Dover 400 Race Preview

Dover International Speedway -- 05/31/2009

Author: Becca Gladden

Published: Wednesday May 27 2009 11:22pm

Last year at this time, I had commented about the ongoing saga regarding the name of the spring race in Dover.

Twenty years ago, this particular event was called the ‘Budweiser 500.’ Ten years ago, it was the ‘MBNA Platinum 400.’ More recently, it was the ‘Neighborhood Excellence 400,’ the ‘Autism Speaks 400 Presented by Visa,’ and the ‘Best Buy 400 Benefiting Student Clubs for Autism Speaks.’

Not to be outdone, this year’s race is titled the ‘Autism 400 presented by Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips & Cheese.’ Really.

Dover International Speedway, nicknamed the ‘Monster Mile,’ is a one-mile, concrete surface track with 24 degrees of banking in the turns.

Driver Denny Hamlin, who has two top-10 finishes in six Dover starts, said this about the track: `I look at Dover as a faster version of Bristol. That’s about the best comparison you can make … Dover is a really unique place, from the surface to the banking to the pit road. It’s a unique challenge for the teams to go there, but it’s a place where we’ve run pretty well in the past even though our results don’t show that. Dover is a physical track that tests you in the driver’s seat with steep banking and really severe transitions in and out of the corners, but it does give you a lot of passing opportunities. There are multiple grooves there and you can find a place to make your car work. Ideally, you can run the bottom and pass that way. If you have the car right, you normally have to take your time, wait, and find a place where you are better and make the pass. There is so much load on the car, so the cars aren’t as aero dependant as they are at other fast tracks, so you can run behind someone and not lose the front end - that makes for really good racing.”

By the way, the Bristol winner earlier this year was … Kyle Busch, who dominated the race there in March, as well as at Charlotte last week (until rain caused the race to be called early).

NASCAR has been racing in the Cup series since 1969, with a total of 78 races on the books. Three active drivers have four wins a piece here, including Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon, and Bill Elliott. Ryan Newman and Jimmie Johnson have three wins a piece, while Greg Biffle and Tony Stewart each have two.

Among the one-time winners at Dover are Bobby Labonte, Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards, Martin Truex Jr., Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Burton, and Kyle Busch.

Carl Edwards, who earned the nickname “Concrete Carl” because of his performance on tracks with a concrete surface, has the best average finish at Dover with a 7.7. If Edwards (and Roush-Fenway) is going to snap out of his mini-slump this year, it could happen at Dover. In nine starts here, he has one win and six top 10s, with his most recent five Dover race finishes 2nd, 3rd, 1st, 2nd and 3rd.

Following Edwards in the average finish category are Ryan Newman, Jimmie Johnson, Greg Biffle, and Martin Truex Jr.

Edwards has also accumulated the most points here over the course of the last five races (both spring and fall dates), followed by Biffle, Jeff Gordon, Jeff Burton, and Martin Truex Jr.

For years, Dover has been known for having one of the trickiest pit roads in the sport, but renovations during the offseason are expected to make all aspects of pitting at Dover a ‘pit’ easier.

Current odds for select drivers for the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway:

Kyle Busch +600

Jimmie Johnson +725

Greg Biffle +725

Carl Edwards +725

Jeff Gordon +900

Matt Kenseth +950

Mark Martin +1100

Tony Stewart +1250

Denny Hamlin +1450

Kurt Busch +1650

Ryan Newman +1650

Please check back before the race for our practice and qualifying update.

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