NASCAR DFS: All Star Race @ Dover Motor Speedway

Welcome back, race fans. This week, the NASCAR Cup series takes a break from points racing to enjoy the 2026 All-Star Race. The venue has changed over the years, and for the first time will head to the Monster Mile, which is very familiar to the drivers as Dover has been a regular stop on the circuit since 1969.

In this article, we will discuss the format, fantasy angle for Dover success, and some drivers we should be focusing on heading into the weekend.

NASCAR DFS: All Star Race

New Format & Fantasy Angle

Not only did the venue change for the 2026 All-Star race, but the format also changed. It gets started Friday afternoon, as teams will get to practice their pit entry/exit in preparation for Saturday’s qualifying, which will be a three-lap run that includes a mandatory pit stop.

The big change in 2026 is the elimination of the All-Star Open, as all cars will start the 350-lap main event with qualifying setting the starting order for the first 75-lap segment of the race. After segment one, the top 26 cars will be inverted, with the remaining cars lining up by finishing order. After another 75-lap segment, the field will then be narrowed down to 26 cars that will race for a million dollars in the final 200-lap segment.

All drivers who won a race in 2025 or 2026 will be guaranteed a spot in the final segment, and that is a total of 19 drivers. The 20th spot will go to the Fan Vote winner, with the remaining six spots going to the drivers who had the best average finish of the two segments.

Dover is a one-mile oval concrete track with 24 degrees of banking in the turns. There have been four points-paying races here at Dover in the NextGen era, with Denny Hamlin winning the previous two, Martin Truex Jr. winning in 2023, and Chase Elliott winning the 2022 race at the Monster Mile. Each of those races saw one driver lead 100+ laps in all four, and in three of those races, at least three drivers led 60 or more laps. While this race will be half the length, I am expecting the same setup of one main dominator with two to three secondary dominators.

Top Pre-Qualifying Targets for DraftKings

Denny Hamlin ($11,000)

It is no surprise who sits atop the pre-qualifying rankings this week. Hamlin has won each of the last two races at Dover and is tied with Kyle Busch among active drivers with three career wins at the track. He is the only other driver outside Tyler Reddick with an average finish in the single digits (9.8) and leads the series with 624 laps led, which is optimistic for his dominator potential this weekend.

Chase Elliott ($10,000)

Elliott won the 2022 race at the Monster Mile and has finished 11th or better in all four NextGen era races and is 2nd in average finish (5.8) during that stretch. With a win at Texas two weeks ago, Elliott now has multiple wins in seven seasons during his career and is currently running a career-high 10.2 average finish. He is the only other active driver outside of Hamlin and Busch with multiple wins here and should be considered a core play this week.

Alex Bowman ($8,300)

I love the mid-tier value with Bowman this week. The form has been up and down since he returned from an absence due to vertigo, but has shown his upside with back-to-back 3rd place finishes at Talladega and Texas. Great news as he now returns to a track he has been borderline dominant at over the years. He leads all drivers with a 5.3 average finish at the Monster Mile in the NextGen era and has finished 8th or better here in five straight and seven of his last eight races with a win in 2021.

Chris Buescher ($7,800)

Another mid-tier value that jumps off the page this week. He is one of six drivers who have tallied three Top 10 finishes at Dover in the NextGen era and one of two to finish Top 20 in all four. He also comes in red-hot second to only Tyler Reddick in average finish (8.4) over the last five races.