{"id":506812,"date":"2026-02-27T04:37:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T04:37:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/506812\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T04:37:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T04:37:15","slug":"shane-van-gisbergen-locked-into-2026-nascar-all-star-race-in-dover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/506812\/","title":{"rendered":"Shane van Gisbergen locked into 2026 NASCAR All-Star Race in Dover"},"content":{"rendered":"

NASCAR has unveiled the format and field for the $1 million-to-win 2026 All-Star Race, which is set to be held at Dover Motor Speedway on May 17, with Shane van Gisbergen one of 17 drivers already locked into the field.<\/p>\n

For the first time, the event will be held at Dover, after most recently being contested at North Wilkesboro Speedway, which, in a swap, will be elevated to a full points-paying Cup Series race in 2026.<\/p>\n

The format for the 350-lap event, however, is somewhat convoluted.<\/p>\n

Qualifying runs will incorporate a compulsory four tyre pit stop, which will double as the annual pit crew challenge.<\/p>\n

In a change of tradition, the full field will start the main race, rather than have to deal with an \u2018open\u2019 qualifying race, as had been the case in the past.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

While the qualifying runs will set the field for the initial race start, the second stage line-up will see the top-26 finishers inverted.<\/p>\n

Average finishing positions will determine the order for the final 200-lap stage, which will feature a competition break after around 75 laps.<\/p>\n

Drivers eligible for the final segment include those who have won a points event in either 2025 or 2026, former NASCAR All-Star Race winners who compete full-time, and former NASCAR Cup Series champions who compete full-time.<\/p>\n

The remaining positions will be filled based on the combined results of segments one and two until the field reaches 25 drivers.<\/p>\n

The 26th and final position will be awarded to the NASCAR All-Star Fan Vote winner.<\/p>\n

Last year, SVG won the pole position for the All-Star Open and led the early going, before a strategy misstep mired him in the pack.<\/p>\n

This weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series goes road course racing at the Circuit of the Americas.<\/p>\n

Top Five Moments from the Touring Car Masters<\/p>\n

The V8 Sleuth team have picked our top five moments from the Touring Car Masters class – classic crashes and carnage from the streets of Surfers Paradise and Adelaide, to Bathurst and Darwin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NASCAR has unveiled the format and field for the $1 million-to-win 2026 All-Star Race, which is set to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":506813,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,806,805,803,804,85],"class_list":["post-506812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=506812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/506813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=506812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=506812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=506812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}