In stock car racing, one wreck can cause more wrecks right after it. The track gets messy—cars are in the way and drivers have to react fast—so it can snowball.
Points are how racing series keep score over the season. If something “does no points,” it means it doesn’t help your standing—so the race strategy can change.
Concept
morale boosting
This is about confidence. Doing well earlier in the race can make drivers feel better, even if it doesn’t guarantee the final result.
This means the track is unforgiving. If you make a small mistake, there’s not much space or time to fix it, so it can turn into a wreck.
Concept
NASCAR should be hard
Some race tracks are just harder to drive on and harder to pass at. That means drivers have to be more careful and it’s easier to get stuck in traffic or crash.
They’re talking about how the race was organized and whether that setup gave drivers a fair chance. The complaint is that the format made it harder to see certain drivers compete for the big prize.
They’re saying that even though people argued about the event rules, the actual racing at Dover was exciting. The track still managed to deliver good action.
Banking is how much the track is tilted in the turns. More tilt helps cars go faster through the corner because the surface helps them stay planted instead of sliding.
The NASCAR All-Star race is a special “extra” race that isn’t part of the normal season points. It’s designed to be a big, entertaining event for fans and usually has a different setup than a regular points race.
Concept
passing with 29 laps remaining
“Laps remaining” tells you how late in the race the move happened. Passing with 29 laps to go is a big deal because the race is getting close enough that tires and strategy start to matter a lot for holding the lead.
Concept
200 lap final segment
A “final segment” is the last part of the race that decides the winner. Because it’s the end, teams often save their best tires/strategy for that final stretch.
Instead of running the whole race as one continuous stretch, the event is split into segments. That can change when teams pit and how they manage tires so they’re in the best shape for the finish.
Pit strategy is basically the plan for when to stop in the pits and how that affects your position. The timing can make you gain or lose spots depending on what the rest of the field is doing.
This is when drivers come into the pits while the race is still running normally, not slowed down. It’s a timing decision that can help or hurt where you are in the race when you rejoin.
A caution is when the race slows down because of something on track. An 'all-star caution' sounds like a scheduled slowdown for the event, which can change strategy for everyone.
Topic
Dover format debate (traditional 400 laps vs all-star format)
They debate what race format works best at Dover. The host thinks the usual long format would be more fun than the special format used here.
This is about how NASCAR structures the race. The host prefers the usual long, steady race (like 400 laps) instead of a special format that breaks things up.
Concept
qualifying part of this
The host is referring to a format where the pit crew is heavily involved during qualifying (not just the driver). That implies a more team-based qualifying procedure where execution in the pit area can directly affect qualifying results.
Concept
full field to 26 in the last segment
They’re talking about a format where fewer cars are allowed to keep going later in the race. That can affect strategy and how much racing you see from the whole group.
A pit road penalty happens when a team breaks the rules while entering or driving through the pit lane. It can set a driver back a lot because it affects time and position.
LIVE
Thanks for watching.
What's up, everyone? Welcome into a stock car scoop. And you're thinking, where is Eric
Schneck?
Philanand Forum. He's on vacation at Disney World this week. So Philanand hosting the
All-Star Race edition of Stock Car Scoop, which was of course won by Denny Hamlin. Yes,
him in this one, just a dominant night for one and only good old Denny Hamlin as he wins
at Dover.
Chiefs Briscoe's second followed by Eric Jones, Austin Dillon, Conner Dillich, and Austin
Cindrick to round out the group there. He wins the million dollars. Pretty dominant effort
from him. We had a unique format, which we'll talk our thoughts about that in a second.
But let's head back out to Dover, Delaware, where Michael Massey and the man, the myth
legend Danny Peters are for their reaction to all of the happenings at Dover. Fellas,
take it away.
What's up, Eric? And what's up, Stock Car Scoop listeners? Thanks for throwing it to
us. We're here. I'm Michael Massey. I'm joined by Danny Peters. We're standing here at the
number 11 team and Denny Hamlin. We're celebrating winning $1 million for winning the first
All-Star Race at Dover. Danny, what do you think about Denny winning another All-Star
Race and another race at Dover?
Second All-Star Race. He lost one 11 years ago, right? 2015. The 11 winning 11 years
ago. And back to at Dover. Two cup races and an All-Star Race. And he clearly
had a dominant car on the day. He started on pole and led a lot of laps and into that
final stage. We had other people led as well. Reddick led for a bit. Chase Brisco led for
a bit. But into that, you looked to be confused. Chase Brisco did lead, no?
No, he didn't.
In my mind, how many times Denny has won at Dover now?
Oh, total of four. He's won it three times. Three cup races and an All-Star Race, a total
of four.
