What you need to know for the 2019 All-Star Race
2019 NASCAR All-Star Race
Charlotte Motor Speedway, 8 p.m. ET, Fox Sports 1
Will a seventh different driver win the All-Star Race for the seventh-straight season?
NASCAR’s All-Star Race has featured six winners over the past six seasons since Jimmie Johnson went back-to-back in 2012 and 2013. After Johnson’s second win, Jamie McMurray, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano and Kyle Busch each followed with wins. And Kevin Harvick dominated the race in 2018 to win his second All-Star Race.
Last season’s All-Star Race featured a bunch of changes to the cars that ended up being the foundation for NASCAR’s 2019 rules. This year’s race features some rules tweaks, but not nearly as many as there were a year ago. The cars will have a different splitter and different radiator ducts that will exit the car through the top of the hood.
NASCAR hopes the minor changes will lead to entertaining racing.
Race format
Stage 1: 30 laps
Stage 2: 20 laps
Stage 3: 20 laps
Stage 4: 15 laps
Drivers already qualified
A driver who made the 2018 playoffs, won a race in 2019 and/or is a past Cup Series or All-Star Race champion is automatically qualified for the All-Star Race. These drivers, plus four others, will race the 85-lap race.
No. 1 Kurt Busch
No. 2 Brad Keselowski
No. 3 Austin Dillon
No. 4 Kevin Harvick
No. 6 Ryan Newman
No. 9 Chase Elliott
No. 10 Aric Almirola
No. 11 Denny Hamlin
No. 12 Ryan Blaney
No. 14 Clint Bowyer
No. 18 Kyle Busch
No. 19 Martin Truex Jr.
No. 20 Erik Jones
No. 22 Joey Logano
No. 48 Jimmie Johnson
These 15 drivers will qualify for their starting positions on Friday in a qualifying format that includes a pit stop amidst timed laps on track.
How four other drivers will get in
The qualifying race for the All-Star Race is 60 laps spread out over three 20-lap stages and held before the All-Star Race on Saturday evening.
The winners of each of the stages will advance to the All-Star Race while a fourth non-winning driver with the most votes from fans will also advance. The top five in the fan vote as of Thursday are Alex Bowman, Kyle Larson, Matt DiBenedetto, Bubba Wallace and William Byron.
No. 00 Landon Cassill
No. 8 Daniel Hemric
No. 13 Ty Dillon
No. 15 Ross Chastain
No. 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
No. 21 Paul Menard
No. 24 William Byron
No. 32 Corey LaJoie
No. 34 Michael McDowell
No. 36 Matt Tifft
No. 37 Chris Buescher
No. 38 David Ragan
No. 41 Daniel Suarez
No. 42 Kyle Larson
No. 43 Bubba Wallace
No. 46 Joey Gase
No. 47 Ryan Preece
No. 51 Cody Ware
No. 52 Bayley Currey
No. 53 BJ McLeod
No. 66 Timmy Hill
No. 77 Quin Houff
No. 88 Alex Bowman
No. 95 Matt DiBenedetto
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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.
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