Dover Motor Speedway opened back in 1969 as Dover Downs International Speedway, and you have to go back to 1968, when it was still being built, to find the most recent year in which the Dover, Delaware venue did not host at least one NASCAR Cup Series race.
It hosted one race in both 1969 and 1970, and from 1971 through 2020, it hosted two per year. When it lost its second race weekend in 2020 due to pandemic restriction-related schedule changes, it still hosted a doubleheader on its lone race weekend.
But since 2021, which was the four-turn, 1.0-mile (1.609-kilometer) track's final year being officially known as Dover International Speedway following its 2002 rebrand, it has hosted only one race per year.
That is still set to be true in 2026. But for the first time in the history of the Monster Mile, Dover is not set to host a championship points race.
No NASCAR Cup Series points race at Dover in 2026
North Wilkesboro Speedway, which had not been on the Cup Series schedule since 1996, returned in 2023 as the host of the non-points All-Star Race, and it hosted that race again in 2024 and 2025. But it has taken Dover's place on the regular season schedule with a mid-July race, and Dover is set to slot into All-Star Weekend in mid-May.
Notably, this means that the All-Star Race is set to be a daytime race, rather than a nighttime race, because Dover does not have track lights. It is presumably scheduled to take place during Indy 500 qualifying, though that should not be an issue for any of the drivers since nobody is planning on running the Memorial Day Double after Kyle Larson attempted it in both 2024 and 2025.
The All-Star Race used to be held at Charlotte Motor Speedway annually, with the only exception from 1985 to 2019 coming in 1986 when it was contested at Atlanta Motor Speedway. But with the many schedule changes of 2020, it was moved to Bristol Motor Speedway, and then in 2021 and 2022, it was contested at Texas Motor Speedway.
With Dover set to become the event's fifth different location in eight years this coming May, it's hard to say whether or not the All-Star Race will become a permanent fixture at the Monster Mile, but considering the history of a nighttime All-Star Race, we're probably going to lean no, especially as NASCAR continues to demonstrate that they are willing to take chances with the schedule.