Denny Hamlin etched himself as a two-time NASCAR All-Star Race champion after he capped off a bizarre, chaotic, and dominant run to beat teammate Chase Briscoe and win the featured event at Dover Motor Speedway on Sunday, May 17.
The three-time Daytona 500 champion from Chesterfield, Virginia, started on pole position and dominated the All-Star Race’s first segment, where he led a race-high 53 laps before settling in the runner-up spot. After capturing a third-place result behind Tyler Reddick and teammate Chase Briscoe following the second segment, Hamlin was awarded the first-place starting spot for the third and final segment. This was due to achieving the lowest average finishing result between the first two segments.
After spending the final segment primarily swapping and battling for the lead with Reddick and Briscoe, Hamlin executed a race-winning crossover move on Briscoe with 30 laps remaining to assume the lead for the final time. From there, Hamlin, who led on five instances throughout the final segment, motored away from Briscoe to storm to his second All-Star Race career victory and first in 11 years.
The event’s starting lineup was determined in an on-track qualifying session. Each of the 36 competitors (those already locked into the All-Star Race and those who were not locked in) entered to compete in the event. This involved taking the green flag and completing a full cycle around Dover at full speed individually. During the second lap, the competitors would enter pit road, pit for four tires with no fuel added, re-enter the track, and race back to the checkered flag. The total time from the green flag to the checkered flag determined the event’s starting lineup.
At the conclusion of Saturday’s qualifying session, Denny Hamlin won his second All-Star pole position after he notched a three-lap qualifying trial run at 98.812 mph in 109.298 seconds. Brad Keselowski clocked in the second-fastest trial run at 98.682 mph in 109.442 seconds to start on the front row.
During the qualifying session, Zane Smith’s No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford team won the 2026 Mechanix Wear Pit Crew Challenge after they posted the fastest four-tire pit service at 12.612 seconds. As a result, they earned the competition’s $100,000 prize and the first pit stall selection for Sunday’s All-Star Race while Smith qualified in 25th place for the main event.
Before the event, AJ Allmendinger (unapproved adjustments), Cole Custer (unapproved adjustments), Daniel Suarez (backup car) and Cody Ware (unapproved adjustments) dropped to the rear of the field.
Entering the 2026 All-Star Race event, the competitors who were guaranteed starting spots for all three segments of the 2026 All-Star Race included Christopher Bell, Josh Berry, Ryan Blaney, Chase Briscoe, Kyle Busch, William Byron, Ross Chastain, Austin Cindric, Austin Dillon, Chase Elliott, Ty Gibbs, Denny Hamlin, Carson Hocevar, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Kyle Larson, Tyler Reddick, Shane van Gisbergen and Bubba Wallace.
Those who were only guaranteed starting spots for the first two segments include Zane Smith, Noah Gragson, Daniel Suarez, Ty Dillon, AJ Allmendinger, Chris Buescher, Todd Gilliland, Riley Herbst, Cole Custer, John Hunter Nemechek, Erik Jones, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Alex Bowman, Cody Ware, Ryan Preece, Michael McDowell, and Connor Zilisch. As a result, they were tasked with securing the lowest combined finishing result between the first two stages, where only the top six competitors who achieved this task would transfer. The All-Star Race’s 26th and final starting spot would be awarded to the Fan Vote Winner.
First Segment
When the green flag waved, and the first segment commenced, Brad Keselowski, who started on the inside lane, motored past pole-sitter Denny Hamlin to assume the lead through the first two turns. Just after Keselowksi led the first lap, the event’s first caution flew when, amid a series of three-wide racing within the field, Ryan Preece made contact with Todd Gilliland while trying to steer to the left in front of Gilliland through the frontstretch. The contact got the latter duo along with Kyle Larson sideways before the trio wrecked hard against the outside wall through the first turn and left Preece’s damaged entry on fire. Other competitors involved included Cole Custer, Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, John Hunter Nemechek, Michael McDowell and Daniel Suarez. The event was placed in a red flag period for 13 minutes and 26 seconds.
