NASCAR Cup Series star Denny Hamlin believes that the changes to the All-Star Race format for 2026 dilute the prestige of the event.

As well as changing venue from North Wilkesboro Speedway to Dover Motor Speedway, the format of the All-Star Race has also been massively tweaked for this year's action.

In previous years, there were strict criteria for qualifying for the race, including being a recent race winner, a former champion, a former All-Star winner, winning the fan vote, or finishing inside the top two in the All-Star Open.

However, the All-Star Open has been scrapped for 2026, with all Cup Series cars set to start Sunday's 350-lap main event, and the field set to be cut and inverted at various stages of the race.

READ MORE: NASCAR All-Star Race 2026 explained - New format, no All-Star Open, schedule and how to watch

Denny Hamlin on NASCAR All-Star Race changes

Ahead of this weekend's action, Hamlin was one driver to offer his thoughts on the new format after being asked if all drivers taking part took away from the original intent of the event.

“No, I mean, it has," Hamlin told the media at Dover Motor Speedway. "I mean, my kind of knee-jerk when I saw it was like, 'If we're all going to be racing on Sunday, is it really that special?'

"So, I think it does take away a little bit. I mean, surely it does. Now, they're going to whittle it down, but yes, I think that taking that many open cars, and again, we've expanded it.

"We went through a swing there in the last 15 years of like, it's strict, it's only this, and then it's this plus this. Now this plus this, plus this. Oh, now it’s not just the winner. Now it's first and second place. Like, we just kept expanding it, and we did it with the playoffs and The Chase and everything.

"So just trying to be more inclusive of everyone, and so with that, yes, of course, it dilutes a little bit of the feeling of prestige.”

Sunday's All-Star Race takes place at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday and will be broadcast live on FS1.

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