Because the thing I got lost on, the thing that annoys me is that, you know, we talk
about Jimmy Johnson's won here 11 times. Richard Petty's won here seven times. This
would have been Denny's fourth official, but it doesn't count.
So, it annoys him too.
But, you know, he had a strong car all day and he chased down Brisco and that in the,
after the final, the final restart was about 55 laps to go. And he chased down Brisco, worked
him over and, you know, drove away to a pretty clear-cut victory.
Yeah. And, you know, it looked like Brisco had at one point, but Denny just tracked him
down. Good duel there between two teammates.
But they were the class of the field. Like those two were the class of the field.
Yeah, Radek as well. Then he had a problem late. But there were some other guys that
had some really good runs. You know, maybe they weren't as good as Denny, Brisco and
Radek, but Eric Jones, top five, Connor Zillich, top five. What were your thoughts on those
guys and anyone else that stuck out?
Yeah, I mean, I think you spoke to Connor on Pit Road and also his crew chief, Randall
Burnett. And I think Connor was just really pleased that he had, you know, that three
weeks in a row, he's had a strong car and Texas, Watkins Glen and here, but maybe without
the results of those other two tracks. But today he put it all together and got the result.
And he had a Pit Road penalty, not his fault is Pit Crew had equipment leaving the pit stall.
But he rallied back. And, you know, at that last caution, he had made it all the way to
second. And the question is, did he have anything for the 11 and the 19? He thought perhaps
not his crew chief thought perhaps, but either way, you know, his best finish in his 16 starts
at the cup level and, you know, a good morale booster for him. And I think a good, good
springboard for the rest of the season for the talented rookie driver.
Yeah, I think we're going to look back and say, you know, this is the moment, you know,
when after he's won his championship, his cup championship, won a bunch of races, maybe
this weekend was the weekend it clicked for Connor's Illage.
Yeah, and learn to come back from adversity, which is a key thing about being a cup driver
as well, you know? Yeah, yeah, for sure. I mean, like Denny has done it plenty of times.
Brisco's had to do it plenty of times. That's why these guys are like the best of the best
because they keep their head down. They work hard. Eric Jones was pretty funny because
I asked him, you know, if they had took, taken his 43 guard, just plopped it in front of the
11 and 19. What do you have at a shot? And it was like, no, no, but there were times where
he was like, he could trade laps with them. You know, sometimes he was faster than them,
but he said he burned his tires off trying to keep pace with them. So it's just, you know,
great, great speed from that legacy 43, but they're going to have to hit another gear to
catch up to those Joe Gibbs racing cars. Another good finish was Gregson. Yeah, 10th place for
him. You know, he's had a ninth place finish at Talladega and I think an 11th place finish at
Daytona, if I'm remembering that rightly. But you know, this is, this is a good finish on a,
on a bread and butter track, you know? So good finish for him in 10th place. We tried to speak
to him after this, but weren't able to try to think who else had a good finish. Austin Dillon
got a top five as well. So yeah, good result. RCR showing some speed. Michael McDowell,
top 10, just live underdogs. And you know why there were a lot of underdogs? Michael Massey
from Richmond, Virginia, a lot of wrecks. We had some key contenders wreck out of this thing.
Danny, I feel like you had the best view in this whole track of Ryan Priest.
Yeah. So I was up on the, uh, the media center, which is just, just on the outside of, of, uh,
turn one. So I had that great view down, down the front stretch and into one and two. And
you know, I saw that, that you could see it developing early, uh, that, that wreck and it
was, uh, Priest backed into the, backed into the wall and you know, just a boom went up in flames
and you, I feel like you don't see that very much now cause cars burn like that. And you know,
obviously your first thought in that moment, obviously take good pictures, but you know,
your thoughts are with, with priests and you can see the car is seriously on fire. And then, you
know, get out of the car, get out of the car. And you know, one thing I love about Ryan Priest,
and I think he's just such a cool dude, but like, you know, he, he stops the car and
Winnernet goes down and he gets out that car. Like he's just, you know, stopped a safe way to buy
some milk, you know, like, like, like very nonchalant and then just, just walked away like calmly.
Like if that was me or you, I think we would be like, you know, throwing ourselves out the car,
like running away from it, rolling, you know, crying, screaming, you know, but you know,
great that he was okay, but a vicious hit and a vicious wreck and a kind of wreck I feel we
don't see so much of nowadays with safer cars. For sure. And yeah, like you said, Gladdy's okay.
And of course, if it's going to happen to somebody in the field, it's Ryan Priest,
it just feels like anytime a car flips or fires, something guy, guy can't catch a break.
But you know, that was just the start of it. We saw if my math is correct, we saw 11 of the
19 guys that were locked in to the third segment have some kind of incident. It led to Chase Elliott
and Ross Chastain not even being able to race in the third segment. And then other ones like
Christopher Bell, bubble, Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney, like they showed up, but it felt like
they were just there because of the damage. I'll ask you, why, why do you think there was so much
chaos? Is there anything we could put our finger on while there were so many wrecks in this race?
