Fast Forward ~ The Fed Ex 400 Benefitting Autism Speaks at Dover Fantasy Race Preview
5/30/2013
Jim Fitzgerald And Staff
“The future is like a
corridor into which we can see only by the light coming from behind.”
–Edward Weyer, Jr.
My home in Delaware.
Ok, it’s not my home, but I spend a lot of time there (I live in
Maryland), and if I had to consider a track to be my “home track,” it would be
Dover. It is the track of many
characteristics, and just as many nicknames.
The Monster Mile. Bristol on Steroids. White Lighting. Whatever you call it, just don’t call it a
Sunday Drive!
The Track:
Location: Dover, Delaware
Length: 1.0 mile oval
Banking: 24 degrees in turns 1-2;
24 degrees in
turns 3-4;
9 degrees on
the backstretch,
9 degrees on the front stretch
Pit Road Speed/Length:35 MPH/1450
Ft
The Race:
400 Laps/ 400 Miles
Defending Champion: Jimmie Johnson, 122.835 MPH
Most recent winner: Brad Keselowski, 125.076 MPH
Track Record: Mark Martin, 132.719 MPH, September 1997
Race Record: Kyle Busch, 128.790 MPH, May 2012
Qualifying record: Jeremy Mayfield, 161.522 MPH, June
2004
2012 Purse: $5,874,081.00
TV:FOX, 1:00PM EST 6/2/2013
Radio: Motor Racing Network (MRN) Sirius XM 90; www.MRN.com
The History:
July 6, 1969- Richard Petty wins the first Sprint Cup
Series race at Dover
September 18, 1983-Bobby Allison win
his seventh race at Dover setting the mark for the most all time.
May 20, 1984-Richard Petty wins his seventh Dover race,
tying the mark set by Bobby Allison eight months prior.
May 31, 1992-Harry Gant becomes the oldest Dover winner
at 52 years, 4 months, 21 days.
1995-Dover becomes the first track to be completely paved
with concrete. The white surface earned
the track the nick name of “White Lightning.”
Kyle Petty won the first race on the new surface.
September 21, 1997-Mark Martin wins the fastest race
ever completed at Dover.
September 23, 2001-Dover becomes the first track to hold
a Sprint Cup Series race post 9/11. The
race was won by Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
June 1, 2008-Kyle Busch becomes the youngest Dover winner
to date, at 23 years and 29 days.
June 3, 2012-Jimmie Johnson wins his seventh Dover race,
tying Bobby Allison and Richard Petty for most career wins at the track.
The
Contenders:
Who do I think will have a shot to win at Dover?
Kyle Busch: Assuming he
doesn’t run out of gas or puke a motor, and providing nothing falls on the
track from above, Busch should have a decent day. In 16 starts, he has two wins, 7 top 5’s and
10 top 10’s. He has led 750 laps here,
and that ranks him 6th with active drivers.
Carl Edwards: In 17
starts, Edwards has never not finished at race at
Dover. He has only one win, but his
average finish of 8.3 is tops among all competitors. He has completed 98.7 percent of possible
laps, and led 532 of them. Eight top 5’s
and twelve top10’s make Edwards a threat to tame the Monster.
Jimmie
Johnson: The current and active Master of the Monster will be
going for the lifetime achievement award this week. If Johnson is able to win, he will break a
tie at seven career wins with Hall of Fame drivers Richard Petty and Bobby
Allison. Johnson is the defending winner
of this race and his numbers are sickening, if you are the competition. Seven wins, eleven top 5’s, 16 top 10’s, and
leads more than 25% of the laps he’s run here.
The first two times Johnson ran here, he won. He has also score more points in the last ten
races here than any other driver.
Matt Kenseth: Two wins, 13
top fives, 18 top tens. Heck, Kenseth even has a pole here, and
Kenseth does not score a lot of poles.
He finished third at this race last year and won it in 2011. He’s got hot equipment and is running well
everywhere. Dover should be no
different.
Brad
Keselowski: Last year’s fall race winner and has a feel for the
concrete. Kelesowski’s
numbers are not gaudy by any measure, and that win last fall was his first top
ten at Dover. However, winning streaks
are started by the first one, and he’s the last driver to win here.