Once the red flag lifted and the event restarted under green on the sixth lap, the field fanned out as Keselowski used the inside lane to muscle ahead of Hamlin through the first two turns and the backstretch. Keselowski led the next lap and continued to lead at the Lap 10 mark, while Hamlin, William Byron, Ross Chastain, and Bubba Wallace followed suit.
On Lap 18, Hamlin drew himself beneath Keselowski amid a tight side-by-side battle and led a lap for himself. Amid Keselowski’s brief challenge through the fronstretch, Hamlin used the inside lane to motor ahead through the first two turns. Hamlin proceeded to lead by seven-tenths of a second on Lap 20, more than two seconds by Lap 25 and more than three seconds at the Lap 30 mark while Keselowski retained the runner-up spot ahead of Byron, Chastain, Wallace, Tyler Reddick, Erik Jones, Christopher Bell, Kyle Busch and Joey Logano, respectively.
At the first segment’s halfway mark between Laps 37 and 38, Hamlin extended his advantage to more than four seconds over Byron as Byron overtook Keselowski for the runner-up spot on Lap 32. Behind, Wallace moved up to fourth place in front of Chastain. Reddick, Bell, Busch, Jones and Logano, while Chase Briscoe, Ty Gibbs, Austin Cindric, Carson Hover, Alex Bowman, Noah Gragson, Austin Dillon, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Connor Zilisch and Josh Berry trailed in the top 20. They were ahead of Ty Dillon, Riley Herbst, Michael McDowell, Chase Elliott, Shane van Gisbergen, AJ Allmendinger, John Hunter Nemechek, Chris Buescher and Zane Smith, all of whom were scored on the lead lap, respectively.
By Lap 50, Hamlin stabilized his advantage to more than four seconds over Byron while Wallace trailed in third place by more than five seconds. Behind, teammate Reddick battled Keselowski for fourth place as Chastain, Bell, Busch, Jones and Briscoe raced in the top 10, with Briscoe trailing the lead by double digits. Hamlin continued to lead by more than four seconds just past the Lap 60 mark while Wallace trailed in the runner-up spot over Byron, Reddick and Chastain.
On Lap 62, the event’s second caution flew when Carson Hocevar blew a right-front tire and went dead straight into the outside wall through Turns 3 and 4. During this caution period, some including Byron, Reddick, Suarez, Jones, Ty Gibbs, Austin Dillon, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Kyle Busch, Michael McDowell, Noah Gragson, Ty Dillon, Zane Smith, Josh Berry, AJ Allmendinger, Chris Buescher and John Hunter Nemechek, pitted while the rest led by Hamlin remained on the track. During the pit stops, Busch received a penalty for speeding on pit road.
With the first segment restarting with six laps remaining, Hamlin briefly rocketed away from the outside lane through the frontstretch before Wallace drag-raced against Hamlin for nearly a full lap. Then through Turns 3 and 4, Wallace overtook Hamlin for the lead and he led the next lap while the field behind fanned out and jostled for spots.
With three laps remaining in the first segment period, the caution returned when a multi-car wreck erupted through the frontstretch that involved Kyle Busch, Riley Herbst, Elliott, Zane Smith, Nemechek, Bell, Allmendinger, Jones and Buescher. The incident was enough for the first segment period scheduled to conclude on Lap 75 to officially conclude under caution. At the mark, Wallace was leading ahead of Hamlin, Chastain, Briscoe, Keselowski, Cindric, Byron, Logano, Austin Dillon and Reddick, respectively.
At the conclusion of the first segment, there were five lead changes for three different leaders, and a total of three cautions.
