The 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race (XXXIV) was a

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), the most prestigious stock car racing series in the United States. The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, ...

stock car exhibition race held on May 19, 2018 at

Charlotte Motor Speedway Charlotte Motor Speedway (known as Lowe's Motor Speedway from 1999 to 2009 due to sponsorship reasons) is a quad-oval Oval track racing#Intermediate, intermediate speedway in Concord, North Carolina. It has hosted various major races since it ...

Concord, North Carolina Concord ( ) is the most populous city in Cabarrus County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 105,240 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Concord is the second-most populous city in the Cha ...

. Contested over 93 laps—extended from 80 laps due to an overtime finish, it was the second exhibition race of the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season.

Report

Background

The All-Star Race was open to race winners from last season through the 2018 KC Masterpiece 400 at

Kansas Speedway Kansas Speedway (formerly known as Kansas International Speedway in initial planning and construction stages) is a tri-oval Oval track racing#Intermediate, intermediate speedway in Kansas City, Kansas. The track, since its inaugural season of ...

and all previous All-Star race winners and Monster Race NASCAR Cup champions who had attempted to qualify for every race in 2018 were eligible to compete in the All-Star Race.

Entry list

=Monster Energy Open

=Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race

Monster Energy Open/All-Star practice

Kevin Harvick Kevin Michael Harvick (born December 8, 1975) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver and commentator for '' NASCAR on Fox''. He last competed full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 4 Ford Mustang for Stewa ...

was the fastest in the Open/All-Star practice session with a time of 31.689 seconds and a speed of .

Qualifying (Open)

Open qualifying for Friday was cancelled due to weather and

Aric Almirola Aric Michael Almirola (born March 14, 1984) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver. He competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 19 Toyota GR Supra for Joe Gibbs Racing. Almirola previously compete ...

was awarded the pole as a result.

Starting Lineup (Open)

Qualifying (All-Star Race)

Matt Kenseth Matthew Roy Kenseth (born March 10, 1972) is an American former professional stock car racing driver and the current competition advisor for Legacy Motor Club in the NASCAR Cup Series. Most recently, he raced part-time in the Superstar Racing Exper ...

scored the pole for the race with a time of 127.644 and a speed of .

All-Star Race qualifying results

Monster Energy Open

Monster Energy Open results

All-Star Race

All-Star Race results

Media

Television

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The name originates from Fox Broadcasting Company in the United States, which in turn derives its name from Fox Fi ...

was the television broadcaster of the race in the United States. Lap-by-lap announcer,

Mike Joy Michael Kinsey Joy is an American TV sports announcer and businessman who serves as the play-by-play commentator for Fox Sports' NASCAR coverage. His color analysts are Clint Bowyer and Kevin Harvick. Joy has been part of the live broadcast cre ...

, was accompanied on the broadcast by retired NASCAR drivers,

Jeff Gordon Jeffery Michael Gordon (born August 4, 1971) is an American stock car racing executive and former professional stock car racing driver who currently serves as the vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports. He raced full-time from 1993 to 2015, d ...

and

Darrell Waltrip Darrell Lee Waltrip (born February 5, 1947) is an American motorsports Color analyst, analyst, author as well as a former national television broadcaster and stock car driver. He raced from 1972 to 2000 in the NASCAR Cup Series (known as the NAS ...

Jamie Little Jamie Little (born April 9, 1978) is an American pit reporter and play by play announcer for NASCAR coverage on Fox. Little is a former pit reporter for ESPN/ABC coverage of the Indy Racing League, although she returned to her pit reporting du ...

Vince Welch Vincent Welch (born August 4, 1964) is an American radio and television personality most recently for Fox Sports. Until 2022, Welch was the play-by-play commentator for NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, and occasionally, a pit reporter for FOX' ...

, and

Matt Yocum Matthew Yocum is a long-standing reporter in motorsports, best known for being a NASCAR pit reporter. He works for ESPN as a pit reporter to cover the Superstar Racing Experience (SRX) as of 2023 as well as for NBC Sports as a pit reporter for the ...

reported from pit lane.

Radio

Motor Racing Network Motor Racing Network (MRN) is an American radio network that syndicates broadcasts of auto racing events, particularly NASCAR. MRN was founded in 1970 by NASCAR founder Bill France, Sr. and broadcaster Ken Squier, and is a wholly owned subsidiary ...

(MRN) continued their longstanding relationship with the track to broadcast the race on radio. The lead announcers for the race's broadcast were Mike Bagley, Jeff Striegle and

Rusty Wallace Russell "Rusty" William Wallace Jr. (born August 14, 1956) is an American former NASCAR racing driver. He won the 1984 NASCAR Cup series NASCAR Rookie of the Year, Rookie of the Year and the 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup Series, 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup ...

. The network also implemented two announcers on each side of the track: Dave Moody in turns 1 and 2 and Kyle Rickey in turns 3 and 4. Alex Hayden, Winston Kelly, Kim Coon, and Steve Post were the network's pit lane reporters. The network's broadcast was also simulcasted on

Sirius XM NASCAR Radio The following is a list of channels on Sirius XM and Sirius XM Canada. There are over 150 full-time channels on Sirius XM, over 140 of which are on Sirius XM Canada. Not included are channels that are specifically used for live sports programmin ...

References

{{2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup

Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race All-star game, All-Star events are annually held in the NASCAR Cup Series at North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina. Beginning in 2008, NASCAR began the practice of using Roman numerals to identify each race, but ended one ...

NASCAR races at Charlotte Motor Speedway NASCAR All-Star Race