Who Can Cash in at the Monster Mile All-Star Race?

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NASCAR

Stratta’s Six: Who Can Manhandle Miles the Monster in an All-Star Showdown?

350 laps, 26 drivers, and $1 million on the line. The 2026 NASCAR All-Star Race will be a show unlike anything Dover Motor Speedway has ever seen. The Monster Mile promises to be as hungry and chaotic as ever for its exhibition date this season. Here are a few hopeful contenders who hope to capture both the big check and the Miles the Monster trophy.

Denny Hamlin

The past two seasons have been perfect for Denny Hamlin at Dover. A two-time defending Monster Mile winner entering the All-Star Race, many are quick to peg the No. 11 as a prerace favorite. Leading over 200 laps combined around Dover in these two triumphs, Hamlin rides a hot hand here into the All-Star Race.

“I’m jacked, just pumped,” Hamlin said. “Dover, it’ll be interesting. It’s a different aerodynamic package, but Dover is another track position race. It needs the track to rubber in. It needs to widen out for there to really be a lot of passing. But you never know. All it takes is a timely caution here and there, and you could have yourself an exciting race.”

Hamlin has three career Dover victories, all coming in the last seven races. The Joe Gibbs Racing veteran also has one All-Star Race check to his name, from Charlotte in 2015. Already a winner this year and firmly in the championship hunt, Hamlin will be trophy hunting for another Miles the Monster and another million dollar check.

Kyle Larson

Nobody has been more lights out in All-Star Races over the last decade than Kyle Larson. Young Money is a three-time million-dollar winner, taking the big check home from Charlotte (2019), Texas (2021), and North Wilkesboro (2023). When looking at his Dover stats, Larson’s done everything but win here in recent memory too. Driver 5 has 13 top-10s in 17 Dover starts, including top-fives in his last two Delaware trips. Larson touched on why he thinks this year’s All-Star Race is perfectly suited for Dover.

“I think the format will make for good racing,” Larson said. “Dover is the type of track where you need long runs and traffic to produce good racing. I feel like the higher-horsepower, lower-downforce car package will positively impact the on-track product. I think the racing will be better, and the drivers will definitely have their hands full. We get to race for a million bucks, and that is something we all love. Hopefully, the No. 5 HendrickCars.com team can figure it out better than everyone else and get back to victory lane.”

Three top-10s in four Dover Next Gen races for Larson is a feat only matched by Hamlin. Now riding a year-long losing streak, Kyle Larson will aim for a familiar feeling once again at one of his favorite racetracks. Already the only man with an All-Star Race win at three different tracks, Larson will try and extend this record to four in Dover.

Ryan Blaney

Winless across his career at Dover, Ryan Blaney has been trending forward in The First State. Each of driver 12’s last three Monster Mile results have been a top-10, headlined with a third-place run in 2023. The 2022 All-Star Race winner eyes another chance at the big money this weekend with a one-of-a-kind format.

“When I was growing up, the All-Star race was always a fun two weeks at Charlotte,” Blaney said. “You’d go from the All-Star race, to the [Coca-Cola] 600. Watching dad go through it was always unique, understanding it’s a ‘no holds barred’ type of race. I was fortunate enough to win it a few years ago, and I think it’s unique that they’ve switched it around. Everyone knows what you’re going for, and no one’s worried about points. You make a weekend out of it, especially when you get to go to new places. Moving that race to a different racetrack like Dover is fun. Throw everything out the window, old money racing.”

“They’ve moved that All-Star Race around a good bit the last handful of years from Charlotte and Texas and North Wilkesboro. Bristol we ran one year and that’s fine. I think the Clash and the All-Star Race you have the luxury of doing that. So I hope the package that we’re bringing is gonna be interesting at Dover. We’ll see what that does. I know they treated the track a little bit differently than what they have in the past to try and get it wider faster, so that’s a positive. The weather up there actually looks like perfect racing weather. It’s gonna be fairly warm and that place needs warm conditions to run well. Just those concrete racetracks, to put rubber down. The format, it is what it is. I feel like it’s definitely different with having the Open cars in it for the first half of the race. For them to try to get into the final segment – so that will be something interesting. I personally don’t really care where it goes. You can move that race around. Would I enjoy seeing it at Charlotte a week before the 600 like we used to have? Yeah, because I feel like that’s always a fun lead up to the 600 because you can make a whole week out of it. But, I think it’s interesting. They can always throw new formats at it and new places. To me, I don’t really care what the format is or where we race. I’m gonna go anywhere you tell me and gonna try to give it my best and go try to win a bunch of money. That’s really what it is at the end of the day. It doesn’t really matter to me where it’s at.”

