NASCAR’s big gamble at Dover to get all stars on the track has already started catching criticism around the paddock, with an interesting take from FOX Sports insider Bob Pockrass. He openly questioned one decision in particular, NASCAR removing the Open race entirely.

The 2026 All-Star Race marked Dover Speedway’s first time hosting such an event, and here too, NASCAR just completely changed the format with a lengthy 350-lap structure that featured these unique elimination rounds yet followed very complicated finishing calculations.

Pockrass instantly started with what fans missed yet expected from the race. “So what will people be talking about beyond the result of the winner of the race?” he asked. “They’re probably going to be talking about, let’s bring back the Open.

"Let’s have the drivers who have made the All-Star Race make sure that they’re all in the All-Star main event.”

Unlike this years' format that saw two segments before the final one, usually, the All-Star race has always featured The Open, which is the last-chance qualifying race that allows the non-locked-in drivers to shoot their shot.

But after last year's All-Star race at North Wilkesboro, many fans felt if a driver already qualified for the race through other parameters, then they should automatically be in the race.

Pockrass then went on to criticize how the race felt to viewers and fans alike. “Dover, what do we think of it? Oh, it was long,” Pockrass said.

“It was almost as long as some of those over 500-mile races.” He further added, “At least it was a little intriguing. It certainly required some math that I think took a lot.”

The final criticism by Pockrass was how the race was formatted. “It just seemed a little weird, right?” he said. “When you have guys like Kyle Larson and Ryan Blaney having their cars worked on for laps and laps and laps to come out for the main event.”

He concluded with a final line that we all felt by the race’s second lap when it all went down: “Other drivers such as Ross Chastain and Chase Elliott did not make the final segment,” making the race feel incomplete.

But why was the Open so important to the All-Star feature, and what did it represent? Let’s find out.

Why the Open gave the All-Star Race real stakes

To put it simply, the Open mattered because it created this sense of urgency that the main event alone couldn’t. Drivers entered knowing that only limited transfer spots existed, and every mistake counted a lot.

This desperation provided some of the wildest moments of the All-Star weekend, say for example Ryan Newman in 2002 or even Kyle Larson in 2019.

Historically, the Open has repeatedly produced surprise stars and emotional storylines over the weekend. Dover’s new format just removed this entire buildup and replaced it with these lengthy survival calculations, taking away the raw unpredictability and emotional investment that had defined an All-Star weekend.

In fact, this was exactly what Bob Pockrass was pointing to.

Read more at the RFK Racing Digest!

Written by

Uday Jakhar

Edited by

Suyashdeep Sason