Format for 2026 NASCAR All-Star Race revealed

NASCAR and Speedway Motorsports officials announced Wednesday the format for the 2026 NASCAR All-Star Race at Dover Motor Speedway, including a 350-lap main event broken into in-race segments and an enhanced qualifying session featuring the Pit Crew Challenge.

The NASCAR Cup Series exhibition -- with a $1 million prize on the line -- transitions from the North Carolina confines of North Wilkesboro Speedway -- which hosted the All-Star Race from 2023-25 -- to Delaware's "Monster Mile" on May 17 (1 p.m. ET, FS1, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). The 2026 edition of the exhibition will conclude an action-packed race weekend featuring events for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series.

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In addition to a change of venue, the 2026 All-Star Race format itself will have a different flavor, starting with a larger emphasis on May 16's qualifying. Competitors will take the green flag and run one full lap at speed around the 1-mile circuit. The second lap will feature the Mechanix Wear Pit Crew Challenge, where each pit crew will perform a single four-tire stop with no gas. Competitors will then race back to the start/finish line, with qualifying encompassing the total time from green flag to checkered flag. The pit crew with the fastest pit stop and no penalties will win the Pit Crew Challenge , with the results determining pit selection order for the All-Star Race.

In place of an All-Star Open, qualifying results will instead determine the full field for Segment 1, a 75-lap sprint as part of the 350-lap event. Following the conclusion of Segment 1, a second 75-lap dash will occur; the lineup for Segment 2 will be an inversion of Segment 1's top 26, with the remaining drivers lined up by finish.

The final 200-lap segment of the 2026 All-Star Race will consist of 26 drivers. The field for the final segment will include 2025 and 2026 Cup Series race victors, former Cup Series champions who compete full-time, a Fan Vote winner and remaining drivers based on the lowest combined finishing positions among Segments 1 and 2.

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Christopher Bell won the 2026 All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro. The 2025 and 2026 Cup Series winners so far include (in alphabetical order): Bell, Josh Berry, Ryan Blaney, Chase Briscoe, Kyle Busch, William Byron, Ross Chastain, Austin Cindric, Austin Dillon, Chase Elliott, Shane van Gisbergen, Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace.