Final Dover AAA 400 Driver Rating Following All Practices and Q Sessions

Micah Roberts Driver Ratings
AAA 400
Dover International Speedway
Sunday, October 2, 2011 - 11:16 am (PDT)

Rating  Driver  Odds          Practice 1   Practice 2   Qualified   Dover*

1. Jeff Gordon 8/1               4th            2nd             34th      17th
Three-time winner; strong practices and dominating Bristol race make him the favorite.
2. Matt Kenseth 10/1         2nd           20th            18th       1st
Two-time winner; using the same chassis this week that he won with in May Dover race.
3. Jimmie Johnson 6/1        7th           12th             6th        9th
Six-time winner, the last coming in 2010; using chassis that finished second at Michigan.
4. Kyle Busch 6/1               5th           11th             5th        4th
Two-time winner with six other finishes of sixth or better; using winning Kentucky chassis.
5. Carl Edwards 7/1            3rd          16th              4th        7th
2007 winner and track best 7.6 average finish; using fourth-place Chicagoland chassis.
6. Kevin Harvick 15/1       16th         18th             22nd     10th
Career best of third in 2006. Has led 134 laps in 21 starts; using winning Charlotte chassis.
7. Mark Martin 30/1         15th          1st              17th      2nd
Four-time winner, the last coming in 2004; 11.4 average finsh in last 20 starts.
8. Brad Keselowski 15/1    6th         22nd             15th      13th
Rated high on the basis of his Bristol win where notes from that race should translate well.
9. Kurt Busch 12/1           12th         14th              2nd       14th
Five top-five finishes, including three in his last five starts; using third-place Pocono car.
10. Martin Truex Jr. 30/1 8th          33rd             1st          8th
Captured his only career win at Dover in 2007; had a strong runner-up finish at Bristol.

* Results from the May 15, 2011 FedEx 400 at Dover.

Note: Results from the August 27, 2011 race at Bristol can also be used as a barometer for Sunday's race. Although, Bristol is half the size of Dover, the two concrete tracks each have multiple grooves and similar banking.

Odds courtesy of the Las Vegas Hilton Super Book.

Micah Roberts, a former race and sports book director, has been setting NASCAR lines in Las Vegas since 1995. For more of Roberts' insights and post-practice analysis on the race, go to VegasInsider.com or follow MicahRoberts7 on Twitter.

Truex Jr Takes Dover Pole

Sporting News Wire Service

DOVER, Del.—Martin Truex Jr. returned to the site of his only NASCAR Sprint Cup victory and found success again Saturday afternoon, winning the pole for Sunday’s AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway.

Truex, who claimed his first Coors Light pole award of the season and the sixth of his career, will start the third race in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup next to Kurt Busch, the highest qualifying driver eligible for the Sprint Cup championship.

Martin Truex Jr.'s only Sprint Cup Series win came at Dover in 2007. (AP Photo)Truex turned a lap at 159.004 mph (22.641 seconds) to edge Busch (158.983 mph) for the top starting spot. Paul Menard (158.667 mph) qualified third, followed by Chase drivers Carl Edwards (158.555 mph) and Kyle Busch (158.548 mph).

Chase leader Tony Stewart will start 28th. Kevin Harvick, second in the standings, seven points behind Stewart, starts 22nd.

Mike Skinner failed to qualify for the 43-car field.

Starting Lineup

Mark Martin Fastest in Final Dover Practice

Mark Martin, with a lap speed of 155.072 mph, was the quickest during the final AAA 400 practice session at Dover International Speedway.

Second quickest with a lap speed of 154.017 mph, was Martin’s fellow Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Jeff Gordon, and was followed by David Stremme and Juan Pablo Montoya with the identical speed (153.840). Travis Kvapil (153.348) was the fifth quickest.

Rounding out the top-ten quickest during “Happy Hour” were Michael McDowell (153.146), David Reutimann (153.100), Reed Sorenson (152.996) , Paul Menard (152.944) and AJ Allmendinger (152.899).

The teams will return to the track Saturday afternoon for their 1:40 PM (EDT) scheduled qualifying session to determine the starting lineup for Sunday’s AAA 400 (approximate 2:20 PM start).

Practice Times

Dover AAA 400 Preview

By Micah Roberts
VegasInsider.com

Tony Stewart is now the favorite to win Chase in Las Vegas (Getty)

After two races into NASCAR’s Chase for the Championship, we have a new leader and new Las Vegas odds-on favorite. After not winning for the first 26 races of the season, Tony Stewart’s championship alarm clock has awoken the former champ and he’s won the first two events of the Chase. Stewart now has a 7-point lead over Kevin Harvick heading into this week’s event at Dover, Delaware.

The Las Vegas Hilton Super Book opened Stewart at 20-to-1 odds before the Chase started, with not many takers. But following his Chicago win, he was dropped to 9-to-2. The combination of a poor finish by five-time, reigning champ Jimmie Johnson not doing well at New Hampshire and Stewart winning has dropped him all the way to 5-to-2.

Jimmie J in the four-eight, or ‘five-time’ as he’s been called, is now 29-points behind the leader, but is still respected with odds of 6-to-1. That’s only 29 positions to make up with eight races to go, but based on this season where he’s only had one win, it could turn out to be an eternity. Could we be witnessing the fall of a dynasty in the same way we saw Roger Federer and Tiger Woods take a back seat in their sports?

It’s looking closer to being the end than it is that his team will miraculously become better than the first 28 races of the season.

Close behind Stewart is Kevin Harvick (-7 points, 7/2), Brad Keselowski (-11, 7/1) and Carl Edwards (-14, 4/1). My choice to win the Chase, Jeff Gordon, is currently 23 points behind with odds of 6-to-1, but has a lot more upside down the stretch than Johnson just because he’s been able to show he can dominate a race.

Denny Hamlin wasn’t thought of as a driver who could win the Chase, but was 15-to-1 when it started. After two awful performances, he’s 66-points behind the leader and can be had for 200-to-1 if having any reason to believe things will get better.

If there ever was a track on the schedule that could get Johnson going in the right direction again, it would be Dover. Five-time is a six-time winner on the track, including taking this race last season. He finished ninth in the first Dover race held in May, but led 207 of the 400 laps, most of which came in the early portion of the race.

Johnson using his Chicago/Kentucky chassis (Getty) 

“New Hampshire obviously wasn’t the finish we were looking for especially with how good we were throughout the weekend, " Johnson said. "I’m really looking forward to this weekend though. Dover has always been a good place for the 48 team and I really enjoy racing there. I’m not really sure why, but it has always just kind of suited my driving style.”

Matt Kenseth eventually won the first Dover race by opting to go with two tires in the final pit stop while perhaps the best car at the time, driven by Carl Edwards, took four tires.

That decision and same tire compound could prove to be a blessing for Edwards this time around as Kenseth paved the way for success. Edwards has a great history at Dover already with a 2007 win and not finishing worse than 11th in his last 10 starts there. The lesson learned the hard way could prove to be a good one for the No. 99 team this week.

Kenseth’s win was the second of his career at Dover. Since his first win in 2006, Kenseth has finished in the top-five in eight of 11 starts. He had a gritty sixth-place finish last week at New Hampshire in a car that he absolutely hated through practice and the race, which could lead to more success in races to come making him a factor in the Chase. He’s currently 26-points behind Stewart and has several of his best tracks coming up, beginning with Dover.

“This weekend, we’re bringing the same chassis we ran and won with at Dover back in May," said Kenseth's crew chief Jimmy Fennig. "Dover is Matt’s favorite track and that gives us a lot of motivation to have another solid run there this weekend. We were able to leave New Hampshire with a sixth-place finish at a track that has been a challenge for us in the past, so I’m looking forward to this weekend in order to help us make up some position in the point standings.”

Does Bristol translate over Dover, maybe a little bit? (Getty)

Although Dover is kind of in it’s own world with not a lot of comparisons because of the steep banking and one-mile concrete layout, Bristol is as close as it comes, especially since Bristol‘s repaving job in 2007 which gave it multiple grooves.

If we account for what happened in late August at Bristol, we have to look at Brad Keselowski who finished strong with a win in that race. Gordon led the most laps with Martin Truex Jr., Johnson and Kenseth all running well enough to win.

Gordon saw a rebound at Bristol the second time around and his crew chief, Alan Gustufson, thinks they can rebound at Dover this week the same way.

“I certainly hope so,” said the No. 24 crew chief. “We learned a lot from our first trip to our second at Bristol this year, and I’m hoping the success on that concrete track translates over to Dover this weekend.”

So how about Stewart’s chances of winning three straight races?

It looked as though Dover would be a track that he would dominate on over his career as he swept the 2000 season, but he hasn’t won there since, a span of 21 races. His runner-up finish in the spring of 2009 was his only top-five on the track since 2004. It would seem a long-shot for him to complete the tri-fecta this week, but he’s already beaten the odds by winning the first two, so you never know.

Top 5 Finish prediction:
1) #99 Carl Edwards (8/1)
2) #24 Jeff Gordon (7/1)
3) #17 Matt Kenseth (10/1)
4) #2 Brad Keselowski (12/1)
5) #48 Jimmie Johnson (7/1)

Driver Chassis Selections for Dover AAA 400

Note: Not all teams list their chassis in PR releases

Keselowski is using 9th-place Brickyard car (Getty)

#1-Jamie McMurray: Crew Chief Kevin "Bono" Manion and the No.1 McDonald's team will bring chassis #1104 to Dover this weekend. This chassis has already been used four times this season, including both races at Michigan International Speedway, both events (The All-Star Race and Coca-Cola 600) at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May.

#2-Brad Keselowski: and the #2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger team will race chassis PRS-748 during Sunday's AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway. Keselowski last raced this chassis to a ninth-place finish in the Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July.

#5-Mark Martin: crew chief Lance McGrew has chosen Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 5-672 for Sunday's race at Dover. This is the same chassis that Martin has driven four times this season to an average 12th-place finish. Notably, Martin piloted the car twice at Michigan International Speedway, finishing ninth in June and fourth in August.

#6-David Ragan: Primary: RK-744 last ran Bristol and finished 20th. Backup chassis RK-711 last ran Darlington and finished 21st.

#9-Marcos Ambrose: The #9 RPM team has prepared chassis No. 754 for the 400-mile event at Dover International Speedway. This Stanley Ford Fusion has been run previously this season at Martinsville Speedway the Dover spring race and both Pocono events. Australian Word of the Week: Tea = Supper.

#14-Tony Stewart: Chassis No. 14-564 debuted at Texas in November 2009, where it qualified fourth and finishing sixth. The 2009 season finale at Homestead marked the car's second career start. There, it qualified fifth and led twice for 43 laps before two separate on-track incidents with Juan Pablo Montoya relegated it to a 22nd-place finish. It saw action during the offseason when it was used for a Goodyear tire test at Texas Jan. 19-20. It returned to competition in February at Auto Club Speedway, where it started 16th and finished ninth. It returned to Texas in April where it qualified on the pole and led five times for 74 laps before a late-race accident relegated it to an undeserved 32nd-place finish. It was repaired and fitted with a new body for the series' June stop at Michigan, where it qualified 17th and finished a solid fifth. It sat idle until it returned to Michigan in August, qualifying fourth and leading three times for 36 laps before finishing sixth. The October race at Auto Club marked its seventh career start and second at Fontana, and there it delivered Stewart's 39th career Sprint Cup win and his first at Fontana. The same car returned to action in November at Texas, where it qualified 11th and finished 11th. With a new body honed in the wind tunnel, Chassis No. 14-564 got its first start of 2011 and the ninth of its career at Fontana where it qualifying fifth and leading four times for 11 laps. In the waning laps, however, it dropped from third to 13th after a late-race restart. Its next start came in May at Charlotte in the All-Star Race, where it started sixth and finished fourth. It action in June at Michigan, where it qualified sixth and finishing seventh. Chassis No. 14-564 returned to Michigan in August rallying to ninth after starting 18th. Now the car makes its 13th career start, but first on a track only a mile in length when it rolls off for the AAA 400 this weekend at Dover.

Kenseth is using his winning car from May's Dover race

#17-Matt Kenseth: will run primary chassis RK-763 which last run at Pocono, this chassis won the Dover spring race. This weekend, Kenseth will pilot the #17 Crown Royal Ford Fusion.

#18-Kyle Busch: Chassis No. 308 will make its fourth-ever start in Sunday's AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway. No. 308 made its debut in June at Kansas Speedway, where Busch started third and finished 12th. In its most recent start, Busch drove No. 308 to victory lane after starting first in July at the Inaugural Sprint Cup race at Kentucky Speedway. Most recently, this chassis was brought three races ago to Richmond International Raceway, where Busch started 13th and finished a solid sixth.

#22-Kurt Busch and his Steve Addington-led Penske Racing "Double-Deuce" team will be racing their "PRS-758" Shell-Pennzoil Dodge this weekend at Dover. This chassis has been raced only once before; in the August 7 race at Pocono. In that race, Busch qualified fifth and led four times for a total of 38 laps en route to a third-place finish. The race will be remembered most, perhaps, for the exciting last-lap battle for third between Busch and defending series champion Jimmie Johnson. The "PRS-746" (last raced in May's Sprint "All Star" Race at Charlotte) will serve as the backup Dodge Charger this weekend at Dover.

#27-Paul Menard will pilot Chassis No. 351 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. This #27 Menards/Pittsburh Paints Chevy was a brand new addition to the RCR fleet for the 2011 season and was last seen in competition at Kansas Speedway (June) where he started ninth and finished 19th. Menard also raced this Chevrolet at Texas Motor Speedway in April where he brought home a fifth-place result after starting from the 19th position.

#29-Kevin Harvick: will race chassis No. 353 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. Prior to this weekend the team utilized this #29 Chevy twice in 2011 to score a win in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May and a seventh-place finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway in early September.

#31-Jeff Burton will race chassis No. 359 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. Built new for 2011, this is the same Caterpillar Chevy Burton qualified fifth and drove to a 21st-place finish at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May and qualified 22nd and drove to a 19th-place effort at Kentucky Speedway in July.

#33-Clint Bowyer: will pilot chassis No. 350 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable this weekend at "The Monster Mile." This Chevy, built new in 2011, has seen action three times this season, posting top-15 efforts at Texas Motor Speedway (started-third, finished-second), at the Coca-Cola 600 in May (started-10th, finished-15th) and Michigan International Speedway in June (started-27th, finished-eighth).

#42-Juan Pablo Montoya: crew chief Jim Pohlman and the #42 Target team has selected chassis #1003 for the AAA 400 at Dover. This will be the fourth race of 2011 for this chassis, after it was used in both races at Bristol and in the Spring race at Dover. This car also ran five times last year (Charlotte-May, Chicago-July, Atlanta-September, Fontana-October and Texas-November).

#43-A.J. Allmendinger: The #43 RPM team has prepared chassis No.752 for this weekend's event at Dover International Speedway. This Best Buy Ford has been run previously this season at Texas, Charlotte, Indianapolis and Atlanta.

#48-Jimmie Johnson: will drive chassis No. 669 in Sunday's event. He finished second in that car at Michigan International Speedway in August. Johnson finished second in backup chassis No. 650 at Atlanta Motor Speedway in September.

#88-Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Crew chief Steve Letarte and the #88 team will unload Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 88-657 this weekend at Dover. Earnhardt most recently raced this chassis to a 16th-place finish at Bristol Motor Speedway in August. Earnhardt also raced this chassis to a second-place finish at Kansas Speedway in June. The car also saw action at Darlington Raceway and Kentucky Speedway.


#99-Carl Edwards: The #99 team will be unloading chassis RK-788 this weekend. This car last raced at Chicago where Edwards finished fourth.

- compiled by Jayski.com

Harvick Using Winning Charlotte Chassis This Week at Dover

Harvick's car this week took the checkers at Charlotte in May (Getty)

Kevin Harvick
No. 29 Rheem “Chasing the Cure” Chevrolet Impala


This Week’s Rheem “Chasing the Cure” Chevrolet at Dover International Speedway … Kevin Harvick will race chassis No. 353 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. Prior to this weekend the team utilized this No. 29 Chevrolet twice in 2011 to score a win in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May and a seventh-place finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway in early September.

Chasing the Cure with Rheem … While all eyes may be on the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, with the debut of the No. 29 Rheem “Chasing the Cure” Chevrolet, Rheem and RCR hope to inspire the racing community to join in “Chasing the Cure”, the company’s month-long program created to help raise national awareness of the importance of regular check-ups and early diagnosis in the fight against breast cancer. Rheem and RCR will mark the start of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month with a pink and black paint scheme on the No. 29 Rheem Chasing the Cure Chevrolet for Sunday’s race.

Pretty in Pink … DeLana Harvick, wife of the driver of the No. 29 Chevrolet, will wear a specially designed pink and black Rheem firesuit for the AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway. She will also present a duplicate version of her firesuit autographed by the entire No. 29 team to the Young Survival Coalition prior to the start of Sunday’s race.

