Breaking down how All-Star Race works
Just like all-star events in other pro sports, NASCAR’s All-Star race hardly resembles any other competition. It takes place on a track, but that’s about all it has in common with the other 36 points races this season. So here’s how the race – Saturday at Charlotte Motor Speedway – works and who’s allowed to compete.
How do they qualify? In a 20-car field, 16 of the drivers are already guaranteed a spot in the race because either they won a previous All-Star Race and still compete full-time, they won a past Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship and still compete fulltime or they won a points race in 2016 or 2017.
From this, the drivers already in Saturday’s race are Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, Jamie McMurray, Denny Hamlin, Kasey Kahne, Ryan Newman, Martin Truex Jr., Chris Buescher and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
The remaining four drivers will qualify based on their performance in the Monster Energy Open (also Saturday) and a fan vote.
What is the Monster Energy Open? Two hours before the All-Star Race kicks off, full-time drivers not already qualified will run a 50-lap, three-stage race. The winner of the three stages – one of which is the race winner – will advance to the main event.
If drivers don’t qualify through any of these means, the winner of a fan vote will be get the final spot.
What is the All-Star Race format? It’s a 70-lap race around the 1.5-mile track and is broken into three 20-lap stages with a final 10-lap shootout.
Are there any major rule differences? Unlike traditional races, only 10 drivers will be allowed to compete in the final, 10-lap segment for the win. Those 10 are will be the first three stage winners (assuming they’re still on the lead lap) plus the seven drivers with the best average finish in the first three stages.
To determine the starting lineup for the race, each team will have three timed laps with a mandatory four-tire pit stop – so the pit crews have to be on their game as well.