Saturday's qualifying session at Dover Motor Speedway featured no shortage of wild moments as drivers and pit crews alike pushed to get the best times.
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The pit crews competed for $100,000 and a big trophy during the Mechanix Wear Pit Crew Challenge. The drivers raced for the best starting spots in Sunday's All-Star Race (1 p.m. ET on FS1). Some rose to the challenge while others made significant mistakes.
MORE: Full All-Star Race Qualifying Results
Somehow, Denny Hamlin achieved both. He spun while exiting the garage area, yet he still posted the fastest overall time at 109.298 seconds. His pit crew had the fifth-fastest time for a four-tire stop (no fuel) at 12.992 seconds.
After spinning while warming up the tires, @dennyhamlin claims the pole for the #AllStarRace! pic.twitter.com/T2YjnAjSrj
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) May 16, 2026
"Yeah, it was quite eventful for sure," Hamlin said after winning the pole. "I was trying to get an extra rep there on the bottom. I saw so many guys having issues leaving pit road, so I tried to get an extra rep there and it just, I mean, I just spun out.
"I don't know. I didn't think I was being that aggressive but spun out. At that point, just tried to minimize the damage. I mean, I did do some splitter, did do some underbody damage to it. Flat spotted the tires. That wasn't ideal, but then I just committed to run the lap as hard as I could, and it was still good enough."
Hamlin was far from the only driver with issues during Saturday's qualifying session at Dover Motor Speedway.
According to Fox Sports, 13 of the 36 teams taking part in qualifying on Saturday afternoon had some issue. Some of these issues happened on pit road; other issues happened out on the track.
Daniel Suarez had significant issues. He had the third-fastest overall time, but his right-front wheel disconnected after he took the checkered flag. The wheel bounced away while the No. 7 Chevrolet slammed into the outside wall. NASCAR then gave the team a penalty.
TROUBLE for Daniel Suarez. Take a look at what happened. pic.twitter.com/wCZePBCUOm
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) May 16, 2026
Chris Buescher also spun exiting pit road and he received a speeding penalty. Ryan Blaney's pit crew had a safety violation and issues on the right-rear tire that forced them to jack up the car multiple times.
Michael McDowell sped in two different sections of the track, so he received 20 seconds in penalties. Kyle Larson received a speeding penalty and a blend line violation, so he also lost 20 seconds.
Carson Hocevar's crew failed to get the left-rear lug nut secure while Chase Elliott's crew failed to get the left-front lug nut secure. John Hunter Nemechek's crew didn't get the lug nut on the left-front wheel.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. went for a wild ride during his qualifying lap. He exited pit road and got up to speed, but he spun twice before coming to a stop. He kept his car out of the wall while channeling his inner 2006 Jimmie Johnson.
“Keep driving it!”
NASCAR All-Star qualifying is heating up at Dover. pic.twitter.com/Ku1kfNDHcG
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) May 16, 2026
However, the Hyak Motorsports driver did not have the opportunity to take his car to pit road so his crew could take part in the Pit Crew Challenge. A flat tire sent him back to the garage.
The issues continued with Connor Zilisch, who had multiple sketchy moments on the track. He then spun as he tried to make his way onto pit road. He avoided the sand barrels at the entrance of pit road, so he had the opportunity to continue with the qualifying lap.