I mean, wrecks beget wrecks, right? So that to some extent, but I just think it's a different
kind of race today. Like there's only one result that matters. That's when the race win a million
dollars and it doesn't really matter who, whether you finish second or third. And we've talked about
like morale boosting, but it does no points, right? It's win or nothing. So I wonder if some of that
played into it, but this is a really difficult track to get around and there's no margin for error.
And we saw two or three of the wrecks were in turn one and it's a tough track. It's a tough
track to pass. It's a tough track period. And perhaps that had something to do with it as well.
What do you think? Well, I think, yes, it is a difficult track. You're right on all those
accounts. And I like that. You know, NASCAR should be hard. You should be a struggle for these,
especially the cup level, it should be a struggle for these drivers to get around here.
And I think that was certainly the case. And just guys going hard for, you know, like you said,
it's not points racing, they could be a little more aggressive. Now, I think we shouldn't have been
in that situation because I don't know why the whole field started the race together.
That's, that's the problem. I had, I liked the all-star open back in the day. I think it was
just a cool chance to spotlight the guys that hadn't won a race. And they would go hard in
those as well. There would be wrecks in those. But it also, like I said, it kept Elliott and
Chastain and some of these contended front, some of these guys that are all stars from being able
to showcase. So, you know, if I, if I was a fan, say I was a Chase Elliott fan, or even like a
few of those hit today, I'm wagering probably like Ryan Blaney fan. Like I would be disappointed
that you didn't really get to see your driver go for the million dollars just because they're in there
with the whole, you know, it's basically like someone else got chasing Chastain's all-star spot
and others didn't really get like a fair showing just because like the whole field was in this.
So I'd like to see a format change. So it's something else. I don't know what to do with it, but
all the math, like we were so confused. I had no idea who was in, who was not in. The only one
we were sure about was Suarez because he won the fan vote. We were not sure what was going on. And
we are two supposed experts. I mean, he's a real expert. But yeah, I mean, I mean, if that's hard
for us, how hard is that for the average, for the casual fan, you know, someone who's just here
just to check out NASCAR like, you know, way too confusing. So let's please simplify that. But I will
say, I may not like the format, but Dover, I think Dover delivered a good race today, Danny.
Like lost in the format controversy, there was a really good race playing out.
I agree. It really was a good race. And I think Dover delivered is absolutely right. And I think,
you know, we wanted to see, I think NASCAR wanted to see a good turn out of the fans there. And
there was a really good crowd here today. And, you know, we arrived at the track both of us pretty
early. And, you know, even four hours before the race, there was a lot of fans here. There was a lot
of excitement. I thought the campgrounds were full. Like even on Friday, they were full, you know,
they were. So I really think like, as a track, and it's my first time here, you've obviously been
here before, but this is an amazing venue. Obviously, it's a horse track as well. But
you know, it's an amazing venue. The banking in the corners is insane. But just the whole experience
of being here, I think was a really positive one. And I feel like the fans really enjoyed it as well.
They got to see a great show, even if maybe they didn't understand the format, it was still a great
show. And then, you know, the most popular driver won. Oh no, wait, no, that's not Danny. Yeah.
He beat the most. He beat all your favorite drivers, I think. But yeah, I mean, I hope it comes back
here to Dover. I hope Dover gets a points race back again. You know, it's gone from two a year to
one a year to the All-Star race. And I hope next year it gets a chance to get its points
race back. So I think it deserves it. It's a good venue. It's an important part of the country for
NASCAR. And, you know, the fans showed up today and spoke what they thought of the track by being
exactly well said, well said. Let's rotate that All-Star race. Give Dover a points race next year.
But man, this has been such a fun weekend. I can't believe it's over already. You should
check out all our content on FrontStretch.com and the FrontStretch YouTube page. Eric, we'll
quit yapping and we'll get out of here. Back to you, Eric. Thanks so much, Massey and Danny there.
Yeah, Danny. Great ideas there, fellas. But yeah, Danny Hamlin, I should say, got it done.
He was able to get the victory over his Joe Gibbs racing teammate passing him with 29 laps
remaining to claim the million dollar check. He went on to win, you know, by a little less than
a second over his teammate in the 200 lap final segment. Let's start with the format of the race.
Well, the format obviously had all the cars on the track for the first two segments.
The first segment opened up with just a big pile up, including like Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson,
Ryan Blaney, all involved in accident early before the finish of the race. I think it was
kind of interesting to watch, especially with Larson and Blaney being part of that rec so
early in the race. They had this like sub-story throughout where you had the crews working on
the cars and, you know, it was a great conversation like Fox had with Kyle Larson about it, where
he's like, they are just, you know, it's an arts and crafts project here for the five team.
