NASCAR's All-Star Race is worth keeping, but here's how to do it right

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Meg Oliphant / Getty Images Share articleDOVER, Del. — How confusing was NASCAR’s All-Star Race format this year? After Sunday’s event at Dover Motor Speedway, All-Star winner Denny Hamlin asked reporters if they knew when the race had actually begun. “Truthfully, I couldn’t tell — did the All-Star Race start at Lap 0 or did it start at Lap 150?” he asked sincerely. Two reporters from The Athletic, sitting next to one another, both attempted to answer the question at the same time — except they had different responses. “See? There you go,” Hamlin said of the confusion. “… I think we should know when the All-Star Race starts. Let’s start there first.” Moments later, a NASCAR public relations representative clarified: The All-Star Race had in fact started on Lap 150 of Sunday’s 350-lap event. In an effort to get to the point here and avoid spending the next six paragraphs explaining the details, let’s just say this year’s All-Star Race format did not work. At all. But instead of relitigating Sunday’s mess, perhaps we should talk about what NASCAR’s All-Star Race should be going forward. Because after conversations with many in the garage during the Dover weekend, a common theme emerged: Even to the competitors, this felt like more of a normal race than the flashy All-Star exhibitions of old. And if that’s going to be the case, why even do it? The thing is, a large majority of drivers believe an All-Star event is important in some form; it just has to be the right one, and Sunday wasn’t it. If NASCAR is going to continue the All-Star Race going forward, here are some elements that seem vital for a successful event. This was easily the No. 1 lesson from Dover. NASCAR put all of the qualified All-Stars (who must win a points race from the past two seasons to get in or be a former champion) on the track at the same time with the non-qualified drivers (who were vying for a handful of “Open” spots in the main event). The problem was some of the All-Stars got into crashes, either damaging their cars beyond repair or enough to be very slow for the rest of the day, which essentially removed some of NASCAR’s biggest names from contention before the actual All-Star Race even began (at Lap 150, remember). That simply cannot happen ever again. NASCAR must immediately return to having two separate races, as it had done for every other year of this event: An Open race, in which the non-qualified drivers race only against each other for the transfer spots, followed by the All-Star Race itself. If a driver wins a points race and rightfully earns a spot, there is no universe in which they should be put at risk of missing the big show due to a non-qualified driver’s mistake on the track. Yet Chase Elliott, who has won four races in the last two years and is third in the point standings, was somehow not technically an “All-Star” on Sunday since he crashed in the first of two 75-lap “segment” races. Additionally, the Open race in years past was often been one of the most exciting parts of All-Star Weekend. Fans and media get to focus on drivers who, by nature, are typically not seen running up front and contending for wins. And sometimes the desperation of becoming an All-Star can create excellent fireworks. Going forward, all of the drivers certainly should not be on track at the same time. Back when the All-Star Race was annually held in Charlotte, it was the week before NASCAR’s longest race: The marathon Coca-Cola 600. The two races couldn’t have been more different; one was for casual fans or families with young children looking to dip their toe into NASCAR without making a huge commitment and the other was for the most hardcore NASCAR fans who wanted to watch their drivers race in circles for more than four hours. The format was designed for entertainment and intensity, often made possible by short-burst, shootout-style segments (some as short as 10 laps) to encourage drivers to go all out. Sunday’s format was decidedly one more geared toward the hardcore fans. From the green flag of the first segment race until the checkered flag of the final one, the elapsed time was nearly four hours. Four hours! For an exhibition race! And that was on top of a confusing format which left some in the grandstands wondering what was going on. For example: After a 26-car “invert” following the first segment race, none of the top four cars on the leaderboard were on the racetrack — they had all crashed and were in the garage. How do you explain that to someone who doesn’t follow NASCAR? Heck, how do you explain it to someone who does? The racing itself was some of the best we’ve seen at Dover in years. The track applied a sticky resin compound all over the surface in each corner, and it caused the track to widen out and provided additional lanes for drivers to use. Unlike previous Dover races, drivers were not as stuck in position and could move higher up the groove than they had in memory. Except Dover shines as a long-run track, and the All-Star Race thrives off of restarts and quick-hit segments. The final segment race on Sunday was 200 laps, the length of an entire O’Reilly Series race. In all likelihood, the All-Star Race needs to either be at a short track where drivers can slam into each other without remorse while racing for the $1 million prize (more on that later) or at an intermediate track where the Next Gen car puts on jaw-dropping displays during restarts. This is probably the most-mentioned requirement of an All-Star Race and is low-hanging fruit for a fix, but this needs to be a night race. There’s something about sparks flying and big-time pyro during driver introductions to get people hyped up for racing under the lights, which has been the All-Star tradition. Dover does not even have lights, so a nighttime race was out of the question in this case. Only a handful of NASCAR ovals are unlit, so finding one that can host a night race isn’t as hard as it might sound. For a long part of the All-Star Race’s history, one selling point was different rules or formats that were not seen in normal points races. Double-file restarts, for example, were first tested in All-Star events and then expanded for use in all races. Similarly, “stage racing” in today’s NASCAR — when officials throw a caution after a predetermined lap number — also had its origins in the All-Star Race. But now the All-Star Race looks mostly like the same racing NASCAR has in the Cup Series every week. Sunday’s race was only 50 laps shorter than a normal Dover race and it even had all of the same drivers who compete against each other in the regular Cup races. Very little felt fresh or unique about it. NASCAR last year floated a “run what you brung” style race where teams could experiment with technical rules, but the teams didn’t want to spend the money. It needs to be something along those lines though to give people a reason to watch. Of course, it’s not our cash to spend, but the $1 million prize does nothing for fan interest. In 2003, when NASCAR first gave $1 million to the All-Star Race winner, it was a huge deal. “Survivor” had premiered in 2000 with a $1 million prize for the last castaway standing, and those who were around at the time can recall how big that number seemed. Now it’s 2026, and NASCAR still gives $1 million to the winner. Not only has the prize not kept pace with inflation, it hasn’t even increased by a penny. Do fans really care when a race car driver wins $1 million (to split with his team, by the way)? What’s $1 million in today’s pro sports when Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani is making $70 million per season? Yes, it’s easy for us to sit here and write “It should be $5 million!” It’s not necessarily viable without understanding who would pay for it. At the same time, the idea of selling fans on “Tune in to see who wins $1 million!” is a big “meh.” Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms