The Nationwide Series will be a major part of the NASCAR weekend at the Dover International Speedway when the green flag falls on Saturday’s Helluva Good 200. The one mile concrete oval, known as “The Monster Mile”, is wide enough to allow side by side racing and sometimes even three wide racing if there’s enough rubber at the top of the track. It’s also known for taxing a driver’s patience.
THE STORY BREAKDOWN
For quite some time now Jason Keller has been known as the “Iron Man” of NASCAR’s Nationwide Series. He hopes to make series history this Saturday by becoming the first driver to log his official 500th start. But there’s one obstacle the driver of the #35 Tri-Star Motorsports Chevrolet will have to overcome to make that history. It’s the Saturday morning qualifying session. The team is outside of the top 30 in the series owner’s points and is not guaranteed a start in the race. Keller will have to earn his 500th starting berth based on qualifying speed.
The Greenville-South Carolina native began his Nationwide Series career on April 27, 1991 at the Lanier Speedway in Gainesville-Georgia. During the course of subsequent 499 starts he has logged ten wins, 11 Coors Light Poles, 83 top five finishes which is 13th on the series’ all time list, and 175 top ten finishes which places him third on the series’ list. Over the years he has raced for 12 different team owners including a car prepared by his father, Joe.
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Series veteran Jason Leffler will have his hands full trying to recoup some lost owner’s points from last weeks Darlington race involving Braun Racing’s #38 Toyota, a car that he actually wasn’t driving. Normally, Leffler is the driver of the #38 but on occasion Sprint Cup driver Kasey Kahne moonlights in the car.
That was the case last week at Darlington. Kahne was in the #38 and Leffler was driving Braun Racing’s second #10 Toyota. They finished fourth and fifth respectively in that race. But a problem developed with the #38 Toyota during the post race technical inspection. The car’s left front shock absorber failed the inspector’s compression test. The inspector fully compresses the shock and it has 90 seconds to return to its original position. The shock on the #38 took considerably longer than the allotted time and was deemed to be an unapproved part.
Last Wednesday NASCAR announced that the team’s crew chief, Stewart Cooper, was fined $10,000. Team owner Ralph Braun was docked 25 owner’s points and Kahne was docked 25 driver’s points. Kahne’s lost points is no real concern because of his less than part time status with the team. The owner’s points is another issue and Leffler will be looking to make up that deficit, as well as the five lost positions in the standings, Saturday night.
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Driver Brad Keselowski, #22 Ruby Tuesday Dodge, comes to Dover as the series’ points leader and holds a 55 points lead over Kyle Busch in second. Keselowski likes the three concrete ovals that the series races on each year. From his nine series wins, three of them have been on concrete based ovals. He’s also the defending race winner after slipping by team mates Kyle Busch and Joey Logano following their late in the race contact last year.
Speaking of red hot potential race winners, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin is currently on a Nationwide Series hot streak. They also have a collective three wins in a row streak at Dover: one win for Busch and two consecutive wins for Hamlin.
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The Nationwide Series’ Raybestos Brakes Rookie Of The Year competition was skin tight until an unexpected set of circumstances changed that. Brian Scott, representing Braun Racing, leads those standings with 103 points but it was only a four point advantage of James Buescher of Phoenix Racing.
However, this week James Finch, owner of Phoenix Racing, announced that he and Buescher have parted ways. Buescher will reportedly be racing in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series for the remainder of this year. NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Ryan Newman will be in the Phoenix Racing car at Dover.
That creates a definite advantage for driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr of Roush Fenway Racing who is third in the rookie standings and only nine points away from the leader.
On the topic of Roush Fenway Racing rookie drivers, Colin Braun returns to their #16 Conway Freight Ford after a two week hiatus. Braun got off to a horrible start this season. His five DNF’s, (did not finish), caused the team to fall out of the top 30 in owner’s points which means they were no longer guaranteed a starting berth in the next race.
Roush Fenway Sprint Cup veteran Matt Kenseth drove the Ford in the last two series races. A strong finish at Richmond returned the team to the bottom of the top 30. Unfortunately at Darlington Kenseth was caught up in someone else’s on track incident and the team slipped back to 31st in the owner’s points.
The pressure will be on Saturday night for young Braun. It’s a time for him to show he’s worthy of his contract by scoring a good finish and getting his team back inside of the top 30. As Darrell Waltrip has said many times, during a Fox Sports NASCAR broadcast, “it’s time for him to either fish or cut bait.”
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Many of the teams will be busy next Tuesday and Wednesday testing the NASCAR Nationwide Series’ new C.O.T, (Car Of Tomorrow). At least 15 teams, along with 25 drivers, will participate in a verification tire test at Daytona International Raceway. This will be the final test before the new race car makes its official debut during the series’ Daytona event set for July 2nd.
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FROM THE NASCAR GOOD GUY FILE
This Friday the NASCAR Nationwide Series will be saluting our military, and their families, by hosting a NASCAR Social at Dover Air Force Base. Included in the festivities is a driver autograph session. Participating drivers include Carl Edwards, Reed Sorenson, Michael Annett, Scott Lagasse Jr, Colin Braun, Brian Scott, Scott Wimmer, Morgan Shepherd, Brad Keselowski and Eric McClure.
Then on Saturday many of the Nationwide Series teams will be treating wounded soldiers and their families to a special race day experience at the Dover International Speedway. Participating teams include Germain Racing, RAB Racing, Braun Racing, R3 Motorsports, Team Rensi Motorsports, Jay Robinson Racing, Faith Motorsports, NEMCO Motorsports and Roush Fenway Racing.
The #43 Baker Curb Racing Curb, driven by Scott Lagasse Jr, will again be sporting the American Red Cross logo on their car at the Dover Race. The team wants to remind fans that they can simply text REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation to the American Red Cross of Nashville to help fund volunteer efforts in the rebuilding of Nashville and the surrounding areas after last week’s devastating floods.
Roush Fenway Racing announced that their #16 Citi Financial Ford will be displaying the official logo of the March Of Dimes. and their national March Of Dimes For Babies campaign during Saturday’s Dover race. Citi Financial will be sponsoring special fund raising walkathons across the country during the next several weeks.
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THE RACE BREAKDOWN
The Helluva Good 200 is 200 laps around the Dover International Raceways one mile concrete oval.
The race has 47 entries vying for the 43 starting berths. 17 of the entries are on the go or go home list meaning they are outside of the top 30 in owner’s point which guarantees a starting berth in the race. These teams will have to make the race based on qualifying speeds.
16 of the entries are double duty drivers or those who will competing in both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup series events during the NASCAR weekend at Dover.
The Helluva Good 200 will be broadcast live Saturday afternoon by ABC Sports beginning at 2 pm eastern time.
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