Chase Update … Two races into the 10-race Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Harvick is ranked second in the driver point standings and sits just seven markers back from the top spot. He has earned one top-five and has an average finish of seventh.

Harvick at Dover … In 21 starts at Dover International Speedway, Harvick has accumulated two top-five and eight top-10 finishes. His average starting position is 21.190 and he holds a 16.952 average finish at the track. Harvick has led 134 laps at Dover and has completed 98.3 percent (8,264 of 8,404) of the total laps run in NSCS competition at the track since 2001.

Last Time Around … In last year’s fall race at Dover, Harvick started 33rd and finished 15th. In May, he started and finished in the 10th position.

In the Loop … With 28 races complete, Harvick holds several impressive Loop Data statistics leading into Sunday’s race at Dover International speedway, including: second in fastest speed in traffic; third in closers (2.1 average spots gained in the last 10 percent of each race); fourth in percentage of laps run on the lead lap (90.31 percent/7,264 of 8,043 laps); seventh in driver rating (92.4); seventh in drivers late in a run; eighth in average running position (13.505); eighth in green-flag speed; eighth in laps in the top 15 (64.7 percent/5,200 laps); 10th in laps led (4.1 percent/333 laps); 10th in drivers fastest early in a run; and 10th in fastest drivers on restarts.

KEVIN HARVICK QUOTES:


What are some of the challenges for your team in going to Dover International Speedway this weekend?
“We’ve had a good car there the last several times and haven’t necessarily got the finishes that we probably have deserved with where we ran all day, but it’s been a decent race track for us. It’s a fast race track. You’ve got to keep up with the race track as the groove moves around and the rubber builds up on the track. The biggest challenge is being able to get the car up off of the corner under power, wide open throughout the whole run.”

What does it take to be successful at Dover International Speedway?
“We’ll have to have our Rheem “Chasing the Cure” Chevrolet handling good because it’s so fast and there are so many things happening so fast at Dover that the driver has to be comfortable in the car. It seems like at Dover they always have one of those runs where you have green-flag pit stops and halfway through that run the caution comes out, so you have to be a little bit lucky to not end up on the wrong side of that there.”


How do you feel going into this weekend’s race at Dover International Speedway?
“We should be fine in Dover. I felt like we’ve run well there the last few times so I don’t really have any specific concerns. I think as you go to every race track there is always concern on whether you’re going to run good or bad and you never really know until you get there and see what the tire is and see exactly what the weekend brings with weather and all the different things that come with putting a weekend together. We can run really well at any race track. Along with anybody in the garage we have that opportunity to run bad, too. You just have to make the best out of whatever the weekend gives you.”

- Richard Childress Racing, Press Release

Concrete Carl Looking to Improve 7.6 Average Finish at Dover

Edwards is listed at 4-to-1 to win the Chase in Las Vegas sports books

Carl Edwards
Team: No. 99 Aflac Ford Fusion
Crew Chief: Bob Osborne
Chassis: RK-788 – This car last ran Chicago where it finished fourth

Carl Edwards on racing at Dover International Speedway:
“I’ve loved Dover ever since the first time I went there in the trucks with Jack. It’s a fun race track. It’s got a high sensation of speed, but those concrete tracks really boil down to how good your car is and how precise you can get that setup. I feel like Bob and I have really good communication and we’re able to really dial the car in and then the track doesn’t change much, so we can really work towards that goal all weekend and march closer and closer to that perfect setup. There is less firing from the hip and more marching through the setup and changes. I really like that style and that race track is just a lot of fun.”

Crew Chief Bob Osborne on racing at Dover International Speedway:
“Although we’ve got two one-mile tracks in a row, they couldn’t be more different. I’m looking forward to racing at Dove this weekend since it’s a much better track for us than New Hampshire. We typically run much better on the banked tracks than on the flat ones. We’ve got a car for Dover that I feel will be extremely competitive. Dover is a difficult race track to drive and Carl really excels with cars that don’t necessarily handle well an entire race. It has a lot to do with getting the most out of what you have for a race car and he does that extremely well.”

Fast Facts
* Carl Edwards is currently fourth in the Sprint Cup points, 14 points behind of Tony Stewart. To date he has one win, 13 top fives, 19 top 10s and two poles this season.
* FOR THE RECORD…In 14 starts at the one-mile track, Edwards has one win, six top-five and 10 top-10 finishes. Edwards scored his only Cup win there in Sept. ’07. He has an average start of 15.5 and an average finish of 7.6.
* LAPS…Edwards has led 416 laps at Dover and has completed 99.9 percent of his laps there (5599 of 5604 laps).
* ON THE TRACK… The No. 99 team will be unloading chassis RK-788 this weekend. This car last raced at Chicago where Edwards finished fourth.
* IN THE LOOP… According to NASCAR’s Loop Statistics compiled over the last 14 races at Dover, Edwards has turned 404 of the track’s fastest laps which is third highest, spent 3,897 laps (74.9%) in the top 15 (fifth highest) and led a total of 416 laps (fifth highest). Edwards’ driver rating (104.9) is fourth best among active drivers.
* REWIND, DOVER, September 2010… Edwards moved up to fifth place with 15 laps to go and was chasing down Kurt Busch for fourth, but ran out of time to catch him. He finished the race in fifth place for his seventh top-five and 15th top-10 finish of the season.

- Roush Fenway Racing, Press Release

Matt Kenseth Using Same Winning Dover Chassis This Week

Kenseth looking for Dover sweep (Getty)

Matt Kenseth
Team: No. 17 Crown Royal Ford Fusion
Crew Chief: Jimmy Fennig
Chassis: Primary: RK-763 (Last run at Pocono, this chassis won the Dover spring race)

Kenseth on racing at Dover International Speedway:
“Dover has been a good place for us in the past and it’s my favorite race track; I love going racing there. I’m looking forward to going there and hopefully we can put in a good effort and have a fast car to get another good result and keep rolling in the Chase. We’ll just do the best job we can every week, work as hard as we can on our cars and pit stops and hope that our results are good enough each and every Sunday.”

Crew chief Jimmy Fennig on racing at Dover International Speedway:
“This weekend, we’re bringing the same chassis we ran and won with at Dover back in May. Dover is Matt’s favorite track and that gives us a lot of motivation to have another solid run there this weekend. We were able to leave New Hampshire with a sixth-place finish at a track that has been a challenge for us in the past, so I’m looking forward to this weekend in order to help us make up some position in the point standings.”

FAST FACTS:
• Kenseth made his first career Sprint Cup start at Dover on Sept. 20, 1998, filling in for Bill Elliott

• Kenseth has an average starting position of 16.7 and an average finishing position of 12.4 at Dover

• Kenseth has achieved two poles, two wins, 11 top-five’s and 16 top-10’s at Dover in the Cup series

• Two of Kenseth’s six career Sprint Cup poles have come at Dover (spring of ‘02 and fall of ‘03)

• Kenseth has completed 9,724 of 10,004 (97.2 percent) laps at Dover and led for a total of 741 laps

• This weekend at Dover, Kenseth will pilot the No. 17 Crown Royal Ford Fusion

• Entering the weekend at Dover, Kenseth is currently seventh in the NSCS driver point standings

- Roush Fenway Racing, Press Release

Gordon Hoping for Concrete Improvement at Dover Like Bristol

Jeff Gordon has won at Dover four times, but none since 2001 (Getty)

DOVER, Del. (September 27, 2011) – It has been four months since Jeff Gordon finished 17th at Dover International Speedway, but the No. 24 Drive To End Hunger team feels they have made monster improvements on concrete tracks since that day in May.

There are only two concrete tracks on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule: Dover and Bristol Motor Speedway. Earlier this year in Bristol, Tenn., Gordon started seventh but led no laps en route to a 14th-place finish on the 0.533-mile track. That event was in March, and Gordon and company followed that up with their 17th-place finish on the one-mile track in Delaware two months later.

But the No. 24 team returned to Bristol in August with a vengeance, and Gordon led 206 laps in that 500-lap event before finishing third. Can the Alan Gustafson-led crew rebound similarly in Dover?

“I certainly hope so,” said the No. 24 crew chief. “We learned a lot from our first trip to our second at Bristol this year, and I’m hoping the success on that concrete track translates over to Dover this weekend.”

In 37 starts at “The Monster Mile,” Gordon has four wins, four poles, 14 top-fives and 21 top-10’s. He has led 2,231 laps here, which ranks first among active drivers. But Gordon believes padding those statistics begins on Saturday.

“Qualifying well on Saturday will be important,” said the four-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, who is fifth in the point standings and 23 out of the lead. “This is a real fast track, so being in ‘clean’ air makes your life that much easier during the race onSunday.”

