{"id":500449,"date":"2026-02-26T08:48:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T08:48:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/500449\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T08:48:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T08:48:08","slug":"denny-hamlin-takes-shot-at-nascars-new-2026-all-star-race-format","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/500449\/","title":{"rendered":"Denny Hamlin takes shot at NASCAR’s new 2026 All-Star Race format"},"content":{"rendered":"

Not everyone appears to be a fan of NASCAR<\/a>\u2018s new All-Star Race format for 2026<\/a>, which was revealed on Wednesday. Denny Hamlin took a thinly veiled shot at the setup on Twitter.<\/p>\n

The format will include traditional qualifying on Saturday, May 16, followed by three segments to the race on Sunday. Cars qualifying Saturday will be placed into Segment 1 on Sunday, then the order of finish will be inverted for the top 26 drivers for Segment 2. Segment 3 will include a 200-lap finish.<\/p>\n

\u201cDrivers who fail to qualify will also be presented participation metals on the front stretch after the conclusion of stage 2,\u201d Denny Hamlin wrote on Twitter<\/a>, seemingly taking a shot at how inclusive the field is.<\/p>\n

In any case, it\u2019s a new format for the All-Star Race, which heads to Dover Motor Speedway this year. The race will air live on FS1, with coverage beginning at 1 p.m. ET on May 17.<\/p>\n

You can view a more complete explanation of the All-Star Race format below. NASCAR released the details<\/a> on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

NASCAR\u2019s 2026 All-Star Race Format<\/p>\n

The 2026 All-Star Race will be a 350-lap event split into segments of 75 laps, 75 laps and 200 laps. The All-Star Open is no more and qualifying results will instead determine the entire field for Segment 1. A new pit crew contest \u2014 the Mechanix Wear Pit Crew Challenge \u2014 will be a part of qualifying.<\/p>\n

All cars will start the race and the lineup for Segment 2 will be an inversion of Segment 1\u2019s top 26, with the remaining drivers lined up by finish. In total, 26 drivers will make up the field for the 200-lap Segment 3. The field for the final segment will consist of \u201c2025 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those 26 drivers will race for a $1 million prize. So far, 17 drivers are locked into Segment 3: William Byron, Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott, Tyler Reddick, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Austin Cindric, Ryan Blaney, Josh Berry, Austin Dillon, Chase Briscoe, Ross Chastain, Shane van Gisbergen, Bubba Wallace and Kyle Busch. Of course, that list could grow if a driver not already locked in wins between now and May 10 at Watkins Glen International.<\/p>\n

NASCAR is switching things up for the All-Star Race, which Bell won last year at North Wilkesboro Speedway. Other sports have changed their respective All-Star events in recent years. The NFL<\/a>\u2018s Pro Bowl is now a flag football game, the NBA<\/a> did a USA versus the World format in 2026, and the NHL replaced the All-Star Game with the popular 4 Nations Face-Off in 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Not everyone appears to be a fan of NASCAR\u2018s new All-Star Race format for 2026, which was revealed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":500450,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,82],"class_list":["post-500449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nascar","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=500449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500449\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/500450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=500449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=500449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=500449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}