NASCAR keeps fans guessing with recent announcement

NASCAR revealed the top four drivers in the All-Star Fan Vote for this coming Sunday’s race at Texas Motor Speedway, but not the order.

For the first time since Super Bowl Sunday, there is no NASCAR Cup Series points race scheduled to take place this weekend. However, that doesn’t mean the top drivers in the sport will not be in action.

The annual All-Star Race is scheduled to take place this Sunday evening, and for the second consecutive year, the race is set to take place at Texas Motor Speedway.

The four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) oval in Fort Worth, Texas had hosted two points-paying Cup Series races per season prior to 2021, when its regular season race was given to Circuit of the Americas and it instead became the host of the All-Star Race. The track does still have its playoff date.

A total of 20 drivers are already eligible to compete in the All-Star Race, though the field is slated to feature 24 drivers. Three of the additional four are set to be determined by the preceding All-Star Open qualifying race. All three stage winners of the Open lock in.

But the 24th and final spot is slated to go to the winner of the All-Star Fan Vote.

To be more accurate, this spot goes to driver who receives the most votes but does not manage to lock into the main event by winning a stage of the Open. If he still has a raceable car after the Open, he gets the spot.

Naturally, the 20 drivers who are already locked into the main event and are therefore not competing in the Open are excluded from this voting process.

NASCAR revealed the four drivers who currently have the most votes in the All-Star Fan Vote. However, they did not necessarily reveal them in the order of their current vote totals.

In order of car number, those four drivers include the following.

• Corey LaJoie, #7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
• Tyler Reddick, #8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
• Erik Jones, #43 Petty GMS Motorsports Chevrolet
• Daniel Suarez, #99 Trackhouse Racing Team Chevrolet

The fact that NASCAR revealed four drivers is significant because, provided they all remain inside the top four in the vote, one of them is guaranteed to be the Fan Vote winner (again, as long as the car is still raceable after the Open), since, at most, only three can win a stage of the qualifier.

You can still cast your vote here from now through 12:00 p.m. ET on Friday, May 20. You may vote once per day right up until the deadline, and votes that you share on social media count twice.

Fox Sports 1 is set to broadcast the All-Star Open live from Texas Motor Speedway beginning at 6:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, May 22, and it is set to broadcast the All-Star Race live beginning later in the evening at 8:00 p.m. ET. Don’t miss this opportunity to start a free trial of FuboTV!