Another obstacle facing the drivers and teams will be the rubber-buildup on the race track.

“The rubber on the track will be a challenge, as usual,” said Gordon. “But this track is wide and the groove will usually widen out – so much so you can probably even run near the wall.

“But if there’s significant rubber-buildup, it can be challenging on the restarts and when trying to pass another car.”

One way to avoid that? Be the leader, like Gordon was for much of the race in Bristol last month.

- Performance PR Plus, Press Release

Bristol Success Could Translate Well to Dover for Keselowski

Brad Keselowski is down to 7-to-1 to win Chase in Las Vegas (Getty)

Brad Keselowski
No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger
AAA 400
Dover International Speedway
October 2, 2011

No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger News and Notes
* · This Week’s Charger… The No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger team will race chassis PRS-748 during Sunday’s AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway (DIS). Keselowski last raced this chassis to a ninth-place finish in the Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July.
* · No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge in 2011… After 29 points-paying events, Keselowski and the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger team are ranked third in the 2011 Chase for the Championship standings. Keselowski is just 11 points behind leader Tony Stewart following a second-place finish in the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway last Sunday.
* · Keselowski Hot Streak Stats… Keselowski has earned six top-six finishes over the last eight races. Keselowski has an average finish of 5.1 over that stretch, which ranks as the best in the Cup Series.
* · Driver Turned Crew Chief… No. 22 Ruby Tuesday Dodge Charger crew chief Paul Wolfe made 16 starts in the Nationwide Series from 2003-2005. Two of those starts came at Dover in 2003 and 2005, where he finished 16th in each event. In addition, Wolfe competed in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East from 2000-2004 where he made three starts at the “Monster Mile,” capturing one pole award, one outside pole position and two second-place finishes (2002, 2004).
* · Man Up At The Monster… The featured tag line on the bumper of the “Blue Deuce” this weekend at Dover will be “Man Up At The Monster.” This is a nod to the nickname “The Monster Mile,” given to Dover International Speedway over the years by the drivers that have ranked it one of the toughest ovals on the circuit.
* · Have a Beer with Brad… Keselowski will make an appearance at Grotto Pizza located at 102 Silicato Way in Milford, Del., beginning at 7:00 p.m. ET on Friday, September 30.
* · The Rest is History… Penske Racing made its first start at Dover International Speedway in the 1972 Delaware 500 with Dave Marcis driving the No. 16 entry. Over the next four decades, Penske Racing has enjoyed its share of success on the tough one-mile oval. In 71 starts, the organization has recorded six wins, nine poles and 21 top-five finishes at Dover. Penske Racing drivers have led 1,584 laps at the track.

Brad Keselowski on a lap around Dover International Speedway
“Dover is a place where I’ve had success and it’s a great track to race on. A lap around Dover is pretty spectacular. That roller coaster feeling you get climbing and falling off the corners is amazing. I feel pretty confident going back there and I’d like to think that Dover is one of my better tracks. (Crew chief) Paul (Wolfe) does a great job in making in-race adjustments and that is very important at Dover because the track changes drastically as rubber gets laid down. There are tracks that are temperamental due to the weather, but at Dover it’s the track rubber that can have you scratching your head.”

Brad Keselowski on his third-place standing in the Chase for the Championship
“We haven’t had the fastest cars to start the Chase, but because of hard work and great strategy we’ve been able to grab a pair of top-five finishes in the first two races. That is exactly what you have to do when you don’t have a car that is quite capable of winning the race. I really feel that the upcoming races, especially the intermediate tracks, will be where we can make up a lot of ground on Tony (Stewart). We’re only two races into the Chase. It’s definitely too early to get excited about where we are in the standings. We just need to continue to focus on each race, trying to get the best finish we can, and we’ll be in good shape at the end of the year.”

Crew chief Paul Wolfe on Dover International Speedway
“What makes Dover so difficult is the fact that it has so much load – you’re asking the car to do a lot of different things. Then, you combine the way that the track’s concrete rubbers-in and it really makes your front tires slick. It’s always a challenge to find front grip and what you end up doing is taking away rear grip. It’s very hard on the equipment and the driver, so you have to do a good job of taking care of both.”

- Penske Racing PR

Johnson Bringing Strong Michigan/Kentucky Car to Dover

Six-time Dover winner Jimmie Johnson is bring a great car this week (Getty)

Dover International Speedway RACE NOTES:
• Johnson has made 19 Sprint Cup Series starts at Dover International Speedway, where he has six wins, eight top-five and 13 top-10 finishes.
• Johnson has completed 97.6% (7419 of 7604) of competition laps at the one-mile track and has led 1829.
• He has an average start and finish of 10.3 and 9.6.

Chassis
• Johnson will drive chassis No. 669 in Sunday’s event. He finished second in that car at Michigan in August and third at Kentucky in July.
• Johnson finished second in backup chassis No. 650 at Atlanta Motor Speedway in September.



JIMMIE JOHNSON QUOTE
WHAT’S YOUR OUTLOOK GOING INTO DOVER?
“New Hampshire obviously wasn’t the finish we were looking for especially with how good we were throughout the weekend. I’m really looking forward to this weekend though. Dover has always been a good place for the 48 team and I really enjoy racing there. I’m not really sure why, but it has always just kind of suited my driving style.”

SPRINT CUP SERIES CAREER NOTES
Career Wins
• Johnson has 54 wins in his Sprint Cup Series career, his most recent coming at Talladega Superspeedway on April 17, 2011.
• The El Cajon, Calif.-native is currently tied with Lee Petty for ninth on NASCAR’s all-time wins list, one victory behind Rusty Wallace.
• He is second in total wins among active drivers, behind Jeff Gordon (85).
• Johnson needed only 296 starts to hit the 50 mark. Only three drivers have reached 50 victories quicker – Gordon (232), Darrell Waltrip (278) and David Pearson (293).
• Johnson has won at least three Cup races a season since he posted his first victory in 2002. He is the only driver in the modern era to win at least three races in each of his first eight full-time seasons.
• Johnson has won Sprint Cup Series races at all but five (Michigan, Chicago, Watkins Glen, Homestead, Kentucky) of the 23 tracks on which the series competes.
• Johnson’s 10 wins in 2007 was the highest number recorded in a single season since Jeff Gordon posted 13 victories in 1998.
• The four-consecutive wins scored by the No. 48 team in the 2007 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup ties a modern-era NASCAR record.

Las Vegas Hilton Super Book Odds to Win Dover AAA 400

Johnson and Edwards listed as two of the Favorites at Dover (Getty)

AAA 400
DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2011

CARL EDWARDS 7
JIMMIE JOHNSON 6
KYLE BUSCH 6
JEFF GORDON 8
MATT KENSETH 10
KEVIN HARVICK 15
DENNY HAMLIN 20
KURT BUSCH 12
TONY STEWART 8
DALE EARNHARDT JR 30
GREG BIFFLE 15
KASEY KAHNE 30
CLINT BOWYER 30
RYAN NEWMAN 30
BRAD KESELOWSKI 15
JOEY LOGANO 40
MARTIN TRUEX JR 30
DAVID RAGAN 50
JUAN MONTOYA 50
MARK MARTIN 30
JEFF BURTON 30
JAMIE McMURRAY 50
BRIAN VICKERS 50
DAVID REUTIMANN 60
PAUL MENARD 60
AJ ALLMENDINGER 30
MARCOS AMBROSE 100
REGAN SMITH 200
BOBBY LABONTE 1000
FIELD 300

Dover AAA 400 Odds & Ends

At Dover International Speedway:

History

·         The official opening of Dover International Speedway, then called Dover Downs International Speedway, was in 1969.

·         The first NASCAR Sprint Cup race was held on July 6, 1969.

·         The first two races at Dover were 300 miles. The race length was changed to 500 miles in 1971.

·         The track surface was changed to concrete in 1995.

·         The race length was changed to 400 miles beginning with the second race in 1997.

·         The track name was changed to Dover International Speedway in 2002.

 

Notebook

·         There have been 83 NASCAR Sprint Cup races at Dover International Speedway since the track opened in 1969.

·         There was one race in 1969 and 1970. There has been two-a-year since 1971.

·         Richard Petty won the track’s first NASCAR Sprint Cup race.

·         There have been 35 different pole winners, led by David Pearson (six).

·         David Pearson won the first pole in July 1969.

·         Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon and Ryan Newman lead all active drivers, each with four poles.

·         32 different drivers have posted victories led by Bobby Allison and Richard Petty, each with seven.

·         Jimmie Johnson leads all active drivers, with six victories.

·         Hendrick Motorsports has a series-high 12 wins.

