2017 NASCAR Week 29: Dover

Apache Warrior 400

Dover International Speedway 

By Richard Tix

What to Watch For?

Will Jimmie Johnson Add to His Dover Legacy?

• JJ already has the most career wins of any NASCAR Cup driver (11) so his legacy is set in stone here, but can he add to it? On top of that he has lead the most career laps here (3,100 total), is tied for the fifth most top fives (16), and the 6th most top tens (22). Each stat he can add to and move up the ranks in what will be his 32nd career Dover start. You may say you dislike JJ, but it's important to realize what we're watching historically while it is happening.

Playoff Cut Line

• Right now the cut line looks like this: Ricky Stenhouse Jr and Austin Dillon trail Jamie McMurray by 9 points (Jamie is safe as of now). Ryan Newman trails JMac by 10, Kurt Busch trails JMac by 26, and Kasey Kahne trails JMac by 30 points. That's five people trailing McMurray and only four get cut. On top of that fact, Jamie isn't even safe, nor is anyone above him. However, the likely outcome is that the four drivers cut this round come from this list: McMurray, Stenhouse Jr., Dillon, Newman, Busch, or Kahne. Being the first round the focus will be on the cut line and not show advances.

**This section is just a quick look at some of Cup drivers latest finishes. This is not a tool for fantasy purposes and NBTW only is looking at end results. No deep statistic's are involved, but rather it is just a quick way to get ready for the race and get caught up on who has finished well at each track**

The Good

• Chase Elliott- Three Dover starts and three Dover top fives. Not bad, but can he finally get to Victory Lane?
• Jimmie Johnson- Jimmie won here at Dover earlier this year, can he sweep 2017? The last time he swept Dover was 2009.
• Martin Truex Jr- In Martins last five Dover races he has led a lap in four of them and a total of 467 laps. He won this playoff race last year and is running strong to finish the season.

The Middle

• Kyle Larson- Larson finished runner up to Johnson earlier this year, but had a winning car. A few more bonus playoff points would go a long way into getting the No. 42 to Homestead.

The Bad

• Ryan Blaney- Small sample size alert: but Blaney's last two finishes here have been marred with poor luck. He also hasn't qualified very well here, either.
• AJ. Allmendinger- Seems like we haven't talked about AJ in awhile, but after the stats coming that might be better. In 19 career starts here AJ has three top 10's and only four top 15's.
• Kurt Busch- Dover is not a good spot for Kurt to need a strong finish. Since he lone win here (11 races), Kurt has one top ten, three top 15's, and only six top 20's.

About the Track: Dover

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
• The most cautions was 16 in 1993, Rusty Wallace eventually won the race
• Current drivers with more then 1 Dover win (Jimmie Johnson-10, Ryan Newman-3, Matt Kenseth-3, Kyle Busch-2, and Martin Truex Jr-2)
• Current drivers with one Dover win (Brad Keselowski, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Kevin Harvick, Derrike Cope (Part Time)-1, and Kurt Busch)
• Most career wins at Dover: Jimmie Johnson (11), Richard Petty (7), and Bobby Allison (7).
• Most career top 5's at Dover: Mark Martin (24) followed by Dale Earnhardt (19)
• Most career top 10's at Dover: Mark Martin (33), Richard Petty (26), and Ricky Rudd (26)
• Most career pole awards at Dover: David Pearson (6), Rusty Wallace (5), and Mark Martin (5)
• Most career starts at Dover is Ricky Rudd with 56.

Track Info

• Surface: 1995-Present: Concrete
• Was Asphalt from 1969-1994
• Length: 1 mile
• Banking
• Turns: 24 degrees
• Straight: 9 degrees