Denny Hamlin Wins Treacherous Dover All-Star Race

Denny Hamlin won the NASCAR All-Star Race at Dover Motor Speedway on Sunday, netting him the coveted $1 million prize. The Joe Gibbs Racing veteran is now a two-time All Star Race winner following his 2015 triumph Charlotte Motor Speedway.

“It makes it a lot easier when we’ve got a car this fast,” Hamlin said. “The game-changer for us was long runs, and obviously the ability to pass when we’re behind someone.”

In the final stage of the race Hamlin successfully navigated around teammate Chase Briscoe for the lead. Briscoe held onto second to complete a JGR sweep of the top-two. Erik Jones, Austin Dillon, and Connor Zilisch rounded out the top five.

“I knocked the wall down in practice and we basically rebuilt the car,” Briscoe said. “For them to be able to just get the car back to where it was competitive says a lot about the guys.”

All-Star Race Format

For 2026, NASCAR adopted a brand new format for the All-Star Race. All full-time drivers began the race for two 75-lap stages. The top 26 drivers were inverted after Stage 1; the first-place driver would drop to 26th, the runner-up to 25th, and so on with the 26th-place driver inheriting the lead.

At the end of the first two segments, the two drivers with the highest average finish would be awarded a place in the main event, along with the winner of NASCAR’s ongoing fan vote. As fate would have it, enough cars wrecked in the opening two segments that more than two drivers moved on in order to create a full field in Stage 3.

Early Calamity

We’re got some early trouble in the All-Star Race. pic.twitter.com/XvCZG5kVnK

— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) May 17, 2026

The racing Sunday was chaotic from moments after the drop of the green flag. On Lap 2, a nine-car crash kicked off following contact between Ryan Preece and Todd Gilliland. Preece’s No. 60 Ford appeared to drift down across the nose of Gilliland’s No. 34 Ford, triggering a pileup. The incident also involved Ryan Blaney, Cole Custer, Kyle Larson, Michael McDowell, John Hunter Nemechek, and Daniel Suárez.

“It was probably close on my part to go into Turn 1,” Preece said after being released from the infield care center. “If it was my fault, I’m sorry.” The red flag was waved shortly after the wreck as crews extinguished Preece’s flaming RFK Racing Ford.

More havoc ensued on Lap 73 when Riley Herbst was turned following contact from Alex Bowman. Once again, multiple cars were collected: A.J. Allmendinger, Christopher Bell, Josh Berry, Chris Buescher, Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, and John Hunter Nemechek.

Early in the second segment of the race, two drivers already locked into the All-Star Race finale were caught in an incident. Ross Chastain appeared to drive down in front of Brad Keselowski, sending both cars spinning. Chastain’s day was ended in the incident, while Keselowski was able to re-enter in the third stage after making repairs.

Transferring to the Main Event

Due the volume of All-Star drivers eliminated in incidents, nine drivers advanced who were not locked in entering the race. A.J. Allmendinger, Alex Bowman, Ty Dillon, Noah Gragson, Erik Jones, Michel McDowell, Ricky Stenhouse Jr, and Connor Zilisch advanced via their performances in the opening stages. Daniel Suárez made it by finishing highest in the fan vote among the remaining drivers.

Out of the drivers who were still running at the end of the first two segments, only three didn’t advance to the All-Star Finale: Riley Herbst, Zane Smith, and Cody Ware. Smith would’ve also advanced had Kyle Larson’s crew been unable to repair his No. 5 Chevrolet.

Race Results