In what started off as a completely chaotic afternoon of racing at Dover Motor Speedway, once NASCAR’s All-Star Race reached the final segment, things got a bit more straightforward. And Denny Hamlin, who had won the last two points-paying events at the 1-mile concrete oval in Delaware, was right in his element in the 200-lap final segment.
Race Results: 2026 NASCAR All-Star Race at Dover
Hamlin, who started from the pole position, led a segment-high 103 laps, but on the final restart of the race with 52 laps to go, Hamlin, who had fired off poorly on restarts all race long, lost the lead to Chase Briscoe, his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate.
It would take a few laps for Hamlin’s car to work up the speed, but once the No. 11 Progressive machine came to life, it looked like it was just a matter of time before Hamlin would swoop around to create an anti-climactic finish to the race.
And with 30 laps to go, Hamlin did just that, as he got around Briscoe, and despite a brief attempt at a cross-over move from Briscoe, Hamlin never looked back.
Hamlin would cross the finish line ahead of Briscoe by a margin of victory of 0.887 seconds, which allowed him to score his second career victory in NASCAR’s All-Star event.
While the format of this edition of the NASCAR All-Star Race, which saw all 36 cars on track at the same time through the opening two segments of the race, took the brunt of criticism online, Hamlin said he actually liked the format as it forced him and others to have to battle from behind at points in the race.
“I mean, I liked it. It challenged us to have to go through traffic. Otherwise, I mean, you could go out there, and you could lead a bunch of laps,” Hamlin explained. “I definitely like the invert. Obviously, it caused some chaos there, took out some good cars.”
Indeed, the format did wipe out some good cars. Two multi-car melees in the opening segment of the race, which collected 20 cars, thinned out the herd and even forced some drivers, such as Chase Elliott, to miss competing in the final segment, despite being locked in prior to the opening two segments.
However, in the final segment, Hamlin says long runs allowed him to showcase his strong suits.
“Overall, this is a typical All-Star Race when that stuff happens. I just knew the game-changer for us was long runs, and obviously the ability to pass when we were behind someone,” Hamlin said.
As for what Hamlin intends to do with his $1 million prize for winning the All-Star Race?
“Probably give it to mama,” Hamlin stated.
Briscoe would hold on for a solid runner-up finish, despite nursing a shaky stomach all weekend.
“It was a hard-fought day. I’ve been having the stomach bug bad the last two, three days,” Briscoe said after the race. “Didn’t know how today was, truthfully, going to go. I had the shot at the end for a million bucks. Can’t ask for anything more. Wish I had a little more rear grip.”
Erik Jones, the driver of the No. 43 LEGACY MOTOR CLUB Toyota, would finish third to make it an all-Toyota sweep of the top-three positions.
Austin Dillon was the top non-Toyota in the field, as he finished fourth in the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, and Rookie of the Year contender Connor Zilisch came home with a fifth-place run.
Zilisch was near the front of the field and likely had a legitimate shot to win the event, but a pit equipment interference penalty under a yellow flag pit stop on Lap 78 sent him to the rear of the field.
Austin Cindric, William Byron, Michael McDowell, Alex Bowman, and Brad Keselowski rounded out the top-10 finishers in the NASCAR All-Star Race.