A rare miss in 16th-place for last year’s All-Star Race ended a five season stretch of the 12 being in the top-10. Blaney will aspire for an All-Star bounce back in Dover, heading to Delaware as this year’s standard bearer for Ford and Team Penske. Do not be surprised to see the 12 in the mix late for the coveted Miles the Monster trophy and the large check.

Chase Elliott

Another man who’s deft around Dover no matter the generation of car is two-time winner Chase Elliott. Driver 9 most recently took down Miles the Monster in 2022, but led over half this race last year. The 2020 All-Star Race winner from Bristol, Elliott is also one of only two drivers to find victory lane multiple times this season. Elliott has full faith in the core group on the No. 9 Chevrolet and will go into battle with his tested crew.

“We’ve been together a long time,” Elliott said. ‘I think with that, we’ve experienced a lot together. We’ve experienced a lot of good, fortunately. We’ve also experienced a lot of bad, unfortunately. But I think in all of that, it certainly has helped shape us to be who we are today. I think that’s a team that has experienced enough that we should know better in just how to handle things; how to handle bad days, as well as how to handle good days, if you’re fortunate enough to have them.”

Dover has quietly become one of Elliott’s most consistent stops on the circuit. The 9 boasts 11 top-10s in 15 starts at the Monster Mile, including four of his last five showings. Since his All-Star Race win, Elliott’s also seen four top-10s in five exhibition races. Trying to rebound from an uncharacteristically bad Watkins Glen, Elliott will try to make inroads on another quest for victory lane.

Tyler Reddick

If anyone can claim an All-Star season through 2026’s first 12 weeks, then Tyler Reddick is Exhibit A. 23XI Racing’s No. 45 has five wins and flaunts a monster 129-point championship lead into the All-Star break.

Already checking the Daytona 500, Atlanta, and Darlington off the winless list this year, the $1 million race is next up for Reddick. The Californian’s best All-Star Race finish was third at North Wilkesboro three years ago. Reddick is similarly 0-7 at Dover, only having a high water mark of seventh. Only having three races this season outside of the top-10, Reddick hopes this hot streak continues at Dover. Team 45 will try and recapture their early season magic with a million dollar payday up for grabs.

Alex Bowman

Not even locked into the main show, an All-Star Race breakthrough could come from Alex Bowman. The Hendrick No. 48 and Dover Motor Speedway are synonymous with unparalleled success between Bowman and Jimmie Johnson. Bowman captured his own checkered flag here five years ago, leading a Hendrick Motorsports 1-2-3-4 sweep. Eighth or better in the last five Monster Mile trips has Bowman chomping at the bit for the Delaware green flag.

“Dover is one of my best tracks by far and it is a good one for Hendrick Motorsports overall,” Bowman said. “We’ve had success there and we’ve been in the hunt recently. This season, we’ve been off at a lot of tracks that have been good for us in the past. For me, it’s important to run well this weekend. We’ll use it to find the benchmark of where we are at to continue building on that. We all wish Watkins Glen was a better weekend for us, but that’s racing. You can’t let the highs get too high because this sport will bring you back down.”

Hendrick Motorsports leads both the All-Star Race with wins (11) and across Dover Motor Speedway history with most victories (22). Earning hard fought third-place results in two of the last three weeks post-injury, Dover may be falling in perfect time for Bowman. It would not be that shocking to see the No. 48 in the wind on Sunday chasing down another Monster-sized triumph.

Sunday will see the $1 million race go green for the 42nd time, with Dover marking its sixth different venue. The checkers or wreckers event will see 26 drivers leave it all on the track. One of the most coveted trophies and biggest checks of the season are both up for grabs this weekend. The 2026 NASCAR All-Star Race begins Sunday at 1 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Written by Peter Stratta

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Photo credit to Sean Gardner/Getty Images