Segment 1 Results:
- Bubba Wallace led six laps
- Denny Hamlin, 53 laps led
- Ross Chastain
- Chase Briscoe
- Brad Keselowski, 16 laps led
- Austin Cindric
- William Byron
- Joey Logano
- Austin Dillon
- Tyler Reddick
- Connor Zilisch
- Michael McDowell
- Erik Jones
- Alex Bowman
- Ty Gibbs
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Ty Dillon
- Josh Berry
- Noah Gragson
- Shane van Gisbergen
- Zane Smith
- AJ Allmendinger
- Chris Buescher
- Christopher Bell, two laps down
- Riley Herbst, three laps down
- John Hunter Nemechek, three laps down
- Kyle Busch, three laps down
- Chase Elliott, three laps down
- Carson Hocevar – OUT, Accident
- Daniel Suarez, nine laps down
- Cody Ware, 16 laps down
- Ryan Blaney – OUT, Accident
- Kyle Larson – OUT, Accident
- Todd Gilliland – OUT, Accident
- Ryan Preece – OUT, Accident
- Cole Custer – OUT, Accident
Second Segment
Before the second segment, the entire field was pitted during the first segment’s break period. In addition, the second segment’s lineup was inverted for the top-26 finishers from the first segment’s results. The remaining competitors that finished 27th through 36th retained their respective starting lineup spots. Based on the inversion, Nemechek was awarded the pole position for the second segment. By then, however, Nemechek retired from further competition due to being involved in a pair of incidents, including the latest one that concluded the first segment. As a result, the competitor who got to lead the start of the second segment was AJ Allmendinger.
The start of the second segment featured teammates Allmendinger and Shane van Gisbergen dueling for the lead for a full lap as Allmendinger barely led the next lap over van Gisbergen. Allmendinger then motored ahead through the frontstretch and he set sail with the lead through the first two turns while Ty Dillon, Gragson and Stenhouse pursued in the top five, respectively.
On the sixth lap, the caution flew when Chastain and Keselowski made contact and wrecked through the backstretch while Wallace sustained minor damage to the front of his entry as he hit the left side of Keselowski’s wrecked entry.
As the second segment restarted on Lap 11, Allmendinger and van Gisbergen dueled for the lead for a full lap as van Gisbergen barely led the next lap from the inside lane. Both Kaulig Racing entries remained dead even over the next four laps before van Gisbergen, who had been using the inside lane to keep even with Allmendinger, got sideways and spun towards the outside wall through Turns 3 and 4. Van Gisbergen was able to proceed as the rest of the field dodged his spinning entry.
The next restart on Lap 20 featured Allmendinger jumping ahead of Reddick and muscling clear with the lead through the first two turns while teammate Ty Dillon overtook Reddick for the runner-up spot entering the backstretch. Allmendinger led the next lap and he retained the lead up until Lap 23 until Reddick assumed the lead during the next lap. Reddick proceeded to extend his lead to eight-tenths of a second by Lap 30 while Gragson, Ty Gibbs, Ty Dillon, Hocevar, Zilisch, Hamlin, Stenhouse, and Bowman trailed in the top 10, respectively.
At the second segment’s halfway mark between Laps 37 and 38, Reddick continued to lead by six-tenths of a second. Allmendinger, Gragson, Gibbs, Hocevar, Zilisch, Hamlin, Ty Dillon, Bowman, and Stenhouse were scored in the top 10, respectively. Meanwhile, McDowell, Jones, Briscoe, Byron, Logano, Cindric, Austin Dillon, Suarez, Berry, Cody Ware, and Zane Smith rounded out the 21-car field that were all scored on the lead lap, respectively.
Following a caution that flew on Lap 51 due to Ty Gibbs getting loose and spinning through the frontstretch, a majority of the field, led by Reddick, pitted. Select names led by Allmendinger and Jones remained on the track. The next restart on Lap 56 featured Allmendinger jumping ahead on his worn tires to maintain the lead over Jones while Briscoe overtook Jones through Turns 3 and 4 for the runner-up spot. Allmendinger continued to lead up until Lap 59 before Briscoe used the outside lane to overtake Allmendinger entering Turn 3 and assumed the lead for the next lap.
By Lap 65, Briscoe retained the lead by a tenth of a second over a hard-charging Reddick before the latter returned atop the leaderboard during the next lap. Reddick proceeded to stretch his advantage to two seconds over Briscoe at the Lap 70 mark while Jones, Bowman, and Hamlin trailed in the top five ahead of Hocevar, Zilisch, Byron, McDowell, and Gragson, respectively.
As the second segment concluded on Lap 75, Reddick was scored as the leader by more than four seconds over Briscoe. Hamlin, Hocevar, Zilisch, Jones, Byron, Bowman, McDowell, and Gragson were scored in the top 10, respectively. By then, the second segment generated nine lead changes for four different leaders, and three cautions.
Segment 2 Results:
- Tyler Reddick, 39 laps led
- Chase Briscoe led for seven laps
- Denny Hamlin
- Carson Hocevar
- Connor Zilisch
- Erik Jones
- William Byron
- Alex Bowman
- Michael McDowell
- Noah Gragson
- Ty Dillon
- Austin Cindric
- Joey Logano
- Austin Dillon
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Daniel Suarez
- Josh Berry
- Cody Ware
- AJ Allmendinger, 27 laps led
- Ty Gibbs, one lap down
- Shane van Gisbergen, one lap down, two laps led
- Zane Smith, six laps down
- Riley Herbst, 11 laps down
- Kyle Busch, 47 laps down
- Brad Keselowski, 48 laps down
- Christopher Bell, 53 laps down
- Bubba Wallace, 59 laps down
- Ryan Blaney, 62 laps down
- Ross Chastain – OUT, Accident
- John Hunter Nemechek – OUT, Accident
- Chris Buescher – OUT, Accident
- Chase Elliott – OUT, Accident
- Kyle Larson – OUT, Accident
- Todd Gilliland – OUT, Accident
- Ryan Preece – OUT, Accident
- Cole Custer – OUT, Accident
Third/Final Segment
At the conclusion of the second segment, the starting positions for the third and final segment were determined by the average finishing results between the first two segments. Hamlin was awarded the pole position for the final segment. He was followed by Briscoe, Reddick, Byron, Zilisch, Cindric, Jones, Logano, McDowell, and Bowman, respectively. Austin Dillon, Wallace, Keselowski, Hocevar, Ty Gibbs, Berry, van Gisbergen, Bell, Kyle Busch, Blaney, and Larson also participated in the final segment, with several names like Bell, Busch, Blaney, Larson and Wallace automatically cycling back on the lead lap despite being pinned several laps down following the first two segments from being involved in wrecks.
Meanwhile, the following names that included Zilisch, Jones, McDowell, Bowman, Ty Dillon, Gragson, Stenhouse and Allmendinger all transferred to the All-Star Race’s third and final segment. Suarez also transferred as the Fan Vote winner. On the contrary, the following 10 names that included Cole Custer, Ryan Preece, Todd Gilliland, Chase Elliott, Chris Buescher, John Hunter Nemechek, Ross Chastain, Riley Herbst, Zane Smith, and Cody Ware did not compete in the third and final segment due to either not achieving the highest-average finishing result or unable to continue from being involved in wreckages between the first two segments.
The start of the third and final segment featured teammates Hamlin and Briscoe dueling for the lead for a full lap as they drag-raced to start the next lap. Briscoe then used the outside lane through the backstretch to muscle ahead and clear Hamlin for the lead, where he led the next lap while Reddick tried to reel in Hamlin for the runner-up spot. With most of the field settling in single-line formation, Briscoe maintained a steady advantage just past the fifth lap mark over Hamlin while Reddick, Byron and Zilisch followed suit in the top five, respectively.
