At its heart, the NASCAR All-Star Fan Vote is very simple, but some minor quirks throw some wrenches into the process. Here is how All-Star fan voting works for fans who want to vote for their favorite driver to race in the All-Star Race.
Fans can vote on NASCAR.com/fanvote, and they can vote up to 5 times per day. Plenty of big-name drives are on the list.
A total of 18 drivers are currently on the fan vote ballot, including every chartered but not currently qualified name for the All-Star Race. Drivers in the All-Star race include race winners from the start of 2023 onwards, past All-Star Race winners, and past Champions. Everyone else is included in the fan vote, including the following drivers.
Some drivers have already begun campaigning for fans to vote them into the main event. Justin Haley had perhaps the most creative fan vote campaign to this point.
Carson Hocevar looked to Napoleon Dynamite for inspiration, parodying the “Vote for Pedro” bit from the movie.
There are some small caveats with the fan vote, however, since there are two other avenues for drivers to be allowed into the All-Star Race.
One way is winning one of the final 3 races before the All-Star Race. If any of the fan vote-eligible drivers win one of these 3 races, they will be removed from the ballot. It’s worth noting that Erik Jones (Darlington), Bubba Wallace (Kansas), and Alex Bowman (Dover) have each won at the tracks that come before the All-Star Race.
Drivers can also qualify for the All-Star Race through the All-Star Open. The top 2 finishers in that race automatically transfer into the All-Star Race. In 2023, Josh Berry and Ty Gibbs finished in the top-2 in the Open, transferring into the main event.
Fan vote favorites have transferred in through the Open before, allowing other drivers to get into the race through the fan vote. For example, in 2012, Dale Earnhardt Jr. raced his way into the All-Star Race through the Open, which allowed Bobby Labonte to race in the All-Star Race through the fan vote.
The fan vote is one of the most interesting parts of All-Star Weekend, and it gives drivers more of a reason to reach out to fans nad frow their audience. Which driver will woo the fans the most this weekend?
The NASCAR Truck Series breaks off from the main touring series schedule this weekend, but that doesn’t mean the O’Reilly Auto Parts and Cup Series aren’t racing. So, whether you are going to be at the track or home, what does the forecast look like for the race weekend in Austin, Texas?
Before the OAP Series Race (11:00 AM – 2:00 PM)
During the OAP Series Race (2:00 PM – 5:00 PM)
After the OAP Series Race (5:00 PM – 8:00 PM)
Before the Cup Series Race (11:00 AM – 2:00 PM)
During the Cup Series Race (2:00 PM – 5:00 PM)
After the Cup Series Race (5:00 PM – 8:00 PM)
When the three NASCAR National Series rolled into Austin for COTA’s first NASCAR race weekend in 2021, no one could have guessed the chaos that lay in wait. A major rain shower did not prevent the series from racing that day, as, though it was still somewhat foreign at the time, NASCAR sent the Cup Series out in the rain for a chaotic race, ultimately won by Chase Elliott.
Note: This article will be updated with a more accurate and detailed forecast as the race weekend nears.
After back-to-back drafting tracks, NASCAR’s three National Series split ways as the O’Reilly Auto Parts and Cup Series head for Circuit of the Americas, and the Truck Series makes its debut at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
This information will be available when NASCAR releases it on Monday afternoon.
Note: This article will be updated as more information about the weekend comes out.
Just like that, the first two weeks of the NASCAR season are in the books. After kicking the season off at Daytona, the sport headed up north to EchoPark Speedway for back-to-back superspeedway action. The Cup series saw a familiar face in victory lane, as Tyler Reddick went 2-for-2 to start the year.
In the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, Sheldon Creed finally got the monkey off his back, thanks to help from Ross Chastain, and won his first career O’Reilly Auto Parts race. In Trucks, Kyle Busch continued his EchoPark dominance, taking home the checkered flag in familiar Hendrick colors, well, familiar two decades ago.
Now, how was the racing as a whole? Where do the races stack up against each other? Let’s take a look at my Race Weekend Rankings and see where the EchoPark weekend ranks among the rest of the 2026 season!
Check out the latest episode of The Cutline, where Armany broke down the weekend at Atlanta, alongside NASCAR_Opinion.
You can follow along with Armany by creating your own Race Weekend Rankings Tier List. Make sure to tag Armany and The Daily Downforce on X, and we’ll share your list with the rest of the NASCAR Community.
