Thursday, May 29, 2014

Dover's Monster Tamer

A Look at Jimmie Johnson's Career at Dover



By Richard Tix

Dover International Speedway is nicknamed the "Monster Mile" for a reason, it is no easy feat to win here. Since 1995 this mile round track has been a rough and tough concrete surface that frustrates drivers, teams, and tire makers alike. One thing is for sure when you leave Dover, you earned your finish. Heck, even Miles the Monster is a bit scary just to look at, especially the 46 foot monument of him.

Over the course of time a few drivers in NASCAR have tamed the mile long track at Dover. Richard Petty and David Pearson both have 7 career wins at Dover, but both are tied for second and behind a current driver for most wins. Only Jimmie Johnson can truly be considered the Monster Tamer as all of his 8 wins have come during the Monster Mile (concrete surface) era at Dover.

Jimmie Johnson started out his career at Dover in 2002 as a rookie by sweeping the two Monster Mile races. Not a bad start for just a kid Jeff Gordon recommended Hendrick bring in. Beginers luck right? Wrong, Jimmie has gone on to win 6 more times to date with 5 Pole awards to go with them. 


Dover International Speedway
Jimmie Johnson Career Stats
Year
Start
Finish
Laps Led
2002
10
1
188
2002
19
1
170
2003
5
38
36
2003
4
8
0
2004
14
32
1
2004
9
10
0
2005
1
4
24
Dover Totals
2005
5
1
134
Races
24
2006
42
6
0
Wins
8
2006
18
13
0
Top 5
12
2007
27
15
0
Top 10
17
2007
1
14
1
Top 15
20
2008
4
7
2
Top 20
22
2008
20
5
81
2009
8
1
298
2009
1
1
271
2010
5
16
225
2010
1
1
191
2011
1
9
207
2011
6
2
157
2012
2
1
289
2012
11
4
43
2013
24
17
143
2013
8
1
243
Averages
10.25
8.67
112.67



After taking a break to look at some of Johnson's Dover statistics it is interesting to note that he has a 8.67 career average finish. Of active drivers, he is the only one who is sub 10 in this category (Next closest is Carl Edwards at 10.0). Johnson is also second only to Ryan Newman (9.0) in career average starting position.

If you didn't know before you now know after looking at these stats that over a full career he is untouched by current drivers. Its crazy to think he has on average led 112.67 laps a race in his career at Dover. In his last 9 races at Dover he has lead on average 195.27 laps a race!

Jimmie has had two stretches -one of 5 races and one of 6 races- between wins at Dover and since then has only had to wait two races between wins. In his 12 years in Cup he has won at Dover 6 of those years, so half of the time. In his 24 career races he only has two finished outside the top 20 and both of those were early in his career and resulted because he got into a wreck. So its safe to say Jimmie Johnson will find away to finish well at Dover.

So, this week NASCAR heads to the Monster Mile and we all know Jimmie Johnson has tamed and figured out Miles the Monster, but can any other driver tame and slow down the Monster Tamer Jimmie Johnson?

**Edit: Once again Jimmie Johnson won the first race at Dover in 2014. Now its Chase time, will he do it again?**


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