Denny Hamlin — winner: “It makes it a lot easier when you’ve got a car this fast, honestly. We strive to be No. 1. We did it today. It really challenged us to have to go through traffic. Otherwise, you could go out there, and you could lead a bunch of laps, but I definitely like the invert. Obviously, it caused some chaos there, took out some good cars. But overall, it’s a typical All-Star Race when that stuff happens. But I just knew that the game changer for us was long runs and obviously the ability to pass when we’re behind someone. I’ll probably give (the $1 million) to Mama.”
Winning pays💰 pic.twitter.com/3cnGsFeGeg
— Denny Hamlin (@dennyhamlin) May 17, 2026
Chase Briscoe — second: “Yeah, it was obviously a really fast car. I’m just proud of our group. I knocked the wall down in practice, and we basically rebuilt the whole car. So for them to be able to just get the car back to where it was competitive, it says a lot about the guys. So, yeah, just. It was a good day for our Toyota. Now that we didn’t win, I wish it was a points race because we definitely need the points. But, yeah, it was a hard-fought day. I’ve been having the stomach bug bad the last two or three days, so I didn’t know how the day was truthfully even going to go. Had a shot there at the end for a million bucks. Can’t ask for anything more. Just wish I had a little bit more rear grip. Just any time I got the lead, I would be so loose that it would just make me vulnerable. And then once I would get past, I would normally kind of come on, but, yeah, just needed a little bit of rear grip.”
Can’t wake up tomorrow saying, “I feel like a million bucks.” One spot short today, P2.
— Chase Briscoe (@chasebriscoe) May 17, 2026
Erik Jones — third: “Yeah, we kind of knew that we were good on the long run with our Camry. We had some good track position to start that run, and we just kind of needed to keep the distance with (Denny Hamlin) and (Chase Briscoe) and (Tyler Reddick). Then he had an issue, and once I got behind the 11 and 19, I just couldn’t keep pace. They were really hooked up. We started going a bit free and lost some ground but just needed a longer run. We were super strong past 70 on. The one run before the last one, we had the pace to run those guys down and challenge them. Just lacking a little speed. The balance was close, just needed a little more pace in the car, but this is a big gain. We’ve been pretty bad at Dover the last handful of years, so I know it is a little bit of a unique deal, but a great run.”
Not a million bucks richer but really happy with how we executed the entire weekend as a team. Great to feel positive heading into the 600 next weekend.@NASCAR, feel free to retroactively give out points for this race too. pic.twitter.com/sXhZHSpiBu
— Erik Jones (@Erik_Jones) May 17, 2026
Austin Dillon — fourth: "“I’m just proud of the No. 3 Chevrolet team and the adjustments they made. We had a really fast car on the long run and we were able to run down (Erik Jones) with a couple laps to go. We were trying to save in case a caution would come out. Overall, just really proud of the effort. Dover Motor Speedway is historically our worst track, but we were able to lean on our teammate, Kyle Busch, this weekend and that really helped. I feel like we’re trending upwards. We were 34th in practice, so we chopped, cut and rebuilt our No. 3 Chevrolet to go to what the No. 8 team ran. It’s really nice to have a teammate that you can rely on.”
Connor Zilisch — fifth: “We needed a day like this for our No. 88 Chevrolet team where we had contending speed. It’s been a long year and the moments of hope like this certainly feel good. I don’t really know what to point our speed to. We still had some balance issues, but just the potential was there. We had potential in our race car. Everyone at Trackhouse Racing has been working really hard to get that and make it to where, even on the bad days, we’re still running decent. I feel like we had that today. We had potential and, honestly, room to grow. Just really proud of everyone on this team. It was a big rebound from qualifying yesterday. I knew it was a long race, and I knew we had to get inside the top-26 there to try and give ourselves a chance in the invert. We drove up to 11th in the first segment and continued to move forward in the second segment. That’s when I really started to realize that we had a shot. It was cool to be on offense, have good restarts and not feel like a fish out of water.”
Austin Cindric — sixth:: “Definitely a wild day at Dover. Happy to stay out of a lot of the mess and have a fast enough Ford Mustang along with good execution. We were able to get some good finishes in the first two segments to give us some track position in the final bit. We worked on the car all day and got it better by the end of the race. Not a whole lot more you can ask for. Wish the final run would’ve been a little more snug for me to go challenge the Toyotas for the lead. If it was a points race we would’ve had points in both stages. Top 10 effort, but that wasn’t the assignment today.”
Michael McDowell — eighth: “It was an up-and-down day for this No. 71 Chevrolet team, but glad to make the big show. We dodged some carnage there early. We had a little bit of damage, but we overcame that. We just lost the balance a little bit there at the end. I felt like two runs before the end, we were really good on the long run. And then right there at the end, we were just a little bit too free. But overall, just really proud of the effort and it’s something to build on.”
Brad Keselowski — 10th: “I made a mistake there in the second segment, had some contact with the 1 car. Crashed myself. Crashed him. Had to dig out of a hole. The car was a little torn up and just fought to a 10th-place finish from there.”