·         50 races at Dover have been won from a top-five starting position; 18 races have been won from a starting position outside the top 10.

·         13 drivers have won from the pole. The last to do so was Jimmie Johnson, in last season’s September race.

·         The furthest back in the field a race winner started was 37th, by Kyle Petty in 1995.

·         Several active drivers had their first start at Dover, including three past champions: Kurt Busch (18th in 2000), Matt Kenseth (sixth in 1998) and Bobby Labonte (34th in 1991).

·         In addition, Matt Kenseth (2002) and Michael Waltrip (1991) earned their first pole at Dover. Martin Truex Jr. won his first race there (2007).

 

NASCAR in Delaware

·            There have been 83 NASCAR Sprint Cup races in Delaware, all at Dover International Speedway.

·            Eight drivers in NASCAR’s three national series (all-time) have their home state recorded as Delaware, though none have posted victories.

 

Dover International Speedway Data

Race #: 29 of 36 (10-02-11)

Track Size: 1 mile

·     Banking/Corners: 24 degrees

·     Banking/Straights: 9 degrees

·     Frontstretch: 1,076 feet

·     Backstretch: 1,076 feet

Driver Rating at Dover Jimmie Johnson         117.4
Matt Kenseth              110.0
Greg Biffle                  106.9
Carl Edwards             104.9
Kyle Busch                 102.0
Mark Martin                   97.8
Kurt Busch                   95.0
Ryan Newman             93.5
Jeff Burton                   90.4
Martin Truex Jr.           89.7
Jeff Gordon                 89.4
Clint Bowyer               87.9

Note: Driver Rating compiled from 2005-2011 races (13 total) at Dover.

 

Qualifying/Race Data

2010 pole winner: Jimmie Johnson (155.736 mph, 23.116 seconds)

2010 race winner: Jimmie Johnson (131.543 mph, 09-26-10)

Track qualifying record: Jeremy Mayfield (161.522 mph, 22.288 seconds, 06-04-04)

Track race record: Mark Martin (132.719 mph, 09-21-97)

Kenseth Makes Late Winning Call To Win to Win at Dover

Associated Press

Kenseth won for the second time in five races

DOVER, Del. -- Matt Kenseth pulled away late on the strength of a two-tire pit stop to win the Sprint Cup race at Dover International Speedway.

Kenseth led the final 32 laps Sunday to win for the second time this season. He also won at Texas and became the third driver to win twice this season.

Mark Martin was second and Marcos Ambrose third. Kyle Busch and Brian Vickers round out the top five. Busch was forced to start in the rear of the field because of an engine change.

Kenseth made his Cup debut at Dover in 1998 as a fill-in for Bill Elliott.

The 400-mile race was dominated by long stretches of green flag racing. Jimmie Johnson led a race-high 207 laps and finished ninth.

FedEx 400 Results

Final Dover Driver Ratings Following All Practice Sessions

Micah Roberts Top 10 Driver Ratings
FedEx 400
Dover International Speedway
Sunday, March 15, 2011 - 10:16 pm (PDT)

Rating    Driver     Odds     Practice 1  Practice 2        Qualified  Bristol*  

 1. Jimmie Johnson 5/1          1st              23rd             1st          3rd           
Six time winner, including three of the last four run; using eighth-place Texas car.                                        
 2. Matt Kenseth 20/1            23rd             9th               24th        4th         
2006 winner with seven top five finishes in last 10 Dover starts; using new car.                
 3. Carl Edwards 8/1              30th             4th               13th       2nd                    
2007 winner with track best 7.7 average finish in 13 starts; using sixth-place Fontana car.       
 4. Kyle Busch 5/1                  6th              33rd              6th         1st    
Two time winner with six top five finishes; using runner-up Charlotte car from 2010.                   
 5. Kasey Kahne 25/1             4th              27th              4th         9th      
Fastest 10 consecutive lap average in final practice; led the most laps last week.                 
 6. Kevin Harvick 12/1            8th              31st             10th         6th                       
Only two top fives in 20 starts, but is using winning Fontana and runner-up Vegas car.
 7. A.J. Allmendinger 75/1      2nd             24th              2nd        31st
Led three times for 150 laps in the last Dover race; using Bristol chassis this week..                       
 8. Greg Biffle 20/1                 24th             3rd              12th        8th                       
2008 winner with average finish of 11th in 17 starts; using Martinsville chassis.
 9. Kurt Busch 15/1                22nd             1st               6th         7th                     
Tied career best finish of fourth in last Dover race run; new chassis this week.
10. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 20/1     3rd              41st             3rd        11th 
2001 winner is using 12th-place Fontana car this week; outstanding first practice.

Note: Qualifying was washed away due to rain causing the starting lineup to be set by the top practice times from Friday.
                     
* Results from the March 20, 2011 race at Bristol. Despite being a half-mile smaller, both concrete tracks run similar to each other.  

Odds courtesy of the Las Vegas Hilton Super Book.

Micah Roberts, a former race and sports Director, has been setting NASCAR lines in Las Vegas since 1995. For more Roberts insights and post-practice analysis on the race, go to VegasInsider.com.

Rain Washes Away Cup Qualifying at Dover, Starting Lineup Set By Top Practice Times

Rain at Dover International Raceway has also forced NASCAR to cancel qualifying for Sunday’s FedEx 400, and the starting lineup will be set by the fastest speeds from Friday's practice sessions.

Starting on the pole will be the series defending champion, Jimmie Johnson (who was the overall fastest in practice) with A J Allmendinger starting on the outside pole, Dale Earnhardt Jr. starting third, Kasey Kahne starting fourth and Joey Logano starting in the fifth position.

Kurt Busch will start from the sixth starting position, Kyle Busch seventh, Martin Truex Jr. eighth, Brad Keselowski ninth and Kevin Harvick will start from the tenth position.

Failing to make the starting lineup was the #81 driven by Scott Riggs.

Weather permitting, the FedEx 400 is scheduled to get underway a little after 1:00 PM (EST) Sunday afternoon.

FedEx 400 Starting Lineup

Kurt Busch Fastest in Dover Happy Hour; Quotes From Kyle and Harvick Feud

Busch was fastest in Friday's final practice at Dover

It was Kurt Busch, with a lap speed of 157.922 mph, showing the fastest way around Dover International Speedway during the final NSCS FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks practice session.

Busch’s fellow Penske Racing teammate, Brad Keselowski (ailing from the flu) was second fastest with a lap speed of 157.591 mph, and was followed by Greg Biffle (157.522) who was third fastest, Carl Edwards (157.370) fourth fastest, and David Ragan (157.000) was fifth fastest.

Rounding out the top-ten fastest in “Happy Hour” were Jeff Burton (156.876) who was sixth fastest, Marcos Ambrose (156.733) seventh, Clint Bowyer (156.603) eighth, Matt Kenseth (156.569) ninth and Denny Hamlin (156.135) was the tenth fastest.

The teams will return Saturday afternoon for their 12:10 PM (EST) qualifying session, and then won’t return again until Sunday for the drop of the green flag a little after 1:00 PM (EST).

Top-5 Dover Happy Hour Speeds:
#22-Busch 157.922
#2-Keselowski 157.591
#16-Biffle 157.522
#99-Edwards 157.370
#6-Ragan 157.000
slowest: #09-Cassill 151.573 & #36-Blaney 152.033
incidents: #18-Busch smacked the wall and scraped the whole side of the car.

Dover Final Practice Speeds


Driver Quotes Following First Dover Practice Session

Kurt Busch put together a great final practice at Dover

KURT BUSCH Quotes:
DO YOU REMEMBER ANYTHING THAT’S HAPPENED BETWEEN YOU AND KEVIN HARVICK THAT MAY HAVE IMPACTED SOMETHING BETWEEN HARVICK AND YOUR BROTHER? “OK, right! Let’s congratulate Regan Smith on his win last week; I don’t think he’s gotten any coverage whatsoever (laughs). He did a great job to win that race. Congratulations to Furniture Row Motorsports.

“For that issue, I’d say who hasn’t (Kevin) Harvick had an issue with. Everybody has had run-ins. I’ve had run-ins. (Greg) Biffle has had run-ins. You name it and everybody has had run-ins with other guys. I mean, who knows? The way that rivalries are started is from having heated issues out on the race track time and time again. We’ve seen that with guys like Rusty (Wallace) and DW (Darrell Waltrip). We’ve seen that with the Allisons and (Cale) Yarborough. We’ve seen it over the years. It’s nothing different; what we’re rolling through now is what we went through then.”

