Best Buy 400 Race Preview

Dover International Speedway -- 06/01/08

Author: Becca Gladden

Published: Wednesday May 28 2008 1:09am

The first thing you need to know about this Sunday's Cup race in Dover is its name.

20 years ago, this particular event was called the Budweiser 500.

10 years ago, it was the MBNA Platinum 400.

Two years ago, it was the Neighborhood Excellence 400.

And last year, it was the 2007 Autism Speaks 400 Presented by Visa.

This year, the race is titled the "Best Buy 400 Benefiting Student Clubs for Autism Speaks." Really.

Last year's June race in Dover was marked by three memorable events: Martin Truex Jr.'s first Nextel Cup win, Kurt Busch's infamous run-in with Tony Stewart on pit road, and the announcement of the death of Bill France Jr., which was made partway through the race.

In addition, the race last year was rained out on Sunday and had to be postponed until Monday. Currently, the forecast is calling for a 40% chance of rain in the Dover area this Sunday.

Dover is a one-mile track with 24 degrees of banking in the corners and 9 degrees on the straightaways. Along with the concrete surface, one of the quirky things about the track is the very difficult pit road entrance, which usually catches at least one or two drivers off-guard every year. Another odd feature is the fact that there are only 42 pit stalls for 43 cars, meaning two teams actually end up sharing a pit box until someone leaves the race, freeing up a spot.

Driver Jeff Burton, who incidentally is the only Cup driver who has completed every lap of competition so far this year, characterizes the track this way: "Dover is an exceptionally fast race track. For a mile-long race track, it generates a lot of speed. You’re in the throttle a lot of the time, there’s a lot of banking, and you really have to work hard to get your car to turn well. You have to make it turn well and keep it where you can run on the bottom. You don’t want to lock in so you can only run on the bottom. You want to be able to run different grooves. If you can do those things, you can run really well there.”

At least five active drivers have achieved success at Dover in more than one race, including Jeff Gordon (+1325) and Mark Martin (+2250), each with four wins, Ryan Newman (+2550) and Jimmie Johnson (+845) with three, and Tony Stewart (+885) with two.

Among the one-time winners on the "Monster Mile" are Bobby Labonte, Matt Kenseth (+1015), Carl Edwards (+485), Martin Truex Jr. (+1855), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (+845), Greg Biffle (+1115), and Jeff Burton (+2550).

As mentioned, Martin Truex won this race last June with a dominant car in which he led 216 of 400 laps. Last year's fall race at Dover was won by Carl Edwards.
Manufacturers have been pretty evenly represented in Victory Lane over the past 10 races - not including Toyota, which was never a contender until this year. Dodge and Chevy have had three wins each, while Ford has had four.

All three Dodge wins were achieved by Ryan Newman, who swept the track in 2003 and also won in the fall of 2004, while all four Ford wins were by Roush drivers: Mark Martin (June '04), Greg Biffle (June '05), Matt Kenseth (June '06), and Carl Edwards (Sept '07).

Edwards, in fact, has the best average finish among active drivers with a 9.1 in seven starts, including a win and four top 10s. In the past three Dover races, Edwards has finishes of 2, 3, and 1.

Ryan Newman's average finish is 10.0, Martin Truex's 10.5, Tony Stewart's 10.6, and Clint Bowyer's (+2550) is 11.2.

Current points leader Kyle Busch (+605) has made six starts here and has four top-5 finishes. If not for a DNF in the fall of 2006, Busch's average finish would be a 6.2.

Edwards has also accumulated the most points over the course of the past five races (summer and fall), followed by Biffle, Burton, Martin, and Johnson.
Dover will be the first race since NASCAR announced a limit on the degree of right rear "yaw" they will permit. Teams have apparently been toeing out the right rear by greater than two degrees, while the new rule will limit them to no more than one degree.

Opinions in the garage are split regarding how much this will affect teams, but there will likely be a noticeable impact on those who’ve been taking greatest advantage of the previous leeway.