AJ Allmendinger — 12th: “We knew it was going to be an uphill climb for the No. 16 Chevrolet team with starting last. I thought we had okay speed in the first segment, but we just couldn’t ever get around the right guys. We were decent there in the end. We were lucky to get through that wreck with minor damage. We had some nose damage that probably hurt the car, but when we restarted up front there, I thought we had good speed. I was able to run with (Tyler Reddick) for most of that run, so that was pretty cool. Overall, proud of the effort to get into the final segment. I thought we made the most out of it that we could. We know the areas we lack and it shows up in traffic, especially, and on the long runs.”
Ryan Blaney — 13th: “Really proud of this 12 group for putting in the work to get us back out on track and not having it be a complete loss of the day. Would’ve liked to see where we stacked up on pace over all three segments but glad we were able to get at least something out of the day.”
Ty Dillon — 15th: “It was a fun day for the No. 10 Chevrolet team, being in the top-10 for a lot of the race. We were really competitive too, so I think we learned a lot about ourselves and learned a lot about our race car and some of the things we need to keep focusing on. I think we found some things the past couple of weeks that have been good adjustments for us throughout the weekend. We just need to start on the right foot a little bit quicker, but everyone on this team is really resilient and that was a great All-Star Race for us.”
Kyle Busch — 17th: “Unfortunate day for the entire No. 8 Chevrolet team at Dover Motor Speedway. We had a strong car in practice and qualifying, and were driving forward through the first segment. During our first pit stop, we got a penalty for speeding on pit road, which sent us to the tail of the field and then we got caught up in a wreck in the final laps of the segment that took a toll on the car. The team spent most of the second segment working on the car in the garage, and while we got the balance better, we ultimately lost track position in the third segment that we were never able to recover from. The car was tight, and I lost rear grip. We’re leaving here with a 17th-place finish and now we’ll reset and get ready for the Coke 600 next weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway.”
— Daniel Suárez (@Daniel_SuarezG) May 17, 2026
Joey Logano — 25th: “Definitely a tough way to end a pretty tough day overall. We had our struggles on the long run and, unfortunately, that led to giving up a bit of track position in the final segment that we weren’t able to make back up.”
Not how we envisioned our All-Star Race to end | Head up and on to one of the biggest races of the year: #CocaCola600 at @CLTMotorSpdwy 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/MgP9wkPBV7
— Joey Logano (@joeylogano) May 18, 2026
Ross Chastain — 29th: “It knocked the front clip off our No. 1 Busch Light Chevy. It’s a bummer. We executed the first segment really well. We weren’t passing anyone really, by any means, but we were able to maintain position, which has not been the case with this downforce package. With Brandon McSwain’s (crew chief) steps ahead, our Chevy drove a lot better than at Bristol, so there’s a lot to look forward to if we take another step like that for the next one.”
John Hunter Nemechek — 30th: “It’s been a weekend for us, for sure, but we battled back. We were running inside the top 26 there for the invert before the final caution. And then we had a great restart. And we were making hay through the middle, up top. Felt really good. Yeah, I don’t know. (Riley Herbst) got turned or lost it on the front straightaway, and everyone kind of piled in there. So we would be the pole-sitter for the second segment. Sadly, we’re wrecked, torn up, and sitting in the garage the rest of the day. So it sucks to not race for a million dollars, but I’m looking forward to going to Charlotte next weekend and having a really solid run.”
Chris Buescher — 31st: “Obviously not the day we wanted for this No. 17 team. We fought hard early and were able to make up a lot of track position, but once we got caught up in the crash, it just changed the whole rest of our race. It’s frustrating because I felt like we still had more in it, but that’s part of racing in an event like the All-Star Race where everybody is pushing hard. Proud of the effort from this RFK Racing group, and we’ll move on to the next one.”
About our day… we got hit in the Rf avoiding this wreck and it bounced us into the inside wall. Bent the chassis and was deemed “unsafe” to continue. And I thought we had the least heavy hit of all the fixed junk on track 🤬 pic.twitter.com/Yd2huVM05h
— Chris Buescher (@Chris_Buescher) May 17, 2026
Chase Elliott — 32nd: “It was wild, for sure. I didn’t really know what the best thing to do was. I probably should have stayed out and tried to take a chance, but you’re probably going to be in the mess either way. There were a lot of different strategies going on, and unfortunately, I just got caught up in the mess twice and the second one was enough to end our day. I saw them getting together and crashing. Obviously the straightaway has so much banking here that everything slides to the bottom and that’s where I was. I was trying to work my way back up the hill and I ran into a wall of cars sliding down the track. It’s just part of it.”
Ryan Preece — 35th: “I’m fine. I seem to take big hits. I don’t know what happened. But if it was anything, it was probably just too close on my part to go into Turn 1 and just got sideways. So I’ll have a better idea here. Can’t really see it (watching replay). Yeah, it didn’t really show us there. So, yeah, I mean, if it was my fault, I’m sorry. So, yeah, tough way to not finish a race on lap one. So yeah, just move on to Charlotte.”
The big hits always seem to find me.
— Ryan Preece (@RyanPreece_) May 17, 2026
This one’s my fault. Not clear. pic.twitter.com/bKPcbL0j12
