FORT WORTH, Texas – NASCAR and Texas Motor Speedway officials unveiled a radically-different format for the $1 million NASCAR All-Star Race, scheduled for June 13 at the 1.5-mile quad-oval.
NASCAR’s all-star night will be held at Texas for the first time in its 37-year history, with an Old West theme during driver introductions and a minor technical tweak from the current aerodynamic package.
The race, which will total 100 laps, will be broken up into six segments. The first four segments will be 15 laps each, followed by a 30-lap segment with a mandatory, four-tire pit stop and then a 10-lap sprint to the checkered flag for the event’s million-dollar payout.
In between, however, there will be numerous shakeups to the running order.
The initial starting lineup will be set by a random draw, with a random inversion of eight to 12 positions coming before the start of the second 15-lap segment that will be aired live on FS1 and Big Hoss TV.
Following the end of segment two, the entire field will be inverted before the start of segment three, with another random inversion of eight to 12 positions coming before the fourth 15-lap segment begins.
At the end of lap 60, when the fourth segment concludes, the lineup for the fifth segment will be set by the cumulative finish from the first four stages. The driver with the lowest cumulative total starts on the pole, with the second-lowest total lining up second, and so on.
All cars must come down pit road for a compulsory four-tire stop at some point during the 30-lap fifth segment, with the fastest pit crew among those stops earning a $100,000 bonus for their efforts.
The running order at lap 90, following the end of segment five, will determine the starting lineup for the 10-lap dash to the finish that awards a $1 million prize to the race winner.
Only green-flag laps will count during this year’s running of the NASCAR All-Star Race.
From a technical standpoint, all elements of the current Cup Series car will remain the same for the All-Star Race, except for the tapered spacer, which will be reduced to 57/64ths of an inch.
The spacer change will reduce horsepower from roughly 550 – the normal level for intermediate-style race tracks – to 510 for the annual exhibition race. It’s the same tapered spacer size utilized for the superspeedway events at Daytona (Fla.) Int’l Speedway and Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway.
“Texas has always felt like an All-Star market; it is a big-event market and Texas Motor Speedway thrives under a bright spotlight,” said Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer. “The entire Speedway Motorsports and TMS team has done an incredible job embracing and elevating this event, creating a fun, must-see show for fans at the track and watching from home on FS1.”
“I call this ‘NASCAR All-Star Race: Texas Edition,’” added Texas Motor Speedway President and General Manager Eddie Gossage. “Drivers and pit crews better pack their lunch pails because they are going to have to work extremely hard to earn the honor of celebrating in victory lane. This is a full metal rodeo for a big ol’ bag of dough.”
Prior to the NASCAR All-Star Race, the three-segment, 50-lap NASCAR Open will take place, with the winner of each stage advancing into the main event.
Segments of 20, 20 and 10 laps will make up the 50-lap distance for the NASCAR Open.
The final driver to make the All-Star Race will be the winner of the Fan Vote, awarded to the driver with the most votes who is not already in the $1 million showcase.
More information on the Fan Vote, which opens May 13, is available at www.nascar.com.
Seventeen drivers have currently locked themselves into the NASCAR All-Star Race, which will include points race winners from 2020 and ’21, as well as past All-Star Race winners and NASCAR Cup Series champions who are competing full time this season.
Those currently locked into the All-Star Race include, in alphabetical order: Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney, Alex Bowman, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, William Byron, Cole Custer, Austin Dillon, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, Michael McDowell, Ryan Newman and Martin Truex Jr.
Coverage of the NASCAR All-Star Race begins June 13 at 5 p.m. ET on FS1, with the NASCAR Open following at 6 p.m. ET and the All-Star Race feature kicking off at 8 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM.