Chase Elliott said it succinctly.
“This feels like a normal weekend,” said the 2020 Cup Series champion during media availabilities for the All-Star Race at Dover on Friday afternoon. “It feels like a normal weekend. I would say this feels the least like an All-Star weekend that we’ve ever had in my career.
“I don’t know if it’s just because I’m not used to having an All-Star Race here but this feels like an October weekend, almost, with the weather today being cooler and whatnot. It reminds me of the old fall weekend more than anything else.
“But yeah, I’m sure as we get closer to Sunday it might feel a little bit more like an All-Star weekend but right now, this feels like a totally normal Dover points race.”
Bubba Wallace had a similar experience.
“I woke up on Monday morning and was like, ‘where are we racing at on Sunday’ and was like ‘oh yeah, Dover, All Star, and doesn’t feel like All Star week so that sucks,” Wallace said. “From a fan standpoint, the All-Star hasn’t been anything like it was back in the heyday. I know that. I was part of that indirectly, back when we did Speed Street, and that was really cool.
“So then it changed, and we felt like we needed to go with the changes and all that, moved it around. I liked having it at Wilkesboro … but moving it to Dover … and listen, Dover is one of my favorite race tracks to drive on, one of my favorite tracks ever. I don’t have anything bad to say about Dover but the racing itself and it’s a part of what we have to do deal with. …
“It just doesn’t feel like All-Star weekend. It just feels like another race weekend. I’m having to tell myself this weekend doesn’t really matter so go out there and try different things. It’s just ‘blah’ and I hate that. I hate that for our sport. I hate that for the fans. We need to have some fun interactions and All-Star type vibes and we don’t get that here, unfortunately.”
To wit, when the All-Star Race starts on Sunday afternoon, a full field will take the green flag even if there will be eliminations by the halfway point of the 350 lap total proceedings.
However, Carson Hocevar says the entire field taking the green flag with him, kind of makes him winning his way into the main event at Talladega a little less special.
“I’m like, ‘Dang it, I don’t even get that satisfaction of being an All-Star. They’re going to be racing with me,’” Hocevar said. “It’ll feel good when those cars get eliminated at least and everything, and we get to stay out there.”
Now, the first half of the race kind of combines the heat races with the All-Star Open but Denny Hamlin feels similar to Hocevar about the entire day on Sunday.
“My knee-jerk (reaction) when I saw it was if we’re all going to be racing on Sunday, is it really that special?” said Hamlin. “So, I think it does take away a little bit. Surely it does.”
It’s becoming harder-and-harder for NASCAR to make an exhibition feel different than a normal points race because so much of what has been introduced from the All-Star Race over the past three decades are now part of the weekly fabric of the sport.
Double file restarts, overtime, the race where nothing but winning matters, etc. …
To that last point, 2012 Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski says the All-Star Race actually feels unique again now that the Cup Series uses a points-based system and the Chase for the Championship.
“I still like the idea of an All-Star Race,” Keselowski said. “ I know there are some detractors but I think that’s probably better served about The Clash than this race. I like the idea that we can just do some fun things with the format with this race and not feel any guilt over it.
“I particularly feel like the All-Star Race is significantly more relevant with the points format we have now where it’s truly a win or go home thing, and with the playoffs, it didn’t make as much sense.”
But again, when NASCAR has taken every gimmick … for the lack of a better term … from the All-Star Race and standardized it, what else is there left to do to make this race feel unique?
Elliott agreed with the basis of the question.
“You’re right, we have tried a lot of different things, and historically, a short shootout sounds good on paper but I think, as time as gone on, our racing gets better the longer a run,” Elliott said. “So I think that has worked against us in this race.
“So, like, the 75-lap runs this weekend are kind of interesting right? It forces us to run longer, or it could, at least. But I don’t know what levers we haven’t pulled that we haven’t tried already.
“The longer the runs for this race, I do think is a good thing, generally speaking, but beyond that, I don’t know because I haven’t put a lot of thought into it.”
Tyler Reddick made a joke about the 550 package.
“There was a couple of them that got pulled that I wish they didn’t” Reddick said with a laugh.
NA18D.
“450 horsepower, not good that one,” he said referencing the 2018 race that led the sport down a generally maligned place from 2019-to-2022.
For the 2025 All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro, NASCAR and the teams discussed using a open rules package but couldn’t reach terms over likely needing to throw away those cars after that weekend.
