NASCAR 'All Star' win for Denny Hamlin felt familiar. New format sure to come

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What happens to the All-Star Race going forward?

Everyone has an opinion, and all we really know is, something will happen to the format, and something should. 

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On Groundhog Day, it’s basically a coin flip as to whether Phil sees his shadow or not. But the day each year when NASCAR would release the “updated” All-Star Race format had become a real grab-bag of possibilities.

You just never knew what the new twist(s) would be from year to year. Some worked better than others, and frankly, that’s excusable because things sometimes look better on paper than they do on asphalt — or, in the case of Dover, concrete.

But if we’re being honest, how did anyone ever suggest this year’s format looked decent on paper? What’s all-starry about inviting all 36 chartered teams to the main event? 

Let’s add that to the mix of topics this week as we go through the gears ahead of the biggest annual weekend in automobile racing, where the formats are familiar, if not all the locales.

First Gear: Dover deserves to stay in NASCAR, but maybe not like this

For five decades (DECADES!), Dover was a twice-a-year venue for NASCAR’s Cup Series. That ended in 2020, and through 2025, it was still host to one Cup race each year … until this year. 

Dover is often a very racy track and obviously fast for a one-miler — those high banks are horsepower facilitators. The track, given its racing nature and, maybe as important, its geographical base, deserves to stay on the schedule going forward.

Just a hunch, but perhaps due to everything said in the previous paragraph, NASCAR looked at the 2026 schedule, with Dover now host to the All-Star weekend, and said something like this: “Since we took away their regular-season race, let’s at least make this look like a regular-season race.”

And that’s basically what you got, a regular Sunday afternoon race that didn’t count for anything except sponsor commitments and the Fox Sports contract. 

Everyone has their own ideas for how an All-Star weekend should look in a non-traditional league like NASCAR. We’ll never get everyone to agree on a format, but let’s assume everyone agrees this ain’t it. 

Second Gear: Denny Hamlin won't go quietly

Oh yeah, Denny Hamlin won at Dover, continues to be productive in his 21st full-time Cup season, and though you can’t add it to his 61 career victories, the win yet again let everyone know he’s not done chasing that elusive championship.

Denny is a bit of a throwback with his ability to divide the bleachers. But even the Anybody But Denny crowd has to respect what he said, post-Dover, about his ongoing status within the upper rung of stock-car racin’.

“If we're going to a track that turns left, I expect to win every single week,” he said. “This is just very unique, especially in the era where all the cars are so similar, and I'm racing guys that have all my information. They see my setups, things like that, and I still can get it done in the end.”

Less than a generation ago, it would’ve been odd to hear a 45-year-old racer talk like that, because 45 was still very much within the presumed wheelhouse of a NASCAR driver’s prime. But then stars started retiring at younger and younger ages, and now we’re ushering those guys to the exit. 

Third Gear: Time for Joey Logano to shift gears

The points-paying schedule resumes this coming weekend with the 600-miler at Charlotte Motor Speedway. 

It’ll be the 13th race of the season, which means, by my math, we’ve had 12. A bit of advanced math says that puts us a third of the way into the 36-race schedule. And after this week, we’re halfway through the 26-race regular season, which will end with the top 16 points earners recalibrating for the 10-race championship push.

We say all that to say this: Some dudes need to get it in gear, and others need to keep one eye on the mirror. 

In the current standings, the bottom four drivers in the top 16 aren’t just mathematically more vulnerable to falling below the top-16 cutoff, but also seem to be the most vulnerable. Those four: 13. Ryan Preece, 14. Daniel Suarez, 15. Austin Cindric, 16. Shane van Gisbergen.

This, of course, assumes Ty Gibbs and Carson Hocevar, currently sixth and seventh, aren’t just early-season flashes who’ll return to non-playoff form going forward. Don’t bet on that, by the way.

As for those outside the current top 16 — some surprisingly so — who seem most likely to gather steam, they’re conveniently located right on the rear bumpers of the four men holding down the bottom four playoff spots: 17. Chase Briscoe, 18. Joey Logano, 19. Ross Chastain. 

Ross the Boss is the biggest question mark, given the team-wide struggles for Trackhouse this year. Kyle Busch sits 24th, and that would’ve sent shockwaves in earlier years but, well, you know …

Fourth Gear: F1 tweak means Indy 500 now leads off racing's biggest Sunday

Earlier we mentioned the biggest weekend of auto racing that’s now upon us. This year, there’s a tweak, assuming you can make a tweak of nearly 4,000 miles.

You know the old routine on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend: Formula One in the morning, Indy 500 around noon, Coke 600 in the evening — it made for a leisurely day for those who love all forms of motorsport but also want to get out and about, since there’s always chunks of time between the three events. 

Not anymore. Things are tightly condensed this year since F1 moved the splashy Monaco Grand Prix to June and gave the May date to Canada. It’s an all North American weekend now, with the Canadian Grand Prix wedged between the noonish Indy 500 and the 6-ish start to NASCAR in Charlotte. 

The Canadian GP is slated for 4 p.m. and will end no later than 6, which means it should fit snugly between the Brickyard and Charlotte. 

Um … should.

The Allstate “Mayhem guy” on the commercials has nothing on an Indianapolis weatherman when it comes to disrupting plans. The forecast suggests Mr. Doppler is cracking his knuckles and considering a reminder of who’s boss.

— Email Ken Willis at [email protected]

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: NASCAR to Charlotte, follows Indy 500 and ... F1 Canadian Grand Prix?

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