The All-Star Race is a non-points exhibition event with prize money but no championship implications. Eligibility extended to drivers who won a Cup Series points race from the 2021 season through the 2022 AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway, along with previous All-Star race winners and Cup Series champions who attempted to qualify for every race in 2022.
Drivers not automatically eligible could compete through the All-Star Open, a preliminary race run in segments. Stage winners from the Open and the winner of a fan vote also transferred to the main event. The fan vote transfer for 2022 went to Erik Jones.
The race itself was divided into four stages. Stages 1, 2, and 3 each ran 25 laps, with the stage winner of each starting first, second, and third on the grid for the decisive Stage 4. Stage winners were required to finish inside the top 15 in subsequent stages to retain their starting position for Stage 4; if they failed to do so, they would start from where they left pit road instead. The fourth starting position for Stage 4 went to the driver whose team completed the fastest pit stop following Stage 2.
Tyler Reddick posted the fastest time in the All-Star Open practice, running 29.059 seconds at 185.829 mph. Denny Hamlin was fastest in the main race practice session with a time of 28.838 seconds at 187.253 mph.
Qualifying for the All-Star Race used a Pit Crew Challenge format. Kyle Busch won the pole by defeating Ryan Blaney in the final round of the head-to-head elimination bracket, which incorporated timed four-tyre pit stops and a race down pit road with no speed limit enforced.
The All-Star Open stage winners who transferred to the main event were Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chris Buescher, and Daniel Suárez.
Ryan Blaney led the race late and was on course to win at the original conclusion of 125 laps when the controversial caution was called. He retained the lead into overtime and won after the race was extended to 140 laps.
On what would have been the final lap under the original distance, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. hit the wall coming out of turn two. NASCAR brought out a caution an instant before race leader Ryan Blaney crossed the finish line — under the rules, a race cannot end under caution, so the event went to overtime. Blaney, unaware of the caution as he crossed the line, lowered his window net, a gesture drivers use to signal they are unharmed after an incident. Driving with an unsecured window net is a safety violation under NASCAR rules.
NASCAR did not allow Blaney to pit and resecure the net before the overtime restart, and he retained his race lead. He went on to win. Denny Hamlin and others publicly criticised NASCAR both for the timing of the caution call and for allowing Blaney to drive without a properly secured net. Scott Miller, NASCAR's Senior Vice President of Competition, acknowledged that the caution had been called prematurely. In response, NASCAR pledged to improve communication protocols between race control, the Race Director, and the Senior Vice President of Competition when calling cautions in similar late-race situations.
Fox Sports broadcast the race on television in the United States, with Mike Joy, Clint Bowyer, and Larry McReynolds calling the action from the booth, and Jamie Little and Vince Welch handling pit road reporting. Motor Racing Network carried the race on radio with Alex Hayden and Jeff Striegle as lead announcers, simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.