Although NASCAR is taking a break from races that count toward the regular season and playoffs, it’s still on the track this weekend for the All-Star Race, a mid-season, exhibition event with a $1 million check waiting for the winner.
However, not every NASCAR Cup Series driver is eligible to compete Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway. There are a variety of ways drivers can qualify, including being the winner of the fan vote.
Until Friday at noon ET, fans are able to vote for drivers — who aren’t otherwise eligible, but more on that later — to make the All-Star Race. And as of Wednesday according to NASCAR, fan favorite Bubba Wallace is among the drivers, along with Matt DiBenedetto, Daniel Suárez, Erik Jones and Chase Briscoe.
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Although voting closes Friday ahead of Sunday’s race, the fan vote is more of a last-ditch effort to qualify.
Drivers are eligible for the All-Star Race if they won a points race in 2020 or 2021, won a previous All-Star Race and are current full-time drivers or won a NASCAR Cup Series championship and are current full-time drivers.
Seventeen drivers have qualified for this year’s race through these avenues:
Alex Bowman, Austin Dillon, Brad Keselowski, Chase Elliott, Cole Custer, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr., Ryan Blaney, William Byron, Michael McDowell, Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson and Ryan Newman.
Then there’s the NASCAR All-Star Open, which is immediately before the main event Sunday. The Open is broken into three stages — 20 laps, 20 laps and 10 laps — and the winner of each stage will advance.
After all that, the final spot in the All-Star Race will then go to the driver with the most fan votes who is not otherwise eligible.
The 2021 NASCAR All-Star Race is Sunday at 8 p.m. ET on FS1 with the All-Star Open running just before that at 6 p.m. ET.
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