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Mash The Gas: Dover Preview

After a rather wild and crazy Coca-Cola 600 on a Full Moon Charlotte night last weekend, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series tackles the “Monster Mile” at Dover International Speedway for the FedEx 400 Benefiting Autism Speaks on Sunday afternoon. Dover is an ultra-fast high-banked one mile oval where action heats up quickly and the self-cleaning banked turns makes for very few single car incidents. It’s very easy to get caught up in someone else’s problems over the course of 400 Dover miles and here are a few drivers who have historically succeeded in escaping the clutches of “The Monster Mile.”

The green flag is scheduled to fly on at 1:15 pm EDT on Sunday, June 2nd. With the track being measured at a mile, 400 laps make up the 400 mile distance at the Dover International Speedway. This race, 13th of the 36 event season will mark the halfway point of the regular season and race to the Chase.

Matt Kenseth
Dan Margetta: Matt Kenseth has stated many times in the past he considers Dover to be his favorite track on the circuit and has backed that up with results that include two wins, 13 top-5 finishes, and 18 top tens in 28 starts. He has the second best driver rating behind Jimmie Johnson and has finished in the top five in 8 of his last 10 Dover races. Much like he has been all season long, Kenseth spent a lot of time at the front of the field last week at Charlotte and this week that strong team performance matches up with a personal favorite race track. That combination could be trouble for the rest of the field as Kenseth marches to win #4 in the 2013 season.

Jimmie Johnson
John Wiedemann: Listing Jimmie Johnson each week as one to watch is a no-brainer. Throw in his stats of seven wins, including winning his first two races at the track, and an average finish of 8.6 – yes, he is a favorite to win at Dover. Johnson and his team are continuing their steamroll through the schedule and competition with a thirty-two point lead over second place in the standings, Carl Edwards. Keeping this pace up, Johnson would be able to take a race off at the season mid-point and still keep his spot on top of the standings.

Carl Edwards
DM: Carl Edwards is nicknamed “Concrete Carl” for a reason with that being his strong performances on concrete racing surfaces and concrete just happens to encircle the Dover International Speedway. Edwards owns the third best driver rating at Dover with one win, eight top 5 finishes, and 12 top 10 results. His average finish at Dover is 8.3 and Edwards and the #99 team have snuck their way into second place in the championship standings, gradually closing the distance to Jimmie Johnson in the point lead. With a strong team in place behind him, Carl Edwards is a definite threat for the win this weekend.

Kyle Busch
JW: Since his first run with Joe Gibbs Racing at the Monster Mile, Kyle Busch has two wins and six top tens in ten races. Also mixed in those results were two lost engines, something that has got to be on the mind of Busch since he has had two engines blow up this season as well. Three finishes in the low thirties in the last five races have dropped Busch to eleventh in the points. One would think he has got to break out of the slump and I’m guessing he will break out this weekend with a win.

Denny Hamlin
DM: All eyes will be on Denny Hamlin and the #11 team as they try to claw their way into the Chase for the Championship. Needing 53 points and a victory or two to put themselves into the top 20 and in contention for a wild card, Dover is a track they should run well at. The Dover circuit has been described as a big Bristol, and Bristol was where Hamlin led the most laps earlier this year. 2013 could be the season in which a driver misses races and still contends for the championship and Hamlin and this #11 team are definitely strong enough to pull off the tough task.

Joey Logano
JW: Joey Logano finished in the top ten in the last two races at Dover International Speedway. His history at the track has been a mixed bag of results with five finishes in the top fifteen and three below twenty-fifth. A third place run in the 2010 fall race is Logano’s best result at the Monster. But this year has been a resurgence and the Penske Racing driver can look at teammate Brad Keselowski’s win in last year’s fall race increase his confidence. Lately it has been a top five finish or below twentieth place run for Logano. I’m betting this weekend will be a top five.

Aric Almirola
DM: My long shot pick for this week is Aric Almirola driving the famous #43 for Richard Petty Motorsports. Almirola has turned in some strong runs of late crew chief Todd Parrott guided teammate Marcos Ambrose to a strong third place finish at Dover two years ago. Almirola’s Dover record includes one top 10 result and an average finishing position of 12.5. Almirola has been on the verge of a breakthrough performance lately, having shown steady improvement and he could be a surprise winner on Sunday.

Martin Truex Jr.
JW: Martin Truex Jr’s one visit to victory lane in the Sprint Cup Series occurred in 2007 at Dover’s Monster Mile. Jumping up five spots to ninth in the point standings following his top-ten finish at Charlotte last weekend, Truex has four top ten runs in his last six points paying races. Seemingly back on track as the series approaches mid-season, Truex could position himself well heading into the Chase and Dover is a great track for him to continue his climb in the standings.

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