The NASCAR All-Star Race has a new home this year, and it’s one of the sport’s most demanding venues.
Dover Motor Speedway is hosting the All-Star Race for the first time, marking the first time the event has landed in the Northeast.
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When the Cup Series takes the green flag on May 17, it will be the first time in the track’s history, stretching back to 1969 across 107 races, that Dover hosts a race without points on the line.
A million dollars in prize money on a concrete mile with no championship consequence. That’s the reward for this weekend’s racing.
The format splits the action across 350 laps and three segments, with the final 200-lap run narrowed down to just 26 drivers – the rest of the field is eliminated.
Nineteen drivers are locked in for the finale automatically, with six additional spots determined by the first two 75-lap segments, plus the fan vote winner.
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With no points implications attached to the outcome, expect aggressive strategy, bold restarts, and drivers willing to take risks they’d never consider on a normal Sunday.
Track crews have also applied resin to the corners of the Monster Mile this week to open up multiple lanes around the one-mile oval , so the racing surface itself should provide more than one line through the corners.
How to Watch Every Race This Weekend
The All-Star Race goes green at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday, May 17, broadcasting live on FS1, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
The full weekend across all three national series looks like this:
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Friday, May 15 – 5:00 PM ET: NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series ECOSAVE 200 on FS1
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Saturday, May 16 – 4:00 PM ET: O’Reilly Auto Parts Series BetRivers 200 on The CW
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Sunday, May 17 – 1:00 PM ET: NASCAR Cup Series All-Star Race on FS1
For FS1 broadcasts, the channel is available through standard cable and satellite providers, and streams via Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV, Fubo, and Sling TV.
The FOX Sports App and FOX Sports website also carry the feed, and while both are free to download on iOS and Android, a verified pay-TV provider login is required to actually watch.
The CW, carrying Saturday’s O’Reilly Series race, is a free over-the-air channel accessible with a digital antenna in most US markets and is included in standard cable packages and major live TV streaming platforms.
For those who’d rather listen than watch, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio and PRN have the radio call covered all weekend.
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SiriusXM carries NASCAR coverage on Channel 90.
A Race Worth Tuning In For
This is the 42nd running of the All-Star Race, and the first time it’s been contested on a one-mile oval.
While the result doesn’t move the championship needle, the All-Star Race has proven to be an oddly reliable predictor – 13 All-Star winners have gone on to claim the Cup Series title, including Chase Elliott in 2020, Kyle Larson in 2021, and Joey Logano in 2024.
Nineteen drivers are already locked into Sunday’s final segment, including points leader Tyler Reddick alongside fellow 2026 race winners Ty Gibbs and Carson Hocevar.
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Also in the field are Shane Van Gisbergen, Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe, William Byron, Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Austin Dillon, Ross Chastain, Josh Berry, Austin Cindric, Joey Logano, Bubba Wallace, and defending All-Star winner Christopher Bell.
The $1 million prize has been unchanged since 2003, and several drivers have noted that inflation has quietly eroded its value over the years – though nobody’s turning it down. The green flag drops at 1 p.m. ET Sunday on FS1.