Just past the Lap 10 mark, Briscoe was leading by six-tenths of a second over Hamlin while Reddick, Byron, Zilisch, Cindric, Jones, Logano, McDowell and Bowman were racing in the top 10 ahead of Wallace, Austin Dillon, Ty Dillon, Hocevar, Stenhouse, Allmendinger, Kyle Busch, Keselowski, Gragson and Gibbs, respectively. Briscoe extended his lead to more than a second by Lap 25 as Reddick assumed the runner-up spot from Hamlin.
On Lap 40, Reddick reeled in and overtook Briscoe for the lead through the first two turns after Briscoe had issues navigating past Suarez to lap the latter. With the clean air to his advantage, Reddick proceeded to stretch his lead to eight-tenths of a second at the Lap 50 mark while Briscoe fended off Hamlin for the runner-up spot. As both Hamlin and Briscoe battled for the runner-up spot, they reeled in Reddick by two-tenths and half a second, respectively, at the Lap 60 mark. In addition, fourth-place Zilisch joined the battle as he then overtook Briscoe for third place during the next lap while Byron followed suit. With Briscoe losing ground of the lead, Hamlin started to reel in on Reddick for the lead while select names that included Busch and Bell pitted for fresh tires under green.
When a competition caution flew on Lap 75, Hamlin overtook Reddick a lap before emerging as the leader. By then, Zilisch, Reddick, Jones, Byron, McDowell, Briscoe, Ty Dillon, Hocevar, and Cindric were in the top 10, respectively, behind Hamlin, while 20 of 26 starters were scored on the lead lap. In addition, Wallace was awarded the free pass to cycle back on the lead lap from 21st place.
During the competition caution period, the field led by Hamlin pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Hamlin exited pit road first ahead of Zilisch, Byron, Reddick, and Jones, respectively. Amid the pit stops, Zilisch received a penalty for having too many crew members over the pit wall when he pitted.
As the final segment restarted under green on Lap 81, the field fanned out as Hamlin rocketed ahead of Byron and Reddick through the first two turns. While a three-wide action ensued between McDowell, Briscoe and Jones for fourth place just past the backstretch, Hamlin led the next lap while Reddick challenged Byron for the runner-up spot. Hamlin extended his lead to more than a second by Lap 90 and he stabilized it to more than a second at the Lap 100 mark while Byron, Reddick, Briscoe, Hocevar, Jones, McDowell, Austin Dillon, Ty Dillon and Keselowski trailed in the top 10, respectively. Meanwhile, Zilisch was mired in 17th place, between Blaney and Bowman.
Down to the final 80 laps of the event, Hamlin added two seconds to his lead as he led by more than three seconds over Byron. Hamlin added an extra two seconds to his advantage as he grew his lead to more than five seconds over Byron with 70 laps remaining, while Reddick, Briscoe, Hocevar, Jones, Austin Dillon, McDowell, Cindric and Keselowski occupied the remaining top-10 spots over Ty Dillon, Zilisch, Allmendinger, Stenhouse and Blaney, respectively.
With nearly 60 laps remaining, the caution flew.It happened as Logano, the first competitor, scored a lap down, lost a tire entering the first turn and wrecked backwards into the outside wall. At the time of caution, some, including Byron and Hocevar, pitted under green. During this caution period, the lead lap field led by Hamlin pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Hamlin exited pit road first ahead of Briscoe, Reddick, Jones, Austin Dillon, Cindric, Zilisch, McDowell, Allmendinger and Gragson, respectively.
The next restart with 52 laps remaining featured Hamlin and Briscoe dueling for the lead through the first two turns until Briscoe, who restarted on the inside lane, motored ahead of Hamlin to lead through the backstretch. Briscoe led the next two laps over Hamlin while Reddick, Jones, Austin Dillon and Cindric trailed in the top six, respectively. As Hamlin used every inch of the track through every turn and straightaway to reel in and try to navigate past Briscoe for the lead, the latter maintained the advantage by four-tenths of a second with 40 laps remaining.