It was a great way to put things together and everything to go along with it. But again,
you know, Bubba Wallace ended up winning that first stage, if you want to call it segment,
whatever you want to call it. But unfortunately, he gets caught up in a wreck in segment two
that kind of derailed his day from there. And also Tyler Reddick won segment two,
if I'm not there. So they're called them segments. I wanted to call them stages,
but they're segments. Reddick was good there. But I think the best part overall was Denny Hamlin.
He ultimately won the race. I think this was an important performance for Chase Briscoe as well.
Hamlin led 103 laps and 61 were led by Briscoe. They all but led 36 laps of that final stage.
Obviously, there was a green flag pit stops in there as well. But ultimately put,
Denny Hamlin is just so good at Dover. And it was a showcase for him. I think
Denny really got it done and had a really, really clean performance there. As for the format,
I am mixed about it. You know, I missed the old school format. I think you needed to go
back to an all-star open and an all-star race itself. I think we had ended up having like
six guys buy a formula, make it. Daniel Suarez gets the fan vote so they could have that number,
key number. And that was only because, so I guess they were limited on the people that were wrecked.
Because 19 were locked in and then a couple of drivers dropped out because they wrecked
in the first two segments. So they were able to add extra numbers. It got really complicated.
They were trying to explain it on the broadcast in the second segment. It just really didn't make
sense to me. I really wasn't a fan of it. You know, they had the all-star caution at lap 75.
Wasn't for that as well. So ultimately put, I am not a fan. I think doing a traditional format,
I think going back to Charlotte should be the move. It appears this is not the swan song for Dover,
as I feared. There was a great crowd there today. Mike Joy mentioned on the broadcast that he talked
to Marcus Smith and said this was not the end for Dover, which again, I think is a really good
thing. Shout out to that. I think Dover, I think the racing itself was good. You had multiple lanes.
You did have passing. some mayhem. You did have drivers on the edge. I think the
race itself, the format kind of killed the vibe of the race. I think you had a traditional 400
laps around Dover. This would have been a really good race and a really good product with this car.
So I lean towards the format kind of messing it up. And I do like the fact that the pit crew is so
involved in the qualifying part of this. Keep that. I think some of my favorite qualifying was
watching, obviously, back in the day of the Charlotte qualifying where they come down pit
road as fast as possible. But overall, the format, just not a big fan of it, especially Dover, when
you had like, you go from the full field to 26 in the last segment, and it's only 200 laps. I think
you need a more traditional all-star format. I do give them credit for trying something
there as well. As for a couple highlights, I do want to highlight two guys in particular with
really good performances. And I know this is the all-star race, but the fact that Eric Jones
and Conor Zillich both got in the top five were really good. Eric Jones had a really fast car at
one point. Zillich had a really good car and was contending with Hamlin before a caution and a pit
road penalty that kind of derailed his day, but he was able to recover for a top five finish.
But it kind of showed the talent that Conor Zillich has. Obviously, he won in the Accident
Indie series. And I think he also won in the Arca series at Dover. And it showed his ability there.
So you have to give credit to Conor Zillich with a much-needed performance that kind of
boosts him up. Well, we move now. And then let's end it with, of course, a salute to Fox. This is
Fox's broadcast of the season. I guess most NASCAR fans are excited about that. But the
booth of Mike Joy, Kevin Harwick, and Clint Boyer will sign off the season and pivot over
to Prime, where, of course, Adam Alexander, Steve Lettart, and Dale Jr. will take the reins,
plus the Prime crew, as well, on Amazon Prime for the Coca-Cola 600 next week, which will be
hosted stock car scooters by Caleb Barnes. But first, we will have Happy Hour on Tuesday,
reacting to all the headlines for the week. So, 730 on youtube.com backslash, Front Stretch,
Happy Hour, the next edition of the Front Stretch podcast network. That will do it for me tonight
on stock car scoop. That is how we're going to do it. So, filling in for Air Shnack this week.
Caleb Barnes will fill it in for Eric next week. And we'll also have thanks to Danny Peters and
Michael Massey who are at the track. And thanks so much for you all listening.
Giving us your thoughts on the race at Trail Isle VT at Front Stretch,
signing off for this edition of Stock Car Scoop.
About this episode
Denny Hamlin’s Dover All-Star Race win takes center stage, from his pole start and laps led to the late pass that secured the million-dollar check. Hosts also unpack how the race’s all-star-style format and “whole field started together” setup shaped strategy, risk, and the overall vibe, even as they praise Dover’s racing and extreme corner banking. Along the way, they discuss key incidents, including wrecks clustering early and a pit-road penalty that derailed Connor Zillich.
