There’s Still Time As Dover Signals Halfway To The Chase
This week’s race at Dover International Speedway marks the 13th stop – halfway – in qualifying for one of the 12 positions in the 2009 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
Statistics covering the five previous years in which the championship has been contested under The Chase format suggest at least 10 drivers among the current top 12 will be in the mix when the Chase begins in September at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
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In the past three seasons, only one driver outside the top 12 after the spring Dover race was able to race his way into the Chase. Two drivers in 2004 and 2005 managed to become Chase eligible over the season’s second half.
That, however, was then and this is now.
The 2009 season is one of parity – eight different winners through the first 12 races – with at least nine teams currently having a realistic chance of making the Chase.
No surprise; Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, Richard Childress Racing and Roush Fenway Racing are current holders of top-12 positions.
But Stewart-Haas Racing, a first-year team, and a resurgent Penske Racing also are represented.
Among the teams within 80 points of the top 12 are Michael Waltrip Racing, for which David Reutimann (No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota) won its first race May 25 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway; Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, Richard Petty Motorsports and Team Red Bull.
There could be a number of new faces in this year’s Chase. Three among the current top 12 and eight of the first 16 were not among last year’s qualifiers.
All four manufacturers stand an excellent chance of taking home the championship trophy. Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota were represented a year ago while Dodge didn’t see a team qualify for the 2008 Chase. But Penske’s Kurt Busch (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge), the 2004 champion and first to win the title under the Chase format, ranks a solid third on the basis of a win, three top-five and six top-10 finishes.
Last spring’s Dover race proved a microcosm of last year’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. The topfive finishers – and six of the first seven – all became Chase-eligible. Eventual champion Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe’s/KOBALT Tools Chevrolet) finished seventh.
Active winners of the spring race are holders of 11 NASCAR Sprint Cup titles. Jeff Gordon (No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet) is the only driver with a Dover spring victory in his championship season. Gordon won both in 2001.
The Monster Mile: Twelve Different Spring Winners And Counting
Dover International Speedway’s spring race is a fan favorite for a variety of reasons but one in particular stands out:
There’s a very good chance someone’s favorite driver may be headed for Victory Lane.
The past 12 editions of the Autism Speaks 400 presented by Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips and Cheese have produced 12 different winners. There hasn’t been a repeat winner in the 21st Century. Jeff Gordon is the only double winner since 1996. Gordon’s most recent Dover spring victory came in 2001.
In other words, just about everyone is in the mix when the green flag drops at The Monster Mile.
Kyle Busch (No. 18 M&M’s Toyota) is the defending spring winner at Dover. That makes sense; a year ago, Busch seemed to take the checkered flag just about everywhere he suited up, be it Dover’s concrete, a 1.5-mile track or a road course.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champions are well represented among the dozen repeat winners: Gordon; Johnson; Tony Stewart (No. 14 Office Depot Chevrolet); Matt Kenseth (No. 17 DEWALT Ford); Bobby Labonte (No. 96 Ask.com Ford); and Dale Jarrett.
Manufacturer winners? Doesn’t matter. All four count victories during the 12-race run with General Motors and Ford tied with five wins apiece.
Pit Road, Frontstretch Wall Improvements Make Debut At The Monster Mile
Pit road at Dover International Speedway historically has been one of the most difficult, not to mention tightest, on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule.
No longer.
During the winter, the track made major improvements to pit road. They include installation of a SAFER barrier supported by a new 1,592-foot concrete wall that wraps from Turn 4 down the frontstretch to near Turn 1.
The new pit wall is 432 feet longer than the previous steel boilerplate wall.
Also eliminated was the grass strip on the frontstretch. That allowed the wall to be placed closer to the track creating four additional feet of room to the width of passing on pit road.
By lengthening the pit wall, the track was able to reconfigure the 43 pit stalls and make them longer in size. The pit boxes are 32 feet long compared with the previous 28-foot measurements.
Thanks to the elimination of some grass in the infield of Turn 4, new apron space was created between Turns 3 and 4 to allow more room for cars to slow down as they approach the pit road entrance.
This also created a new entrance for track emergency service vehicles to enter the speedway from the infield near the NASCAR Nationwide Series garage.
“Turn 4 has always been an action-packed area to sit and now spectators in this area will also get a great view of teams working on pit road,” said Denis McGlynn, president and CEO of Dover International Speedway.
Kurt Busch, a former series champion, expressed his pleasure with the project.
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“When I saw the photos of what the guys at Dover have done, I said, ‘Yeah, way to go guys,’” Busch said. “Great thinking and hard work went into the project.
