The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series All-Star Race will be run at a new venue with a different format than in previous years.
Some of NASCAR's best drivers will compete for $1 million over 100 laps at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday night.
Seventeen drivers are already in the field as race winners from the 2020-21 seasons, or previous All-Star Race and Cup Series champions. Four more competitors will be added through the All-Star Open. The three stage winners and a first-place finisher in a fan vote will move on to the main event.
Chase Elliott is reigning champion of the event. The No. 9 car driver won the All-Star Race at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2020. Prior to last year, the All-Star Race was primarily held at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
NASCAR All-Star Race Info
Date: Sunday, June 13
Start Time: 8 p.m. ET
TV: FS1
Live Stream: FoxSports.com and Fox Sports app
Preview
The 2021 edition of the All-Star Race comes with a handful of tweaks to the format, some of which are confusing to follow.
The 100-lap race is broken down into six stages. Only green flag laps in every stage will count toward the lap total.
The first four stages are 15 laps. The original starting lineup will be determined by a random draw. The second, third and fourth stages will have drivers line up through an inverted formula that was used at parts of the 2020 Cup Series season.
Stage 5 is the longest of the six at 30 laps. The order for that stage will be determined by cumulative finish over the first four segments.
During the fifth stage, each team must make a green-flag pit stop. The crew with the fastest pit stop will earn $100,000.
The sixth and final stage will be an all-out sprint to the checkered flag over 10 laps. The cars will be aligned for that segment based off Stage 5 finish.
All of the race winners since the 2020 All-Star Race at Bristol automatically qualified for the field. Michael McDowell, Cole Custer and Christopher Bell are the biggest beneficiaries of that policy.
Those three drivers were among some of the surprise winners on the NASCAR circuit over the last 12 months. McDowell and Bell won the first two races of the 2021 season at Daytona International Speedway.
Austin Dillon and Kyle Busch clinched their spots in the All-Star field by winning at Texas. Dillon's win last July came in the first event after the All-Star Race at Bristol.
Kevin Harvick could be viewed as one of the favorites to win since he owns wins in three of the last seven Cup Series trips to Texas.
Harvick has not won in 2021 and a victory at the All-Star Race could be a boost into the second part of the season for his team.
The Hendrick Motorsports cars should be at the front as well. Kyle Larson and Alex Bowman are two of the three drivers with multiple victories on the circuit this season, while Elliott and William Byron both have a win and double-digit top-10 finishes.
Elliott and Larson are the last two victors of the All-Star Race, and based off their 2021 form, it would not be a surprise if they fought for the win on the final laps on Sunday.
Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90.
Statistics obtained from NASCAR.com.
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