NASCAR fans weren’t the only ones wishing for more after the 2026 All-Star Race at Dover Motor Speedway, as race winner Denny Hamlin agreed that the track needs a points race back for the 2027 season.
Denny Hamlin walked away from Dover Motor Speedway with the NASCAR All-Star Race victory and the $1 million prize, and by every measure, the event delivered chaos, crashes, strategy swings, and enough junked sheet metal to stock up merch haulers for weeks to come.
Yet even after that, Hamlin stated that Dover, in his view, belongs on the Cup Series points schedule and not as the home of the All-Star Race, which he would prefer to run under the lights instead of during the day.
“I don’t know if it’s just me, but I feel like an All-Star Race should be at night. I don’t even care where it is. Night was always something that was always… I’m not trying to throw mud. They did as good as they possibly could given where they put this track in the schedule and whatnot. But at night somewhere… I definitely prefer Dover as a points race.” — Denny Hamlin
Multiple drivers spent the weekend pointing out that the event never truly carried the atmosphere of an All-Star Race.
The length of the race, the physical grind, the nonstop wrecks, and the overall feel of the weekend left many in the garage saying the event resembled a full points race. Even Hamlin, despite cashing the winning check, echoed the same concern. As Hamlin explained,
“There’s no other track like this on our schedule. It is so unique, and it requires such a unique style of driving, far different from any oval we go to that you can’t lose tracks like this in our points schedule,” Hamlin said. “I just think it’s too valuable. The fans really, really are passionate here. I’m a fan of this place.”
However, Hamlin’s stance was not new. Even last year, when NASCAR first announced plans to move the All-Star Race to Dover Motor Speedway, he publicly questioned the decision ahead of time.
Speaking on his Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin argued that the concrete “Monster Mile” needs 30 to 40 laps before the surface begins producing enough tire wear and grip changes to create passing opportunities. In his eyes, that characteristic ran against the grain of the short-segment structure traditionally associated with the All-Star format.
Hamlin’s feelings about the weekend extended across the garage area. Hamlin’s own teammate, Chase Briscoe, whom Hamlin outdueled for the win, admitted to Matt Weaver of Motorsport afterward that the race never felt like an All-Star event.
Briscoe suggested the daytime setting may have contributed to that feeling. Alongside drivers such as Bubba Wallace and Chase Elliott, Briscoe described the weekend as something far closer to a standard points-paying race, something the race’s distance, 50 miles less than the track’s 2025 points race, only added to that sentiment.
Part of that structure stemmed from NASCAR and Speedway Motorsports Incorporated choosing not to shorten the event at a venue that already hosts a full Cup Series points race.
In an attempt to create an “open race” style format, the first portion of the event featured the full field along with inversions and eliminations built into the format. Instead of creating a sprint-style exhibition race (as they usually do), the structure left many Cup Series drivers feeling as though they had simply completed another full-length race at one of the sport’s toughest venues.
The conversation around Dover and even the NASCAR All-Star Race now shifts toward 2027 and whether NASCAR chooses to listen to the garage area once again.
Drivers have now made their stance public from nearly every corner of the field, and the sanctioning body will have another decision to make about whether Dover remains the venue of the All-Star experiment or returns to what, as many believe, suits the “Monster Mile” best, which is a return to a points race.
Stay close to the on-track action this weekend and every weekend by following our Race Weekend Dashboard for everything you need to know before, during, and after the race. Share your thoughts by joining the discussion on Discord or X, and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube for further updates.
