NASCAR is taking a break from its regular-season points races this weekend in favor of the 2022 All-Star Race, an annual midseason exhibition event returning to Texas Motor Speedway for the second straight year. The race is set for Sunday at 8 p.m. ET on FS1, and here’s everything you need to know about it.
But not everyone gets to compete in the exhibition event. Drivers are eligible for the All-Star Race if they won a points race in 2021 or so far in 2022, if they won a previous All-Star Race and are current full-time drivers or if they won a NASCAR Cup Series championship and are current full-time drivers.
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But before the main event, there will be qualifying to determine the starting lineup, along with the All-Star Open (Sunday, 5:30 p.m. ET, FS1), which is a chance for three drivers who are not already eligible for the All-Star Race to try and race their way in. Twenty drivers have already locked themselves into the race, and three from the Open, plus the fan vote winner, will join them.
For both the All-Star Race and All-Star Open, there will be single-car qualifying with one lap each, and the order they go in will be in reverse order of 2022 owner points. (However, All-Star Race qualifying is actually a little more complicated than that.)
Qualifying for the Open is set for Saturday at 7:35 p.m. ET, and qualifying for the All-Star Race is not long after at 7:55 p.m. ET.
Here’s the qualifying order for the 2022 NASCAR All-Star Race.