This year, NASCAR wanted to test out a new splitter on the short track package but Denny Hamlin says it didn’t happen due to a manufacturing issue.
“Yeah, some stuff got batted around but ultimately they were going to try some new splitter stuff but just didn’t have the manufacturer didn’t do a great job with quality control,” said Hamlin. “So they wanted to make sure that it was the same for everybody so it’s best to just kind of put a pause on that.
“I would love to use this race at some point to kind of – have that different package that you can try in a race condition because we try them during tests and you just don’t get the real thing until you get all the cars out there and get them working. Hopefully, it’s on the horizon, and hopefully, eventually we can get the nose of these cars down, the backs of them up, and go racing.”
Keselowski echoed those sentiments.
“I don’t know all the manufacturing idiosyncrasies of why it didn’t work but I do know NASCAR is trying to help improve the racing, and the ability of these cars to race,” Keselowski said.
“I will say the NextGen car is phenomenal with respect to being able to race side-by-side … It’s harder to get side-by-side but when they do, they race really well together, and that’s part of the uniqueness of the NASCAR NextGen car.
“So what NASCAR is trying to do is get the car to where it still races great side-by-side but gets better at racing nose-to-tail, and close in on someone. So whether that’s the underbody or the splitter, I think that is their goal, and it’s a good one to have.”
For future All-Star Race formats, Ryan Blaney wants NASCAR to allow a fan to draw a Power Ball style number for a late invert.
“I mean, NASCAR was going to try a different splitter here but the production just didn’t work out,” Blaney said. “So NASCAR wanted to do something different for this race and it didn’t work out.
“There are always options. You can try things with the race car in the All-Star Race, but I think it would be cool for a fan to do the Power Ball to decide how many get inverted. They do that on short tracks and dirt tracks. But you only find out after the segment ends.
“That would be fun and my idea to throw into the hat.”
Ultimately, for his part, Hamlin doesn’t know what to do with this race moving forward.
“It’s tough to say,” Hamlin said. “There’s certainly a balance there between kind of novelty and then purest racing. So, it is a little bit different. I haven’t quite a ton of effort into thinking about it to, if I would, maybe have a portion of my brain to have time to think about what could we do to fix the All-Star race or weekend? If it is broke, I don’t know.
“I just haven’t. I’m sure there’s little things you can do, but obviously we’re going to run 350 laps around here this weekend. I mean, that’s a race. It’s a normal race weekend. We’re going to approach it that way.”
Photos from All-Star Race – Friday
All-Star Race – Friday, in photos
All-Star Race – Friday, in photos
All-Star Race – Friday, in photos
All-Star Race – Friday, in photos
All-Star Race – Friday, in photos
All-Star Race – Friday, in photos
All-Star Race – Friday, in photos
All-Star Race – Friday, in photos
All-Star Race – Friday, in photos
All-Star Race – Friday, in photos
All-Star Race – Friday, in photos
All-Star Race – Friday, in photos
All-Star Race – Friday, in photos
All-Star Race – Friday, in photos
All-Star Race – Friday, in photos
All-Star Race – Friday, in photos
All-Star Race – Friday, in photos
All-Star Race – Friday, in photos
All-Star Race – Friday, in photos
All-Star Race – Friday, in photos
All-Star Race – Friday, in photos
All-Star Race – Friday, in photos
All-Star Race – Friday, in photos
All-Star Race – Friday, in photos
All-Star Race – Friday, in photos
All-Star Race – Friday, in photos
All-Star Race – Friday, in photos
All-Star Race – Friday, in photos
All-Star Race – Friday, in photos
All-Star Race – Friday, in photos
All-Star Race – Friday, in photos
All-Star Race – Friday, in photos
All-Star Race – Friday, in photos
All-Star Race – Friday, in photos
All-Star Race – Friday, in photos
All-Star Race – Friday, in photos
All-Star Race – Friday, in photos
All-Star Race – Friday, in photos
All-Star Race – Friday, in photos
All-Star Race – Friday, in photos
All-Star Race – Friday, in photos
All-Star Race – Friday, in photos
All-Star Race – Friday, in photos
All-Star Race – Friday, in photos
All-Star Race – Friday, in photos
All-Star Race – Friday, in photos
All-Star Race – Friday, in photos
All-Star Race – Friday, in photos
All-Star Race – Friday, in photos
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