Denny Hamlin Wins NASCAR All-Star Race Amid Crashes and Format Changes
-
Hamlin outduels Briscoe for 2nd All-Star Race win Denny Hamlin edged teammate Chase Briscoe on Sunday to win NASCAR's All-Star Race, which saw several crashes during the first two segments collect more than half the 36-car field.
Compare 3 other versions
Fox SportsHere are my takeaways: 1. Hamlin Proves Triumphant Hamlin won the All-Star Race for the second time in his career and first in 11 years. He was dominant, withstanding a challenge by Joe Gbibs Racing teammate Chase Briscoe during the final stage.
Yahoo SportsPrior to the relatively clean final segment, the NASCAR All-Star Race featured a very rough opening 150 laps. The first 75-lap segment featured two separate crashes, which swept up a total of 20 cars. And the final 11-car melee of the segment led to Chase Elliott missing out on the final segment of the All-Star Race.
CBS SportsThe 2026 NASCAR All-Star Race takes place on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET, with Dover Motor Speedway hosting the exhibition for the first time. Christopher Bell is the defending champion, while Kyle Larson has won this race three times since 2019. However, with Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch both being three-time NASCAR Dover winners, it won't be easy to make NASCAR All-Star Race picks. The event will have a full field of 36 drivers for the first two stages before whittling down to 26 drivers for the 200-lap final stage.
-
"I’m fine," Preece said in his FOX interview after exiting the medical center. "If it was my fault, I’m sorry. A tough way not to finish a race on Lap 1."
-
So a format was devised where the event would be 350 laps broken into segments of 75, 75 and 200 with the field reduced from 36 to 26 after the first two segments. Race winners from 2025 and 2026 and past champions were guaranteed to be in the final segment.
-
4. Big Run For Erik Jones Legacy Motor Club driver Erik Jones finished third. And while this was an exhibition event, it was a solid day for a driver who had to race his way into the final segment.
-
"We’ve been pretty bad at Dover the last handful of years, so I know it is a little bit of a unique deal, but a great run," Jones said after the race, according to a Toyota release.
-
Jones is 25th in the series standings. 4 ½. What’s Next The longest race on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule awaits as the traditional 600-mile race in Charlotte will cap the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend.
-
At least the All-Star Race got drivers ready for a long event but certainly a more straight-forward event.
-
Chase Briscoe +1100 William Byron +1400 Ty Gibbs +1400 Alex Bowman +1900 Carson Hocevar +1900
Compare 1 other version
Fox SportsChase Briscoe Erik Jones Austin Dillon Connor Zilisch Austin Cindric William Byron
-
Preece’s No. 60 Ford made a heavy impact with the outside wall, causing the rear end to explode in flames. Preece climbed out unscathed and was quickly seen and released from the track’s infield care center.
-
We got got some early trouble in the All-Star Race 🤯 - FOX Sports We got got some early trouble in the All-Star Race 🤯 FOX Sports
3 details only one outlet reported
Independent claims that didn't surface elsewhere in our corpus. Treat as supplementary — not corroborated across outlets.
-
01 Yahoo Sports But the crowd turnout was important, too. As NASCAR continues to debate which racing sites should be prioritized into the future, the crowd turnout on Sunday afternoon was sending a clear, perfect message.
-
02 Fox Sports Although it's a NASCAR Cup Series exhibition event, this is Hamlin's second victory of the 2026 season after he won the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway back in March.
-
03 CBS Sports Mike McClure's computer model reveals its surprising picks and NASCAR Dover props for the NASCAR All-Star Race 2026 on Sunday
Fact Corroboration
Which sources independently confirm the same facts. Hover a claim to see its sources, or a source to see what it corroborates.
Coverage by Region
Source Similarity
Connections show how similarly each outlet covered this story. Thicker lines = more similar framing.
Sources (4)
- foxsports
- yahoosports
- espn
- cbssports