The 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race (XXXIV) was a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series stock car exhibition race held on May 19, 2018 at

Charlotte Motor Speedway Charlotte Motor Speedway (previously known as Lowe's Motor Speedway from 1999 to 2009) is a motorsport complex located in Concord, North Carolina, outside Charlotte. The complex features a quad oval track that hosts NASCAR racing includin ...

Concord, North Carolina Concord is the county seat and largest city in Cabarrus County, in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 105,186, with an estimated population in 2021 of 107,697. In terms of population, the cit ...

. 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 is a tri-oval race track in the Village West area near Kansas City, Kansas, United States. It was built in 2001 and it currently hosts two annual NASCAR race weekends. The IndyCar Series also held races at the venue until 20 ...

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 professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 4 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing. Harvick is the 2014 Cup Series champion, ...

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 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. He drives the No. 8 car in the Superstar Racing Experience. (SRX) Kenseth started racing on several short tracks in Wisconsin and won track cha ...

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 ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the F ...

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

Mike Joy Michael Joy (born November 25, 1949) is an American TV sports announcer and who currently serves as the lap-by-lap voice of Fox Sports' coverage of NASCAR. His color analyst is Clint Bowyer. Counting 2022, Joy has been part of the live broadcast ...

, was accompanied on the broadcast by retired NASCAR drivers,

Jeff Gordon Jeffery Michael Gordon (born August 4, 1971) is an American former professional stock car racing driver, who is the Vice Chairman for Hendrick Motorsports. He raced full-time from 1993 to 2015, driving the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick M ...

and Darrell Waltrip.

Jamie Little Jamie Little (born April 9, 1978) is an American pit reporter 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 duty for the 2007 and 2008 I ...

, Vince Welch, and

Matt Yocum Matthew Yocum (born April 8, 1968) is a long-standing reporter in motorsports, best known for being a NASCAR pit reporter. He works for CBS as a pit reporter to cover the Superstar Racing Experience (SRX) as of 2021. He most recently worked in tha ...

reported from pit lane.

Radio

Motor Racing Network Motor Racing Network (MRN) is a U.S. 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 of ...

(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 William "Rusty" Wallace Jr. (born August 14, 1956) is an American former NASCAR racing driver. He has won the 1984 NASCAR Cup series Rookie of the Year and the 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup Championship. Over the course of his successful care ...

. 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 Since 2008, Sirius XM Radio has had a similar channel lineup, with a few differences based on whether the individual has a Sirius, XM, or SiriusXM radio. For technical reasons, separate radios continue to be manufactured for the separate services ...

References

{{2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race NASCAR races at Charlotte Motor Speedway NASCAR All-Star Race