in a brand new venue there,” Hamlin additional mentioned. The All-Star Race winner steered that the perfect location is one not on the circuit, such because the Nashville Fairgrounds.
The is a 0.596-mile oval. It ran NASCAR-branded races from 1958 to 1984. The monitor has hardly hosted any type of NASCAR, together with ARCA, which ran only one race there in 2015. Nonetheless, in 2018, Speedway Motorsports reached an settlement with Bristol Motor Speedway to cooperate on the monitor. In 2021, to convey the monitor again into the fold, though that is still to be seen 5 years later.
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Hamlin additionally explains that the town of Nashville would draw a big crowd. Attendance is among the main elements NASCAR considers when deciding the place and when to race. The perfect examples of that embody Dover’s knockdown to at least one race per 12 months and rumors of its elimination from the circuit. Richmond’s discount to at least one race is one other key instance, regardless of the monitor providing nice racing.
Over the prior two seasons, North Wilkesboro has hosted the All-Star Race, providing entertaining bouts of competitors. But it appears NASCAR understood that followers could have wished the monitor to host a factors race. That they received one, wherein North Wilkesboro will run a factors race within the .
Hamlin explains that there’s a give-and-take, and whereas North Wilkesboro will get a factors race, it doesn’t assure good racing. He clearly favors the brief monitor to maintain the All-Star Race, becoming with the narrative of preserving a brief monitor for the star-studded occasion.
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As mentioned yesterday (click on right here), Hamlin favors racing at Dover. “The followers there are tremendous passionate.” “The folks in that space freaking love racing, man.. they help that race monitor,” Hamlin famous when praising Dover Motor Speedway. “They received a nasty draw this 12 months, however I assumed that for those who’re only a racing fan and you want seeing automobiles battling, I feel they received their cash’s value; all 4 hours of it.”
It’s unclear the place NASCAR will maintain its 2027 All-Star Race. It appears possible that Dover was a one-off. NASCAR has not been shy about racing at new venues in recent times, together with North Wilkesboro, Rockingham, and the reintroduction of Nashville Superspeedway. Something is feasible, however a lot will stay unknown till later this season.
This story was initially printed by on Could 18, 2026, the place it first appeared within the part. Add Athlon Sports activities as a
