For 42 years, NASCAR’s All-Star race has been celebrated and criticized. It’s been boring, exciting, and left crew members (and sometimes fans) fighting.
Through the decades its format has changed, and many of the alterations have confused competitors and fans. However, this year’s All-Star race, held for the first time at Dover Motor Speedway and won by Denny Hamlin, may be viewed as the craziest.
First, at age 45, Hamlin became the second-oldest driver to win the All-Star race. Mark Martin’s 2005 victory at age 46 makes him the oldest. Hamlin tied Kevin Harvick and Terry Labonte for the largest gap between All-Star victories—11 years. The Virginia native’s inaugural victory in the non-points event came in 2015.
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However, it was the car crashes that began and ended this year’s first 75-lap segment that showed the wackiness of this year’s All-Star race. These two accidents affected the field for the final 200-lap segment because they included many of the 19 drivers who were guaranteed a starting position in that segment.
In the first All-Star race held during the day since 1991 and the first event without the Open since the All-Star race made its debut in 1985, a move by Ryan Preece on lap 2 triggered the first nine-car crash. When the rear of Preece’s RFK Racing Ford slammed into the wall, it erupted in flames. Preece escaped his burning car uninjured, but he was out of the event as were Todd Gilliland and Cole Custer. A 13-minute 26-second red flag halted the race while the track was cleared.
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During the red flag, Kyle Larson’s and Ryan Blaney’s crews formulated a repair plan for their damaged race cars. Once the red flag was lifted, the crews immediately began their frantic but precision-like work in an effort to get their cars ready for the final segment. Their drivers were guaranteed starting positions in the final segment due to their victories last year and this season. Cars driven by Chase Elliott, Michael McDowell, Daniel Suarez, and John Hunter Nemechek suffered damage but continued.
Then came the second nine-car crash that ended the first segment. That crash eliminated Elliott, Nemechek, and Chris Buescher. Riley Herbst, Kyle Busch, Zane Smith, Christopher Bell, A.J. Allmendinger, and Erik Jones were also involved.
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A three-car crash during the second 75-lap segment eliminated Ross Chastain and sent Bubba Wallace and Brad Keselowski to the garage for repairs. At one point during the second segment, there were so many cars under repair that Larson likened the garage scene to an “arts and crafts class.”
The crashes in the first two segments resulted in eight drivers, instead of six, transferring into the final 200-lap segment. Suarez advanced with the fan vote for a total of nine drivers. That’s two more drivers transferring than originally planned.
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Kyle Larson.
Larson made it into the final segment but took his Chevrolet to the garage after 134 of the 200 laps when he lost the power steering. Tyler Reddick was third with 32 laps remaining when his Toyota broke a power steering belt. Tire issues and a brush with the wall sent Ty Gibbs to the garage while a wreck sidelined Joey Logano at the 137-lap mark.
Cup rookie Connor Zilisch, who has struggled this season, finished fifth after overcoming an equipment interference penalty on pit road when he pitted during the caution period at lap 75. That penalty left him 21st on the restart.
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Yes, it was a wacky race. In fact, with the exception of Hamlin in victory lane, the top 10 finishers probably weren’t envisioned by anyone. Those drivers represented eight different teams – Joe Gibbs Racing, Legacy Motor Club, Richard Childress Racing, Trackhouse Racing, Team Penske, Hendrick Motorsports, Spire Motorsports and RFK Racing.
Erik Jones in third and Austin Dillon in fourth definitely raised some eyebrows. Austin Cindric led Team Penske and Ford with his sixth-place finish while William Byron in seventh paced Hendrick Motorsports. McDowell came back from the first nine-car crash to finish eighth and Keselowski recovered from his three-car wreck that left him backing down pit road to take 10th. After missing several races due to vertigo, Alex Bowman walked away with ninth.
Motorsports history may focus on Hamlin’s dominance in the three-segment event, but there’s no doubt it was one of the craziest in the All-Star race’s history.
A North Carolina native, Deb Williams is an award-winning motorsports journalist who is in her fourth decade covering auto racing. In addition to covering the sport for United Press International, she has written motorsports articles for several newspapers, magazines and websites including espnW.com, USA Today, and The Charlotte Observer. Her awards include the American Motorsports Media Award of Excellence, two-time National Motorsports Press Association writer of the year, and two-time recipient of the Russ Catlin award. She also has won an award in the North Carolina Press Association’s sports feature category. During her career, Deb has been managing editor of GT Motorsports magazine and was with Winston Cup Scene and NASCAR Winston Cup Scene for 18 years, serving as the publication’s editor for 10 years. In 2024 she was inducted into the NMPA Hall of Fame.