Practice report
NASCAR Cup All-Star Race
Kyle Larson leads NASCAR All-Star Race practice at Dover
There were no incidents during the lengthy practice session, featuring all 36 entries
Nick DeGroot
Edited: May 16, 2026, 3:30 AM
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Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Photo by: Sean Gardner / Getty Images
As Dover hosts the All-Star Race for the very first time, NASCAR provided teams with an extended 90-minute practice session on Friday.
Defending NASCAR Cup series champion Kyle Larson topped the speed charts at 22.792s lap (157.95mph) around around the one-mile concrete oval.
The 2026 NASCAR All-Star Race Dover format explained Every 2025/2026 race winner and former Cup champions still competing full-time are locked into Segment 3 already.
Michael McDowell, who was second overall, was the fastest of those not yet locked into the final segment. The next-best drivers in the same situation were Ricky Stenhouse Jr (13th overall) and then Riley Herbst (14th overall), Connor Zilisch (16th overall), and Erik Jones (17th overall).
Behind Larson and McDowell, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, and Ty Gibbs filled out the rest of the overall top five.
Busch led the way in five-lap averages, but it was Carson Hocevar who dominated the long-run speeds. The Talladega winner led all drivers in ten-lap, 15-lap, 20-lap, 25-lap, and 30-lap averages.
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Chastain was the first driver to run a lap under 23 seconds, but it was Larson who quickly jumped to the top and remained there for the remainder of the session.
There was a close moment as Bubba Wallace was rolling down pit road and Shane van Gisbergen was exiting the garage, but they avoided contact. Several drivers were practicing their pit-in and getting into the pit box as that will be an integral part of this weekend's qualifying format.
Later in the session, Ryan Blaney reported a flat left-rear tire, but he got back to the garage without any drama. He was the fastest Ford driver in single-lap speeds.
The only real incident was when Chase Briscoe hit the outside wall at the exit of Turn 2, immediately heading back to the garage with damage to the right-side of that No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
Chase ran the most laps, complete 101 laps during the Friday practice session.
Watch: Briscoe brushes wall late in All-Star practice
cla # driver manufacturer laps time gap int mph 1 5 
Kyle Larson Chevrolet 73 22.792 157.950 2 71 Michael McDowell Chevrolet 71 22.810 0.018 0.018 157.826 3 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 65 22.839 0.047 0.029 157.625 4 8 Kyle Busch Chevrolet 77 22.864 0.072 0.025 157.453 5 54 Ty Gibbs Toyota 86 22.866 0.074 0.002 157.439 6 20 Christopher Bell Toyota 81 22.870 0.078 0.004 157.411 7 12 Ryan Blaney Ford 48 22.905 0.113 0.035 157.171 8 77 Carson Hocevar Chevrolet 72 22.922 0.130 0.017 157.054 9 6 Brad Keselowski Ford 54 22.942 0.150 0.020 156.917 10 2 Austin Cindric Ford 63 22.977 0.185 0.035 156.678 11 1 Ross Chastain Chevrolet 48 22.980 0.188 0.003 156.658 12 9 Chase Elliott Chevrolet 108 22.980 0.188 0.000 156.658 13 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr Chevrolet 64 22.990 0.198 0.010 156.590 14 35 Riley Herbst Toyota 86 23.010 0.218 0.020 156.454 15 23 Darrell Wallace Jr Toyota 98 23.017 0.225 0.007 156.406 16 43 Erik Jones Toyota 67 23.019 0.227 0.002 156.393 17 88 Connor Zilisch Chevrolet 75 23.019 0.227 0.000 156.393 18 48 Alex Bowman Chevrolet 63 23.038 0.246 0.019 156.264 19 16 AJ Allmendinger Chevrolet 43 23.038 0.246 0.000 156.264 20 17 Chris Buescher Ford 66 23.057 0.265 0.019 156.135 21 24 William Byron Chevrolet 59 23.067 0.275 0.010 156.067 22 21 Josh Berry Ford 53 23.080 0.288 0.013 155.979 23 60 Ryan Preece Ford 73 23.082 0.290 0.002 155.966 24 22 Joey Logano Ford 51 23.096 0.304 0.014 155.871 25 45 Tyler Reddick Toyota 82 23.105 0.313 0.009 155.810 26 51 Cody Ware Chevrolet 31 23.107 0.315 0.002 155.797 27 19 Chase Briscoe Toyota 72 23.133 0.341 0.026 155.622 28 97 
Shane van Gisbergen Chevrolet 74 23.180 0.388 0.047 155.306 29 42 John Hunter Nemechek Toyota 75 23.190 0.398 0.010 155.239 30 4 Noah Gragson Ford 83 23.214 0.422 0.024 155.079 31 7 
Daniel Suarez Chevrolet 61 23.271 0.479 0.057 154.699 32 38 Zane Smith Ford 53 23.274 0.482 0.003 154.679 33 41 Cole Custer Chevrolet 51 23.413 0.621 0.139 153.761 34 10 Ty Dillon Chevrolet 55 23.418 0.626 0.005 153.728 35 3 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 40 23.428 0.636 0.010 153.662 36 34 Todd Gilliland Ford 31 23.643 0.851 0.215 152.265
Photos from All-Star Race - Friday
All-Star Race - Friday, in photos
All-Star Race - Friday, in photos
All-Star Race - Friday, in photos
All-Star Race - Friday, in photos
All-Star Race - Friday, in photos
All-Star Race - Friday, in photos
All-Star Race - Friday, in photos
All-Star Race - Friday, in photos
All-Star Race - Friday, in photos
All-Star Race - Friday, in photos
All-Star Race - Friday, in photos
All-Star Race - Friday, in photos
All-Star Race - Friday, in photos
All-Star Race - Friday, in photos
All-Star Race - Friday, in photos
All-Star Race - Friday, in photos
All-Star Race - Friday, in photos
All-Star Race - Friday, in photos
All-Star Race - Friday, in photos
All-Star Race - Friday, in photos
All-Star Race - Friday, in photos
All-Star Race - Friday, in photos
All-Star Race - Friday, in photos
All-Star Race - Friday, in photos
All-Star Race - Friday, in photos
All-Star Race - Friday, in photos
All-Star Race - Friday, in photos
All-Star Race - Friday, in photos
All-Star Race - Friday, in photos
All-Star Race - Friday, in photos
All-Star Race - Friday, in photos
All-Star Race - Friday, in photos
All-Star Race - Friday, in photos
All-Star Race - Friday, in photos
All-Star Race - Friday, in photos
All-Star Race - Friday, in photos
All-Star Race - Friday, in photos
All-Star Race - Friday, in photos
All-Star Race - Friday, in photos
All-Star Race - Friday, in photos
All-Star Race - Friday, in photos
All-Star Race - Friday, in photos
All-Star Race - Friday, in photos
All-Star Race - Friday, in photos
All-Star Race - Friday, in photos
All-Star Race - Friday, in photos
All-Star Race - Friday, in photos
All-Star Race - Friday, in photos
All-Star Race - Friday, in photos
NASCAR Cup
49
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