YOU MENTIONED LAST WEEK THAT YOU WERE GOING TO TURN YOUR RADIO OFF DURING THE RACE? DID YOU LEARN SOMETHING FROM RICHMOND? “Yeah. Each week is a chance to learn something new. As a driver, the day that you stop learning something, it’s the day that you’re not moving forward. It’s now a better understanding throughout the team on where were going for a direction and what I have to do inside the cockpit to be a team leader and to give us the best result each week out on the track. When I got into the hauler after the race, the team engineer apologized profusely because they put the wrong set-up in the front end of the car. I didn’t know that. We didn’t know that during the race. I didn’t know it, (but) they knew it during the race. It was a tough battle all race long to have the wrong set-up in the car. Things like that happen. I handled it the best way that I could with the guy and said, ‘Hey, people make mistakes’.”

JIMMIE JOHNSON Quotes:
KEVIN HARVICK AND KYLE BUSCH ARE LIKELY CONTENDERS FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP THIS YEAR. WHEN YOU SEE THE FIGHTING BACK AND FORTH, DO YOU SORT OF SMILE WHEN YOU SEE THE DISTRACTION THAT MIGHT CAUSE OTHER TEAMS? “At times, yes. I remember being here in the Chase and watching the No. 11 (Denny Hamlin) and the No. 29 (Harvick) going at it. At that point in time, yes. But now, the championship implications haven’t crossed my mind because it’s so far from now; things seem to get rectified in 2 to 3 weeks. So I haven’t thought of it in that perspective. It was exciting seeing discussions about it in major newspapers and the social media world; it’s been everywhere. So you hate to see somebody potentially injured and the stuff on pit road is really the sore spot of all of it. But it was exciting. It gave us all a lot to talk about. If something like that happens in the Chase, It certainly will affect those two drivers there, but we’re too far away from it now.”

Gordon struggled throughout final practice at Dover

JEFF GORDON Quotes:
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE TIRES THAT GOODYEAR HAS THIS WEEKEND?: “Like I said, I did the tire test here. We pretty much knew this was the tire that we were going to be bringing here. This is the same tire we had here in the past. It’s a good tire. It lays a lot of rubber down — probably too much. If there was anything wrong with this tire, it just lays too much rubber down during the race. There will be some really slick spots where the rubber gets built up, especially on the exit of the corners. They’ve got a tough job. We showed up here for the tire test and they had a tire that they wanted to run here or at least try and it didn’t lay enough rubber down and it was wearing fairly aggressively. We put this tire on and it started laying the rubber down and then we went back to that other tire and that tire was perfect at that point. They really would have liked to have had that tire here, but somehow you have to get that first layer of rubber laid down on the track and then you can go to a little more aggressive tire and some different compounds and whatever other chemicals they put in there. I think that this was definitely the safest route and not a bad choice. We have a lot of history with this tire from racing on it before.”

HAVE YOU EVER CALLED ANYONE AFTER A RACE?: “In recent years I have because somebody started that and thought that was a good idea. Nobody had my phone number my first five or six years in this sport. Nobody had my phone number and I didn’t have their phone number so we didn’t call one another. Nowadays it seems like everybody has their own — of course everybody has Twitter so you can reach out to them on Twitter these days. All of the sudden, I get in a wreck with somebody and all of the sudden they’re calling me and I don’t know the number and I check my voicemail and it’s somebody that says, ‘Oh, I got your number from such and such through such and such through such and such and wanted to give you a call.’ It’s not a bad idea to reach out to them, but I just am one that I don’t expect, I don’t take the call, I don’t call them back and I don’t do that, I don’t call guys. I will tell you the only guy that I really reached out to and called was Martin Truex Jr. and that’s because I completely screwed that up. At Sonoma, I just made a bonehead, bad move watching my mirror because Juan Pablo (Montoya) was making a diving move in on me and I ran over the top of him. I felt really bad about that. I called him. But if it’s a racing incident and we’re racing hard or whatever something happens, I don’t call them.”

Junior looking to bounce back after two tough weeks

DALE EARNHARDT JR. Quotes:
DOES THE SEAMS IN A CONCRETE TRACK AFFECT YOU ON THE TRACK? “The concrete is a little bit chalky and dusty when you get on it when it is early in the weekend. Our hot tires pick the rubber back up off the concrete, more so than the asphalt. Of course you never know, asphalt being as dark as it is, it’s hard to tell. It is just not a real good race track surface in my opinion. It lasts a long long time but it gets rough. It’s just not the preferred surface for building a race track. They [seams or joints] don’t mess you up; they just become annoying and rough. The concrete gets real rough as it cures over time. It becomes very rough.”

ARE YOU MORE CONFIDENT COMING IN TO DOVER THIS SEASON? “I feel good this weekend. We’ll just see how practice goes and just try to work real hard. No reason why we shouldn’t run good this weekend. Been running good every weekend. So, I feel pretty confident that we will keep up at least our current performance; hopefully better.”

HOW IMPORTANT IS A GOOD RUN HERE IN YOUR MIND TO REBOUND FROM RICHMOND AND DARLINGTON? “It upsets you. As soon as Richmond was over, I couldn’t wait to get to the race track and do something good to rebound from what happened there. We just sort of didn’t do that. Just made another mistake and cost ourselves…we’ve cost ourselves about 20 points in the last several weeks. That is kind of frustrating but you try to put that behind you. Try not to let it affect you to where you keep making mistakes.”

Busch was peppered with questions after being quiet much of the week

KYLE BUSCH Quotes:
How has your week been heading into Dover? “We’re definitely looking forward to getting back to racing. Getting on the race track here yesterday was nice with the Truck Series. Our Traxxas Tundra was pretty good. Looking forward to tonight’s race and being able to get on the race track this weekend in all three series is going to be fun, too. Had a great opportunity here last year to sweep the weekend. We did end up winning the Nationwide and the Cup Series race. Unfortunately, we had a fuel problem with the trucks. Feel like that’s resolved and best case scenario will be to come back and try to sweep it again this year.”

Do you feel like you have a clear understanding of the NASCAR rules? “I do. I understand it perfectly actually. It’s the ‘boys have at it,’ that happens out on the race track and it seems like they allow us to police ourselves pretty simply out there. When matters get taken into the drivers hands or anything else onto pit road, where innocent bystanders can be injured or something , NASCAR is going to step in and they’re going to intervene and they’re going to set penalties the way that they feel need to be levied. To me, it’s not a gray area, it’s pretty simple, it’s black and white. I’m not focused in all that really or what penalties should be during what circumstances because I’m a racer and I know that going out there on the race track and trying to win is the utmost thing. If you do that, then you certainly shouldn’t be getting in any brawls or anything like that.”


Where was your team following the incident at Darlington? “To be honest with you, I don’t know if they were aware of the antics. I had already unplugged my radio, so I don’t know what was going on over the radio, but we were pitted down in pit stall three or four or something like that last week. I do know that it was an awfully long way to haul, if you ask me. As I did turn in to the garage area after what happened down on the end of pit road, I did see some guys coming from that way. They were behind the pit wall, they weren’t out on pit road. When I turned into the garage area, some of them were turning in with me and following the car. When I got back to the truck, there were about four or five at the truck. They were where they were supposed to be, I will say that.”

Busch: "Two faces of Kevin Harvick"

Do you think hitting Kevin Harvick in the quarter panel during the race meant you were ‘throwing the gloves down? “Apparently he’s watching too much hockey. That’s what you do in your own time during the week I guess. To me, I did have a left rear tire flat and I wasn’t sure that if I turned too hard to the right to stay off of him or to get away from him that the car would actually spin out the wrong way — my car would. Believe that for what it’s worth. I believe there’s some in car cameras you can see and I did have to come to pit road during that caution period to change left side tires because they were flat.”

Why do you and Kevin Harvick not get along? “As far as us getting along, I’m not sure that we ever really did. I think he (Kevin Harvick) tried and that’s why at Homestead I kind of talked about the two faces of Kevin Harvick. I still believe that’s out there. He’ll talk to you to your face like your best friends, but then behind closed doors or him at home or whatever, he has the utmost disrespectful thoughts or whatever else. That’s all — I don’t care. I’m going on with my own business.”

What makes you so good at Dover? “I love this place. It’s fun to come here. I came here when I was 18 to race in the Nationwide Series for my first time. It will scare you the first time you come here. You carry so much speed at this race track and for it to me a mile in length and for it to be concrete — concrete surfaces that we race on anyway are a little bit slick. This place here is fun. It’s definitely a roller coaster ride and you need to treat it like it’s fun and not to be scared of the place I think because you can get so much out of this place. There’s two ways of it — you can probably be really, really good here or really, really bad here. Some days you’re going to be better than others obviously with how you can get your car setup compared to the competition. For me, just getting to race here in the Trucks and the Nationwide cars and the Sprint Cup cars — to me, it gives me a little more experience on the race track. It helps me understand a little bit more about how the rubber gets laid down during the race and what all is going to happen and how the different cars might handle.”

