Week 29 Preview: Dover

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Week 29

By Richard Tix

Dover is the last Chase race that will see all 16 Chase drivers have a chance to get into the next round. Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski are locked into the next round with wins in the first two races, but everyone else's future is up in the air. It should be a fun race just for the drama alone. Unfortunately, if it is like NASCAR's stop at Dover last year the Chase drama maybe the only exciting part (unless the track blows up again).

Last time around (like so many times lately) Jimmie Johnson dominated the race and made for a pretty uneventful race. Check out Dover's Monster Tamer for a better look at JJ's dominance at Dover. 

The Good, Middle, and Bad

(This is just a review of each drivers recent past performance, generally about 5-10 past races)

The Good

• Jimmie Johnson- 18 times in 25 career races JJ has finished top 10. He has 9 career wins at Dover including the last two. Do you really need more of a reason to have JJ in the "good" category? Fine, he has led a lap in his last 14 starts here and won 6 times in the last 11 races...
• Matt Kesneth- Everyone, including Kenseth, is playing for second when it comes to trailing JJ. Kenseth does have 20 top 10's, 14 top 5's, and 2 wins in 31 career starts at Dover. He finished 3rd earlier this season. 
• Clint Bowyer- Clint finishes top 10 a lot at Dover (10 times in 17 tries), but he only has two top 10's. Can he finally get over the hump and steal a win during the Chase?

The Middle

• Joey Logano- JoLo has five straight top 10's at Dover which might put him up in the good category. However, in those five races he has only one top five and didn't lead a single lap. So, look for Joey to run towards the front, but not be the most dominate car on the day.

The Bad

• Kurt Busch- Know which driver at SHR has five straight finishes outside the top 10? If you guessed Kurt Busch you would be correct. In fact, only two of those have been top 20 finishes.
• Kasey Kahne- Add Kasey to a list of drivers not getting a top ten at Dover in a long stretch (4 races). Unlike Kurt, Kahne has 3 top 20's in those four races.
• Jamie McMurray- 12 straight races without a top 10 for McMurray (dates back to 2008). He does have 5 top 15's in that time, but it still is not a good streak to have under your belt.

Track Stats

• Richard Petty won the first 3 of 4 races at Dover, including the first two in 1969 and 1970.
• The race has been won from the Pole 13 times.
• Kyle Petty won after starting 37th in 1995, the furthest back a Dover race has been won.
• Toyota hasn't won a Dover race since 2010 (Kyle Busch), or 8 races. Dodge has won twice since then.
• The most cautions was 16 in 1993, Rusty Wallace eventually won the race.
• Current drivers with more then 1 Dover win (Jimmie Johnson-9, Jeff Gordon-4, Ryan Newman-3, Tony Stewart-3, Kyle Busch-2, Matt Kenseth-2, and Greg Biffle 2).
• Current drivers with one Dover win (Brad Keselowski, Bobby Labonte (part time), Martin Truex Jr, Carl Edwards, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Kurt Busch, and Jeff Burton(part time)).

Other Dover Articles:

• TV/Race Schedule
• Driver Entry List
• Power Rankings
• Dover Fantasy Preview (Timer Sports)
• Dover's Monster Tamer (Throw Back to earlier this season)