Farah Ben Gamra
The NASCAR All-Star Race at Dover Motor Speedway was supposed to feel fresh and different. Instead, it ended up doing the opposite, boring and confusing a lot of fans, dragging on for hours, and igniting a debate about whether the format change actually worked.
NASCAR insider Jeff Gluck went off on the race on The Teardown podcast, and to be fair, his reaction pretty much matched the mood of a lot of viewers.
He said, “This can’t happen again. This is not okay. This needs to be sent into the sun and burned with fire. This was not the right track for it. This was not the right format for it. Almost four hours from the time they started until the time they ended, the format was all wrong, starting with putting the open guys in with the guys that were locked in.”
And he also pointed to what he felt was the bigger issue: “Ultimately, the way the rules were today, because of the wrecks and all this stuff, you had nine guys get in. I think those came at the expense of the actual All-Stars who had earned their way into it already and they didn’t even get to be in the All-Star race.”
His frustration was mainly about identity and the idea that the All-Star Race is supposed to spotlight the sport’s best, not get swallowed up by a mixed format that changed the feel of the whole thing.
Fans Call it “Worst All-Star race ever”
If Gluck was frustrated, fans were even more direct.
Social media reaction during and after the race was pretty brutal, with many calling it one of the weakest All-Star events in years.
One fan said, “That was absolutely the worst All-Star race we’ve ever had. I don’t understand why it is so difficult for Nascar.”
Another reaction summed up the anger even more bluntly: “Dumbest format ever!! Worst All Star race I’ve ever seen!! It was just a shortened NON points race. No excitement!! 0!!“
There were a few more reflective takes too, with some pointing out that the prize money still feels stuck in the past compared to how much the sport has grown financially.
The race itself didn’t exactly help. A big early wreck took out some of the biggest names in the field including Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott. Larson managed to get back out there after repairs, but Elliott’s race was basically over on the spot.
From there, it turned into a long, messy afternoon that dragged on much longer than expected, with strategy shifts and constant resets adding to the confusion.
In the end, Denny Hamlin still did what he tends to do at Dover, he won. But even that felt like a footnote compared to everything else that happened.
Because by the time it was over, most of the conversation wasn’t about who won. It was about whether NASCAR’s experiment had completely missed the mark.