Is there anything you want to clarify about your actions last week? “No, I don’t feel like I’m lying about anything because there’s video cameras and what is it, 85 video cameras around the race track that will pretty much simplify or backup anything that you’re saying. Not lying about anything. The only thing I will say I guess is that I’m sorry I came off of turn two on the flat trying to give Kevin (Harvick) room and maybe I slid a little too far and I got into him first. Maybe that’s what initiated everything. I apologize about that. It wasn’t my intentions to get into him and then have everything go down the way it went down. I was just trying to race the final five laps as hard as I could, as clean as I could to get the best finish we could. We shouldn’t have been back in that situation anyways, but we did have pit road — a loose wheel and problems on pit road that we had to rebound from and come back from.”

Busch says he's never got along with Harvick

Do you need to do anything different to take care of yourself? “I think it’s in my sponsors best interest and in my team owner’s best interest that we are not fighters and that we’re respectful competitors and we’re out here to do our job on the race track and race as best as we can, as hard as we can and as clean as we can. Sometimes as clean as you can, you might rub fenders with somebody or something like that. When it becomes from getting disrespected as bad as you have from one particular guy, at some point you finally say you’ve had enough and I feel like I did stick up for myself on the race track. Apparently there was more than on the race track afterwards.”

Do you not want there to be rules on the race track? “The rules part — there doesn’t need to be any clarification as far as the rules go. The on the race track stuff, I don’t know that it really means much difference when somebody spins you out from behind on the straightaway at Homestead going 170 mph into the inside wall and ended up in a ball of flames — that’s any different from spinning somebody out down the frontstretch at Darlington at 170 mph. I don’t see any difference there. I think it was just two ways maybe of going at it. It’s just the way the cards were dealt at that particular moment.”

Do you like Kevin Harvick? “I don’t know. I’ve never gotten along with the guy. I don’t know that he (Kevin Harvick) really ever got along with my brother either. I think there’s something beyond from his past growing’s up maybe and racing with Kurt (Busch) that I don’t know and I was just kind of thrown in that I was never really liked. I don’t know.”

Do you agree that NASCAR probation does not change the way you race between the flags? “I think the focus of probation is between the two of us — it’s between the situation. If I was out there on the race track — say racing for fourth or fifth-place or something like that, and I got loose and I got into Jimmie Johnson or somebody like that and I spun them out and wrecked them. That has no consequences to the probation. If I’m out there racing hard and trying to pass Kevin (Harvick) for instance or something, and I feel like he’s blocking me and I spin him out and wreck him. There’s going to be consequences to that. That’s how I see it. And, of course, to anything happening off the race track or something like that. That’s also what it relates to. But as far as on the race track goes, good, clean, hard competition — somebody making a mistake, something like that, it doesn’t mean anything.”

Does your sponsor ever get involved with how you handle NASCAR probation? “They do get involved. I’m going to say sometimes they do. And, in this case, yes they were involved a little bit. More so they’re involved in what the repercussions were going to be of what happened and transpired after the race. They knew what the situation was. They knew how it was outlined. They knew I didn’t have reverse and all that. So, they knew I was limited in my choices there on pit road. To say that they’re selling less M&M’s or to say that they’re unhappy with the situation — I would have to disagree with that and I feel like they stood behind me the most they ever stood behind me and this act, actually. I appreciate their support. They stood behind me because I kept my head, I kept my cool and I stayed in my race car and knew that that was my best place to be and the best situation for what was going to come of anything. They were behind me 100 percent which I appreciate and I thank them.”


Does the incident that occurred at Darlington bring more visibility to the sport? “I don’t know to be honest with you. That would be a good question for the media staff at NASCAR or maybe even (Mike) Helton — I don’t know. To me, I would say that there was certainly attention drawn to the sport the last couple of weeks with the 42 (Juan Pablo Montoya) and the 39 (Ryan Newman) — and then last week with us. There should also be a lot of attention drawn to the sport with Regan Smith and his win and him winning his first race in NASCAR at the Southern 500, and getting his name locked into the All-Star race coming up next week. That was definitely really cool. All of us racers will say that was the bigger story, but some others will disagree with us. To be honest with you, to me I’m more about out on the race track and being able to race and being able to have fun racing, and doing what I was raised to do and doing what I love to do and ultimately trying to get to victory lane and winning some races. Hopefully, we have a shot at three of them here this weekend.”

Harvick spent Thursday Tweeting to his fans

KEVIN HARVICK Quotes:
TALK TO US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOUR WEEK COMING INTO DOVER. “Yeah, I’ve had a pretty calm week actually. Played golf a few times and just relaxed. Pretty normal week.”

TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE UPCOMING ALL-STAR RACE, ARE YOU EXCITED ABOUT GOING INTO CHARLOTTE NEXT WEEK? “Yeah, the All-Star week is always a lot of fun. The crew guys are a big part of All-Star weekend with all the pit stop competitions and their a big part of the race so it’s an important week for us just to kind of see what we have to head to the 600 with and really evaluate the performance of the race car on the race track a week before the race. It’s a fun week and a lot of money on the line. I guess it’s a really good paying test session but it’s a lot of fun too.”


CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE MEETING YOU HAD YESTERDAY AND TONY STEWART MADE A COMMENT THAT MAYBE THEY SHOULD OUTLINE THE RULES MORE SPECIFICALLY ABOUT HOW MUCH YOU GUYS CAN HAVE AT IT? “Well I mean the meeting was just basically NASCAR explaining how probation works and how we need to stay away from everybody basically and each other. So that was basically the jest of the meeting. I think as far as you talk about the Tony Stewart comment, I think for me it’s definitely to the point where it’s a little bit confusing with how it all works. I think when you look at the boys have it theme, it’s obviously changing as we go through the process. I think when you go back and you look at the very first major incident that you saw on the race track, I guess it would be Carl (Edwards) and (Brad) Keselowski in Atlanta and you saw the car go upside down. Carl was parked for hooking him in the right rear quarter panel and then it happened again and you see a lot of people coming out of the pits and retaliating and sometimes it’s a one-lap penalty and sometimes you are parked for the race and sometimes you look at the Keselowski and Hamlin thing at Homestead so there’s a lot of different things happening. I understand that it’s evolving but from a drivers standpoint you don’t really 100 percent understand how it works. Last week they stressed a lot to me that the penalties were for pit road violations after the race and the jeopardy that it put everybody in after the race and I understand that part. Yesterday it was all about being on probation and on the race track. So just a little bit confused about that. Nobody really had any clarification as to what we were supposed to do and not supposed to do other than we are on probation for four weeks and now it’s a penalty on the race track. I don’t really know if it was a penalty for the race track because we saw the same right-rear hook and obviously there was a lot that led up to that lap. I felt that Kyle (Busch) got into my door. I ran him down on the back straightaway. I got into him in (turn) three and we got three wide. Yesterday Kyle’s explanation was he had a flat tire and hooked me on the straightaway. It’s kind of one lie after the other and you see everything that happened after the race and for me the way that I was brought up and taught to race, when you hook somebody in the right-rear quarter panel that’s the equivalent of throwing your gloves off in hockey. That’s the point where everybody has reached the boiling point and basically the only answer I get out of Kyle is I’m a race car driver not a fighter but if you drive like that you’re gonna have to learn how to take care of yourself. It’s just a lot that went through the mind and for me it’s done and over with and we’ll move on. Just a lot of questions I think more than answers were a part of this week.”

HOW SPECIFIC DO YOU WANT IT TO BE? “Well, there just has to be consistency. I can race either way. We can flip each other over. I don’t mind wrecking. I don’t mind getting wrecked. I don’t mind eye for an eye. I don’t mind any of that but just tell me what the rules are. Explain to me what the penalty is if you are going to hook somebody in the middle of the straightaway, if you are going to spin them out, if you are going to retaliate, what is the penalty? Tell me what the penalty is. A consistent answer.”

Harvick likes to enforce, but doesn't like when he gets it. 

