NASCAR’s top three racing series rumbled into Dover May 29-31 with the Camping World Truck Series, Nationwide Series, and Sprint Cup Series all competing at The Monster Mile at Dover Downs International Speedway. The weekend kicked off Friday with practice for all three series. The trucks and Sprint Cup cars also qualified.
David Reutimann backed up his first career win the previous weekend at Charlotte by taking the pole position with a speed of 156.794 mph. Kasey Kahne, Juan Montoya, Reed Sorenso, and Greg Biffle rounded out the top five. The points leader coming into the weekend, Jeff Gordon, lost control of his car exiting turn 2 and scraped the wall hard relegating the DuPont Chevrolet driver to the 42nd starting spot. Coming from the back at Dover is not easy and would prove costly for Gordon on Sunday. After making a crew chief change earlier in the week, Dale Earnhardt. Jr. qualified 22nd.
The truck series race on Friday was about to begin and the trucks were making their warm up laps when lightning began to surround the track and the skies emptied dumping a hard rain onto the fans anticipating the truck race. The rain did not subside in time, and the truck race was rescheduled for Saturday at 6 p.m.
On Saturday, the Nationwide Series qualified in the morning with 19-year old Joey Logano grabbing the pole with a speed of 155.959 mph. Also of note, Dale Earnhardt’s grandson, Jeffrey Earnhardt is the son of Kerry Earnhardt and attempted to qualify for his first Nationwide race in a limited schedule for his team this year. Unfortunately, Earnhardt failed to qualify. Nationwide qualifying was followed by the final two practice sessions for the Sprint Cup series, with Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch at the top of the speed charts. After the final practice session, the Nationwide Heluva Good! 200 race commenced and was broadcast live by ABC.
The race had a familiar feel to recent Nationwide races with Kyle Busch leading the most laps and dominating a good part of the race. However, similar to recent weeks bad luck reared its head again for Kyle Busch, and a flat right-front tire on the final restart after a late-race caution made for an exciting finish. With Kyle Busch not realizing his right front was down until right before the green flag dropped, the crew didn’t have time to bring him in and change tires. Busch usually jumps out on the restarts and his teammate Joey Logano was tucked in right behind him going into turn 1.
With the tire down, Busch checked up and Logano was all over his back bumper pushing both cars up the track. An opportunistic Brad Keselowski swept by to take the lead and go on to win the race. Busch vented to his crew chief over the radio and did not speak to reporters after the race. This is the fifth consecutive race Busch has led the most laps, but with only one win to show for it. Logano, not knowing Busch had a tire go down, was apologetic for making contact with his teammate and seemed confused why Busch had slowed.
Keselowski got the win for JR Motorsports and owner Dale Earnhardt Jr., redeeming himself for failing to qualify on Friday for Sunday’s Sprint Cup race. Logano recovered to finish second and Clint Bowyer, Brian Vickers and Carl Edwards rounded out the top 5. Kyle Busch fell all the way to 17th but maintained the series point lead with a 40-point margin over Carl Edwards.
The green flag dropped for the Autism Speaks 400 shortly after 2 p.m. on Sunday. This race is the first time all 43 drivers had their own pit stall at Dover. In the past, only 42 were provided, and two teams had to share a stall.
The race was a relatively incident-free event compared to typical Dover races which usually include several multi-car wrecks due to the banking and tight spacing between the outside and inside walls. David Reutimann jumped out to a quick lead before being overtaken by Juan Montoya on lap three. Reutimann retook the lead on lap six and held it until Reed Sorenson, in the Richard Petty Motorpsorts No. 43 Dodge, passed him for the lead on lap 29. It was good to see the No. 43 up front again at Dover, even if for only a short while. On lap 31, NASCAR issued a competition caution due to the early morning rain washing away the rubber laid down on the track from Saturday’s events. When green flag racing resumed, Elliot Sadler led briefly before Greg Biffle took the lead.
Jimmie Johnson was steadily moving through the field toward the front and overtook Biffle for the lead on lap 50. Johnson continued to lead and built such a large lead that he stayed on the lead lap even though caution came out only one lap after he pitted. Several cars were left one lap down including series points lead Jeff Gordon who started in the back of the field, leaving only 26 lead-lap cars. Several drivers who had pitted during an earlier caution benefited by staying out until the caution flew. Among them, Dale Earnhardt Jr. vaulted from the 20s into the top 10 where he remained for a good part of the race. The changes made on Earnhardt Jr.’s team appeared to help this week as he climbed as high as third at one point in the race before he started to lose the handling on the car.
Once green flag racing resumed, Johnson dominated the race jumping out to large leads and appeared to easily have the field covered until a caution for debris on lap 363. Pit strategy became key, and some cars only took two tires. Johnson was a little slow on his pit stop and restarted ninth. Greg Biffle, Tony Stewart, Ryan Newma, and Kasey Kahne all took advantage of two-tire stops and with few laps remaining appeared poised to battle for the lead if Johnson was held up in traffic.
Once the green flag dropped, Johnson was weaving his way through the field until another caution flew on lap 370 for David Stremme’s wreck and Reutimann’s spin to avoid him. Stremme was running in the top 10 at the time and was bumped by Mark Martin who was bumped by Matt Kenseth in tight racing for positions. Reutimann dramatically spun his car out in turn 1 to avoid Stremme’s car after it careened off the inside wall and came up across the track.
Johnson was in eighth on the restart and the fans rose to their feet to see if he could climb from eighth to first in the final 27 laps. Johnson moved into fourth by lap 378 and then passed Kurt Busch on lap 380 to move into third. At that point he had Tony Stewart and Greg Biffle in his sights and it was just a question of whether there were enough laps left. Stewart began to close on Biffle and as he was taking the lead Johnson closed in on them both. Stewart took the lead on lap 391 and Johnson moved into 2nd on lap 392. The final eight laps were electrifying as Johnson and Stewart, two of the series’ top drivers and both past champions, battled for the victory.
For about six laps Johnson kept looking low and sticking his nose under Stewart but Stewart held. With two laps remaining, Johnson finally successfully and cleanly passed Stewart, and pulled away for his fourth Dover victory but his first since September 2005. Greg Biffle finished third and Matt Kenseth and Kurt Busch rounded out the top five.
