The NASCAR Cup Series’ All-Star Race has evolved considerably over the years, going through more than a dozen format reconfigurations as it nears its fourth decade of existence.
Held at Charlotte Motor Speedway through 2019, it was moved in 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions in North Carolina to Bristol Motor Speedway, where the cars featured moved-back numbers and glowing manufacturer-specific lights under the rear bumpers. For 2021, the sanctioning body decided to shake things up even further by moving the race of its own volition, choosing to upend Texas Motor Speedway’s spring date and substitute that race out for the exhibition event.
Last year’s race featured a six-segment format of varying lengths, including field inversions, random draw and statistical determinations to reset the lineup segment by segment.
This year, it’s a bit simpler, but with the retooled outline things have changed quite a bit. Automatic bids go to race winners from this season and 2021, including defending champion and reigning All-Star Race winner Kyle Larson. Bubba Wallace, who claimed his first career win last season, makes his first appearance in the main event, while 2022 first-time winners Austin Cindric and Chase Briscoe do the same.
A total of 19 winners between this season and last, plus former All-Star winner Kevin Harvick, mean 20 cars will make the race via automatic berth, while four will transfer from the 16-car All-Star Open. That quartet consists of three segment winners and the fan vote winner.
As for the main event, four stages make up the 125-lap affair, alongside a stage break-esque pit stop contest.
Stage 1
The opener is set to last one-fifth of the race’s duration, with the polesitter determined by qualifying the preceding evening. All three segments have relatively similar rules, but the winner of stage one likely has the hardest job: once his opening-segment triumph is complete, he must finish at least 15th or better in the other two stages to…
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