KYLE CALLED YOUR RACING UNCALLED FOR AND UNEXCEPTABLE, IS THERE ANYTHING THAT YOU THOUGHT YOU DID LAST WEEK THAT FITS THAT DEFINITION AND HOW DO YOU RACE HIM GOING FORWARD? “Well I think when you look – after I got the I hooked you after I got a flat tire comment yesterday, the incident started off of turn two. We came off of turn two, I was driving straight behind the car in front of me. We can talk about being three feet off the wall or whatever, but I was directly behind the car in front of me coming up off the corner and at the time I didn’t even know it was the No. 18. The car hit me in the door and as soon as he hit me in the door I drove it to the left, we got to the other end, I let it go and ran into the back of him and ran him up the race track, took the position back. At that moment we got three wide and there wasn’t really a lot of room and things happened and he hooked me on the straightaway. Look the wrecking doesn’t bother me but the only thing that bothers me is the right-rear quarter panel because in my mind I know what that means. I don’t mind getting wrecked back. If you think it’s a payback for Homestead that’s fine. Those parts don’t bother me, I understand how it all works but when you throw them off its time to handle it.”

Harvick likes to Bully drivers, which is kind of cool.

A LOT WAS TALKED ABOUT THAT THE PENALTIES WERE SUPPOSEDLY FOR WHAT TRANSPIRED AFTER THE RACE, BUT IS THAT REALLY FAIR ON THE DRIVERS PART BECAUSE AREN’T THE THINGS THAT LEAD UP TO WHAT TAKE PLACE AFTER THE RACE A DIRECT RESULT OF WHAT HAPPENS IN THE RACE. CAN YOU JUST TALK ABOUT HOW DIFFICULT IT IS? “For me I didn’t use my car as a ram or dry to make a point with running into somebody on the race track or knocking them out of the way after the race, I didn’t do any of that stuff after the race. I wanted to handle it so that the guys didn’t have to do more work than they already did. The bottom line is I know there are changes this week with the officials and how they are going to approach things after the race, but I mean there was a split screen on TV, there were no NASCAR officials in sight and they got what they wanted and in the end you suffer the penalty for what it’s supposed to be on pit road but has carried over to the race track now when it was stressed to me in the hauler after the race and when I received my penalty on Tuesday it was stressed to me it was for the pit road. So it just doesn’t make sense to me. But it is what it is. It’s not like I can do anything about it. I’m not complaining about it, I just want to understand it. I don’t understand it. I’m not going to lose sleep over it. I’m going to move forward and it’s done and over with. I don’t want to be the nice guy that has to understand why the penalties are ramping up like they used to be.”

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT DOVER A LITTLE BIT AND THE CHALLENGES IT PRESENTS TO YOU AND YOUR RACE TEAM? “I think for us, as a driver it’s a fun race track because you can be really, really aggressive as far as how you drive the track and how you charge the corners and how you do things. It’s a track where you have to be able to stay in the throttle up off the corner to keep your car from pushing, but you have to keep the forward drive underneath the car. So it’s a challenging race track to drive fast and when you’re off you’re in the way so there’s really no place you can hide here.”

WHEN YOU TALK ABOUT WANTING TO UNDERSTAND, DO YOU FEEL LIKE NASCAR NEEDS TO GO MORE BLACK AND WHITE LIKE IN OTHER SPORTS? “It can’t be for a certain circumstance and how you wake up in the morning as to how you think it needs to be treated. There has to be some guidelines on where it all is. You here the upper brass talk about wanting to do things more like the NFL or this or that, but you have to be consistent in order to do that.”

Harvick may disagree with the kid

WHEN YOU LOOK AT YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH KYLE BUSCH AND YOU’RE COMPETING ACROSS ALL THREE SERIES, WHAT WOULD BE THE IDEAL SCENARIO FOR YOU? “I guess I don’t understand that question.”

AS FAR AS YOU TWO GETTING ALONG, WHAT WOULD BE THE IDEAL SCENARIO? “That probably won’t ever happen.”

THE COCA-COLA 600, CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE LENGTH OF THAT RACE, HOW MUCH YOU HAVE TO ADJUST THE RACE CAR THROUGHOUT THE RACE GOING FROM AFTERNOON TO NIGHT, ANYTHING THAT REALLY RELATES TO HOW LONG THAT RACE IS AND HOW MUCH TIME YOU HAVE TO WORK ON YOUR RACE CAR, OR HOW MUCH TIME YOU MAY HAVE TO DIAL YOUR RACE CAR OUT IF YOU’RE GOOD AT THE START? “You can definitely do it either way. You can make it better or you can dial yourself way out. I’ve been a part of that race several times where you start the race really good and by the times its dark you are in big trouble. So you definitely have to have some past history as far as what the race track does and that’s one reason why the All-Star race is so important. Just for the fact that everything you do in that race is at night and the 600 is going to end at night so you kind of have to take what happens at the All-Star race and then what you do in the day time practices and mix those two together and rely on a lot of past notes and things to try to have a set up that’s adjustable. And you have to make a lot of adjustments during the race just out of past theories and past experiences. If your car is not doing something and its getting dark rapidly you are going to have to make a change on the fly without your car doing something. You are just going to have to trust it’s the right change and just make it if the time is right as far as the sun going down and when the darkness is coming.”

DESPITE THE FACT HAT YOU GUYS ARE ON PROBATION SHOULDN’T THERE BE A DISCONSATION FOR THE ALL-STAR RACE SINCE THAT’S THE ULTIMATE BOYS HAVE IT EVENT? “You know that’s a question that Mike Helton or somebody will have to answer. I don’t have the answer to that as far as what the rules are for that race. I don’t have the answer for that.”

HOW DO YOU RACE KYLE BUSCH GOING FORWARD AND DOES THIS ALSO IMPACT HOW YOU RACE EVERYBODY ELSE. “It definitely affects how you race for the next four weeks. We got the ultimatum yesterday of the explanation of how probation worked and how NASCAR expected us to race on the race track was put to us very clear yesterday. I think the way that the next four weeks go was basically dictated to us yesterday in the NASCAR trailer.”

CAN YOU GIVE US THE READER’S DIGEST VERSION OF HOW PROBATION WORKS? ALSO CAN YOU ADDRESS THE FACT THAT WHY THE NO. 29 TEAM CAME OUT TO DEFEND YOU THE 18 TEAM WAS NO WHERE IN SIGHT TO BACK UP THEIR DRIVER? “Obviously I’ve got a bunch of guys that are just a great bunch of guys. We all get along. We all have the same approach to how we like to see things, what we think is fair and what we think is not fair. There isn’t a guy on that team that wouldn’t lay under a bus for the next guy. That really happened last year as we went through the year. It’s something that you just don’t find very often and this is a bunch of guys that I consider friends and I think they consider themselves all friends. Them running up pit road is not a surprise to me. I think they would back me whether I was right or wrong, they are going to back me up and I will do the same for them. That’s the great part about our team. The No. 18 team not backing him up, I mean when you don’t have a backbone how do you back someone up?”

JPM isn't even immune to wrath

DOVER, CHARLOTTE, KANSAS, THE NEXT THREE RACES ARE ALL THREE RACES THAT ARE IN THE CHASE, YOU’RE NOT LOCKED IN BUT YOUR PROBABLY AS COMFORTABLE OR MORE COMFORTABLE THAN ANYONE ELSE WITH THE WINS AND YOUR STANDING IN THE POINTS, HOW DO YOU APPROACH THESE THREE RACES? “I think it’s a combination of a lot of things. I think over the past few weeks we’ve been able to try things that we wouldn’t have tried in the past. We struck out at Richmond on what we tried. I think Darlington was a huge success for us as far as the way the race track performance was and hopefully that bleeds over into Charlotte. This week is a little bit different than some of the race tracks because of the type of race track that you are racing on. These are important weeks. Dover is in the Chase, Charlotte is in the Chase, just to kind of zero in on what exactly you need when it comes time toward the end of the year. So we’re shooting for better set-ups and more wins. That’s basically where we are at right now points wise.”

NASCAR YESTERDAY SEEMED TO SAY THAT IF ONE PERSON REALLY PRESSES THE ISSUE THAT’S ITS MORE COMPLICATED THAN BEING ABLE TO LINE UP A MENU OF PENALTIES AND THAT IS ONE PERSON REALLY PUSHES IT, IT WOULD KIND OF BE DETRIMENTALTO THE SPORT TO HAVE EVERYTHING LAID OUT IN FRONT OF YOU, WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS? “I have a lot of experience of this in the past so I’ll reference the past, as things ramp up and you get in trouble the first time it’s best to just not get in trouble again because you’re gonna be the poster child to either change this process to make it more clear and see the fines ramp back up or you’re going to be the guy that shows it’s not really going to change. I just don’t think for us it’s not going to be the smartest thing in the world to be that next guy. I don’t know if you are referring to, are you referring to me or the No. 42 and No. 39, I don’t know which one you are referring to but there are just a lot of different elements to the whole thing that are happening right now that are confusing to the drivers.”