Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Next Race: Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race
The Place: Charlotte Motor Speedway
The Date: Saturday, May 18
The Time: Open Race – 6:00 p.m. ET / All-Star Race – 8:00 p.m. ET
TV: FS1
Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Open Format: Stage 1 (20 laps); Stage 2 (20 laps); Stage 3 (10 laps)
All-Star Race Format: Stage 1 (30 laps); Stage 2 (20 laps); Stage 3 (20 laps); Stage 4 (15 laps)
2018 All-Star Winner: Kevin Harvick
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Next Race: Alsco 300
The Place: Charlotte Motor Speedway
The Date: Saturday, May 25
The Time: 1:00 p.m. ET
TV: FS1, 12:30 p.m. ET
Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 300 miles (200 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 45),
Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 90), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 200)
2018 Winner: Brad Keselowski
NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series
Next Race: North Carolina Education Lottery 200
The Place: Charlotte Motor Speedway
The Date: Friday, May 17
The Time: 8:30 p.m. ET
TV: FS1, 8:00 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 201 miles (134 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 30),
Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 60), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 134)
2018 Winner: Johnny Sauter
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Here’s how it works
The Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race (Saturday, 8 p.m., FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) format will look much the same as it did in 2018, with the addition of five extra laps to the final stage of the thriller. The stage lengths will be 30 laps, 20 laps, 20 laps and 15 laps. NASCAR Overtime rules are in effect for all of the stages if necessary and there are no mandatory pit strategy rules.
Fifteen drivers qualified for the race by virtue of winning a race in 2018 or 2019, being a past All-Star race winner or being a past Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion. Additionally, the winners of each of the three stages (20 laps, 20 laps and 10 laps) in the Monster Energy Open race will move into the feature as well as the driver who wins the NASCAR Fan Vote.
Ryan Newman is the only driver to win both the Open race then the All-Star main event, sweeping the weekend in 2002. Sterling Marlin is the all-time Open race winner – earning four trophies (1988, ‘89, ‘93 and 2004), however he never won the All-Star Race.
For the first time in his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career, Chase Elliott has earned his spot in the All-Star Race by virtue of race wins and not the Fan Vote. He scored his career first, second and third Monster Energy Series race victories in 2018 and already has another (at Talladega, Ala.) this season.
Kasey Kahne is the only driver to earn a spot in the All-Star race (2008) through the Fan Vote and go on to win the All-Star race.
Harvick back to defend
Kevin Harvick shows up at Charlotte Moto Speedway a little more than eager to earn a second consecutive and third overall victory in the Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race. His work in the popular $1 million event has been top-shelf – his 11 top-10 finishes are tied with Jimmie Johnson for most among active drivers. His five top-five finishes are third-most as are his 124 laps in front of the field.
In 18 previous All-Star starts – the most starts of anyone in Saturday’s race – Harvick boasts the best average starting position (8.5) of any driver in the field with more than one start. In addition to his two wins – 2007 and 2018 – he has three runner-up finishes tying him for most all-time with Ken Schrader and Sterling Marlin.
This weekend, he will debut a “Millennial Pink” No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford – making good on a bet his sponsor Busch Beer made last season that if he didn’t win the 2018 championship (Joey Logano did), he would drive a “v lit paint scheme” in 2019.
The decidedly new-look car was unveiled at the NASCAR Hall of Fame earlier this week and Harvick is hopeful to reclaim some of the same mastery he’s shown at the 1.5-mile Charlotte Motor Speedway. It’s historically been a good place for the 2014 Monster Energy Series champion. He has three regular season wins there and 13 top-10 finishes in the last 16 races on the track.
Harvick is coming off a strong outing Saturday night at Kansas where he won the Busch Pole position and led a race-best 104 laps, ultimately finishing 13th. He is ranked third in the driver point standings.
New points leader after Kansas
Team Penske’s Joey Logano didn’t have a stellar night at Kansas Speedway but his 15th-place finish in conjunction with Kyle Busch’s season-low 30th place result shifted the top of the points standings.
Logano, the reigning Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion, took the lead – by nine points over Busch – for the first time since early this season. He’s led the standings twice before – following a fourth-place finish in the Daytona 500 and after his only win in 2019, at Las Vegas.
Logano won the All-Star Race in 2016 and his seven top-10 finishes in eight starts is the best such ratio on the field. His average finish of 6.875 is behind only four-time winner Jimmie Johnson’s average finish of 6.824 (17 starts) and Chase Elliott’s 6.000 (three starts) among active drivers with more than one start.
He has only one win at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the Monster Energy Series – a dominating showing in the 2015 fall race when he led 227 of the race’s 334 laps. He has nine top 10s in 19 starts on the oval.
Kyle Busch looking for redemption after Kansas
Kyle Busch had his first finish outside the top 10 of 2019 last Saturday night at Kansas Speedway and the best medicine for redemption may be to hoist an All-Star trophy and cash a $1 million paycheck. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver tied a 29-year old record set by Morgan Shepherd in earning top-10 finishes in the opening 11 races of the season. Last week, Busch’s streak ended when he placed 30th after a frustrating run at Kansas.
His mark of 11 top 10s, however, is still most among all drivers. Joey Logano – who took the championship lead by nine points with Busch’s uncharacteristic showing at Kansas – and Busch’s teammate Denny Hamlin are the only other drivers with six top-fives on the season. Busch and Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski lead the series with three wins apiece.
The All-Star Race has been all-or-nothing for Busch. He has four top-five and eight top-10 finishes in 13 All-Star race starts, winning in 2017. Only Jimmie Johnson and the late Dale Earnhardt have more top fives (nine). But Busch has either placed in the top-10 in the race or recorded a DNF.
His 256 laps led is most among active drivers. Only Bill Elliott (267 laps) has led more. The driver of the No. 18 Toyota has won three pole positions and his 5.615 average starting position is tops among active drivers and fourth-best all-time.
He has good juju of recent at Charlotte earning his first Monster Energy Series victory at the track from the pole position in last spring’s 600-miler – leading a dominating 377 of the 400 laps.
All-Star Newbies
The 2018 summer race win at Daytona has earned Erik Jones his first All-Star Race start. He shows up at Charlotte fresh off a third place showing in Kansas, which equals his previous season best coming in February’s Daytona 500.
Joining him on the All-Star roster are Aric Almirola and Austin Dillon, who will each be making his second start. This is the third All-Star race for Ryan Blaney and fourth for Chase Elliott, who has been the Fan Vote selection for the previous three years.
Jones is fresh off back-to-back top-10 finishes in the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota for the second time this season and hopes to bring that good momentum into his All-Star debut. He has only one previous top 10 at the Monster Energy Series level at Charlotte, but a runner-up and two top-five finishes in NASCAR Xfinity Series races.
Almirola is making his second career All-Star Race start. He finished 14th in 2015. Dillon finished 12th in his only previous All-Star race in 2018 but answered that with a victory in the Coca-Cola 600 a week later at the track.
Team Penske’s Blaney has a best All-Star finish of 11th, ironically coming in a DNF in 2017. He finished 15th last year but enjoyed redemption winning the inaugural Charlotte ROVAL race on a last lap pass during the Monster Energy Series Playoffs.
Elliott has three top-seven finishes in his All-Star starts, including a best of fifth last year.