After months of speculation, NASCAR has confirmed there will be no changes to its Playoff Format for the 2025 Season. However, this does not rule out changes in the future.
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NASCAR is making even more changes to its All-Star race ahead of the event’s inaugural running at Dover Motor Speedway this season, with a new format that includes a full field of cars.
Ahead of the 2026 season, NASCAR and Speedway Motorsports have reshuffled the deck when it came to their All-Star event, again moving the race to a new track, Dover Motor Speedway, while lending Dover’s race weekend to the event’s former host, North Wilkesboro Speedway.
This move was controversial for a number of reasons, as it gave another points-paying race weekend to a North Carolina race track, stripped Dover of its final points race, and essentially confirmed the race would take place during the daytime, as Dover does not have track lights.
The changes haven’t stopped here, with NASCAR announcing a drastically altered and somewhat complex format for the 2026 All-Star Race on Wednesday afternoon.
This year, NASCAR’s All-Star Race features three key events: Qualifying, the Pit Crew Challenge, and the All-Star Race.
Qualifying will take place on Saturday, May 1, concurrent with the Pit Crew Challenge. Drivers will take three laps, a hot lap, a pit stop on the second lap, and then a final lap, with their qualifying time the combined total from start to finish.
The pit Crew Challenge pit stop on lap two will be four tires, no fuel, and will determine Pit stall selection for Sunday’s All-Star Race.
The full field of qualifiers will make the 350-lap main event on Sunday. This means that drivers make the race regardless of their resume; however, after two 75-lap segments, after segment one, the Top 26 drivers are inverted.
After segment two, only former Cup Series Champions, 2025/20226 race winners, All-Star Race winners, the fan vote winner, and any remaining slots in the 26-car final segment will be filled by the lowest combined finishes of segment one and two.
Very little of the event from 2025, and even those races before then, remain, as NASCAR has scrapped things such as the open race and even expanded the field to 26 drivers, and technically beyond that (which we will get to in a moment).
A welcome return from NASCAR fans is the Pit Crew Challenge, which has led to some interesting battles in the years the race occurred at North Wilkesboro, and with the Next Gen car’s issues on short tracks, pit stall selection could be a make-or-break for any driver.
There is a lot of new information about this format, most of which is controversial.
Many fans are already focusing on the removal of the All-Star Open (a last chance qualifier race for non-qualifying cars), the expansion of the race from 125 miles in 2025 to 350 miles in 2026, and, most importantly, the expansion of the field.
While some are calling this the “All-Car Race” and mocking the end of the race’s “elite” nature, others are pointing out that NASCAR has essentially created another full race weekend that is packed with gimmicks and will not award any championship points.
Nonetheless, others are theorizing that NASCAR could have something else in the works, using this exhibition race as a testing ground for new setups or a new package to help its improving yet still ailing short track package.
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Eric Estepp is joined by Ryan Stevens from WinTheRace.info as left turns give way to left and right this weekend as the Cup Series heads to Circuit of the Americas. With road course racing back on the schedule, the big question is simple: Can anyone stop Shane van Gisbergen?
There are proven winners here, rising stars with massive upside, and veterans looking to reclaim momentum. Add in extra horsepower this year and meaningful practice and qualifying, and the variables only stack higher. From data-driven projections to bold predictions, this COTA preview covers the favorites, the sneaky contenders, and the drivers who could shake up the early-season narrative.
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NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series regular Austin Hill is officially slated to run part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series throughout 2026 with Richard Childress Racing.
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