Down to the final 30 laps of the event, the battle for the lead ignited as Hamlin, who remained within striking distance of Briscoe over the previous 10 laps, executed a crossover move on Briscoe through the frontstretch. Both dueled for a full lap before Hamlin used the inside lane to assume the lead through the frontstretch. Briscoe then executed his own crossover move and tried to draw even with Hamlin, but Hamlin motored ahead from the outside lane and proceeded to lead the next lap with 28 laps remaining. Not long after, Reddick took his entry to the garage due to a power steering issue and Hamlin stabilized his lead to six-tenths of a second over Briscoe while Jones, Cindric and Austin Dillon were racing in the top five with 25 laps remaining.
With 15 laps remaining, Briscoe slightly reeled in his deficit to be within three-tenths of a second behind Hamlin while third-place Erik Jones trailed by more than four seconds. Hamlin then slightly increased his advantage to half a second with 10 laps remaining before he extended it to more than a second over Briscoe with five laps remaining.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Hamlin remained in the lead by eight-tenths of a second over Briscoe. With Briscoe unable to reel in and Hamlin not missing his marks for a final time, the latter cycled back to the frontstretch and claimed both the checkered flag and the event’s $1 million prize by eight-tenths of a second over Briscoe.
With the victory, Hamlin, who made his 20th career All-Star Race start this season, became the 10th competitor overall to achieve multiple All-Star Race victories and he became the first repeat winner of the All-Star event since Joey Logano made the previous accomplishment in 2024. He also recorded the fourth All-Star Race victory for both Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota. Despite this year’s Dover event being a non-points All-Star event, Hamlin racked up his fourth victory at Dover as he won the track’s latest points-paying event in July 2025.
“It makes a lot easier when you got a car this fast,” Hamlin said on FS1. “Hats off to this whole Progressive team. We’re striving to be number one, and we did it today. I liked [today’s challenge]. It challenged us to have to go through traffic. Otherwise, you could go out there, and you could lead a bunch of laps. I definitely liked the invert [of the field]. Obviously, it caused some chaos, took out some good cars. Overall, this is a typical All-Star Race and that stuff happens. I just knew that the game-changer for us was long runs and obviously, the ability to pass when we’re behind someone.”
Briscoe, whose previous best All-Star Race result was fourth place in 2023, notched a career-best runner-up result in his fourth All-Star career appearance. Ironically, Briscoe finished in the runner-up result behind Hamlin during the 2025 Cup event at Dover.
Erik Jones notched a stellar third-place result while Austin Dillon and rookie Connor Zilisch, the latter of whom made his All-Star debut, finished in the top five. Austin Cindric, William Byron, Michael McDowell, Alex Bowman, and Brad Keselowski completed the top 10 in the final running order, respectively.
The third and final segment featured nine lead changes for five different leaders, and a total of two cautions. In addition, 13 of 26 starters finished on the lead lap.
Segment 3 (Final) Results:
- Denny Hamlin, 103 laps led
- Chase Briscoe, 61 laps led
- Erik Jones
- Austin Dillon, one lap led
- Connor Zilisch, one lap led
- Austin Cindric
- William Byron
- Michael McDowell
- Alex Bowman
- Brad Keselowski
- Noah Gragson
- AJ Allmendinger
- Ryan Blaney
- Carson Hocevar, one lap down
- Ty Dillon, two laps down
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr., two laps down
- Kyle Busch, two laps down
- Josh Berry, three laps down
- Shane van Gisbergen, three laps down
- Bubba Wallace, four laps down
- Daniel Suarez, four laps down
- Tyler Reddick – OUT, Steering, 34 laps led
- Christopher Bell – OUT, Handling
- Ty Gibbs – OUT, Suspension
- Joey Logano – OUT, Accident
- Kyle Larson – OUT, Accident
Next on the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina, on Sunday, May 24, during Memorial Day weekend. It will air at 6 p.m. ET on Prime Video, PRN Radio, SiriusXM, and HBO MAX.