“I’ve been very fortunate over the years to not be a victim of Dover’s tight pit road. We’ve had our share of run-ins with other cars and the wall that separated pit lane from the track, that’s for sure.”
Busch said he can’t wait to see the new layout in person.
“After all the years of racing there in such tight quarters on pit road it’s hard to visualize what it will be like,” he said. “It will make for safer conditions for sure (and) I think it will also make for better competition, too.”
His crew chief, Pat Tryson, echoes Busch’s thoughts.
“It’s always been a situation of stress and worry anytime you hit pit road there,” Tryson said. “If it was a green-flag pit stop, you worried about your driver getting on pit road without an incident.
“If it was a pit stop under the yellow, you always worried about getting boxed in or crashing with the other cars trying to get out of the pits.”
The new dimensions really caught Tryson’s eye.
“The four feet factor – wider pit lane and longer pit boxes – may not sound like much but you go and ask my guys over the wall there on Sunday,” he said. “They’ll tell you just how much that additional four feet means, I’ll guarantee that.”
MWR, Reutimann Victory At Lowe’s Motor Speedway Continues Season of ‘Firsts’
Two races; six new winners.
That’s the scorecard in two of the past four points-paying NASCAR Sprint Cup events as a pair of drivers, owners and crew chiefs have gone to Victory Lane for the first time
Brad Keselowski, longtime owner James Finch and crew chief Marc Reno scored an improbable but impressive victory April 26 at Talladega Superspeedway.
This week it was David Reutimann, Michael Waltrip and Rodney Childers hoisting the winner’s trophy at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
Reutimann became the latest driver to win a race in all three national series. His previous victories came at Memphis Motorsports Park (NASCAR Nationwide) and Nashville Superspeedway (NASCAR Camping World Trucks).
Michael Waltrip Racing was among the charter Toyota teams when the manufacturer joined the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in 2007. MWR, as currently configured, had one top-five finish in its first two seasons – Waltrip’s second-place finish a year ago at New Hampshire.
Reutimann’s previous best, a fourth, came at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March.
Childers, a NASCAR Sprint Cup crew chief since 2005, had won Coors Light poles with Scott Riggs but no previous victories. His call, to keep his driver on-track, proved the winning move when inclement weather ended the Coca-Cola 600 at Lap 227.
“David and I have been in position to win races before (and) had fate take them away from us,” Waltrip said. “So I think of this as a payback.”
Said Reutimann, “It wasn’t the prettiest win but someone has to win these things.”
MWR’s victory was Toyota’s first by a series team other than Joe Gibbs Racing.
Loop Data Says Dover Offers Roush Fenway Racing Opportunity To Regain Momentum
Despite placing three drivers in the top 12, Roush Fenway Racing’s season has not been as prolific as predicted.
Carl Edwards (No. 99 AFLAC Ford), winner of a season-high nine races in 2008, has yet to visit Victory Lane in 2009. The closest he has come was a third-place finish at Atlanta earlier this season.
Matt Kenseth roared out of the gate, winning the first two races of the season. Since then he has an average finish of 19.3.
Greg Biffle (No. 16 3M/NEXCARE Ford) has yet to win a race after a strong performance in last season’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup that including two victories.
David Ragan (No. 6 UPS Ford) had a breakthrough year last season, but now sits 32nd in the standings.
Finally, Jamie McMurray (No. 26 Crown Royal Ford) has just three top-10 finishes after ending last season with three consecutive third-place runs.
But all ills – perceived or otherwise – could be cured this weekend at Dover, a track at which Roush excels.
Roush has eight wins at Dover, including two of the last three. Its stable of drivers pepper the top five in nearly every key Loop Data statistic.
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The most statistically stellar is Biffle, who won last year’s Dover Chase race. He has a series-best Driver Rating of 116.6, a series-best Average Running Position of 6.4, a series-high 332 Fastest Laps Run and a Laps in the Top 15 percentage of 94.4%.
Next-best is Kenseth, who won at Dover in June of 2006. He has a Driver Rating of 114.5 (second-best), an Average Running Position of 6.5 (second), 294 Fastest Laps Run (second), a series-fastest average Green Flag Speed of 141.776 mph and a Laps in the Top 15 percentage of 92.9% (second).
Edwards, always strong on concrete tracks like Dover, has finished in the top three in each of the last five Dover races.
He has a Driver Rating of 105.7 (third), an Average Running Position of 9.7 (fourth), 274 Fastest Laps Run (third) and a Laps in the Top 15 percentage of 73.0% (sixth).
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