DARK HORSE
PICK-Martin Truex, Jr.: He calls this his home track, too. The site of his only career
win to date could be the site of his next one.
There are my contenders for Dover. How did I do with my picks from last week?
Kyle Busch: Done in by a
faulty cable and a sour engine. Finished 38th after leading 65 laps.
Matt Kenseth: Led 112 laps,
but a crash ended his chances. Finished 15th.
Jimmie Johnson: “However, he
has also failed to finish on the lead lap 6 times. As well as he is running
this year, I don’t expect that to be a factor unless he gets in someone else’s
mess.” Someone else’s
mess indeed. It was a mess, to be
sure. Johnson ended up in 22nd
place.
Kasey Kahne: Certainly had a
chance to win but was in the no win seat at the front with few laps
remaining. Finished
second after leading 161 laps.
Jeff Gordon: Criss Cross Crash.
Never led and got into the big kaboom. Finished 35th.
DARK HORSE PICK-Kurt Busch: Good day for
Busch and his team, with a third place finish.
My picks from Charlotte netted me a 2nd, a 3rd,
a 15th, a 22nd, a 35th and a 38th. Are there any other positions I can
cover? Sheesh.
Race Pro Picks!
Before we get to the Dover picks, let’s see how everyone
did for the 600.
Player |
Selection |
Race Pts |
Previous Pts |
Total Pts |
Wins |
DNFs |
PattyKay |
5 |
44 |
458 |
502 |
0 |
0 |
Mr. Seven |
14 |
37 |
448 |
485 |
0 |
0 |
Jim |
48 |
22 |
442 |
464 |
1 |
1 |
Alabama |
48 |
22 |
438 |
460 |
0 |
0 |
Brian |
18 |
7 |
431 |
438 |
1 |
2 |
Kevin |
20 |
30 |
386 |
416 |
0 |
2 |
PattyKay is on the hot streak right now…can she keep it going?
Here are our picks for the Fed Ex 400 at Dover, at
1:00 PM on FOX:
PattyKay (@MamaPKL): Well guys, looks as though the
old lady, with a lot of help from Kasey Kahne, put another spankin'
on y'all at Charlotte. I even kicked butt on Mr. Seven again. (Tony Stewart? Really??) I'm starting to like this game! Now it's Dover,
and I don't expect it'll be the same this week, as everyone will probably have
the same driver. I've flirted with taking Matt, who is really on fire of
late... or Kyle,(38th) who seems to able to lead at
will, as long as it's not a Cup race. Really killed my Yahoo deal when he blew
up again last week... and Biffle (31) didn't help much either. Edwards (11) and
Logano (5) would have done me much better.
But that was the
crash fest that was Charlotte. Hopefully, Dover commands more respect and will
become its usual long green-flag runs and maybe depend on gas mileage to boot.
You've all seen the numbers. If someone runs 22 races at a track and has an average
finish of 8.6, how ya gonna beat him? If you don't
take Jimmie, you lose points. If you do take Jimmie, you can't gain points
because I'm taking him too. Have fun boys... and Fitz, I still haven't seen you
cross that finish line from Charlotte.
Brian: So I think it might be
time to stop looking at the numbers, and have some fun this week. One of my
first NASCAR races was at Dover in September 2006. It was amazing, I got
sunburned real bad, drank too much, listened to bad Country music in the
parking lot....it was my first real tailgate experience. As memorable as it
was, only one thing still stands out in my heart and soul, and it was the end
of that race. Burton had been tailing Kenseth for several laps, and I got a
chance to see first-hand how different cars could accelerate at different
points and lines, depending on where and how they hit the turns. It's so
different in person. With 6 laps to go, Burton finally got by Kenseth, and
stayed up front for the win....not sure what happened to Kenseth in those last
few laps, but they fought hard and clean, and once Burton got by him, the crowd
was in a frenzy, including me. That emotional feeling we all get, when our
adrenalin is flowing, and we feel our hearts pumping, well, that was me that
day. This week, I'm gonna gamble and see if he can do it again. The entire
NASCAR nation will pick guys like Johnson and Gordon in this race, but I'm
gonna go with Jeff Burton for the win. He has the knowledge and skills that it
takes to win at this track. Let's hope his owner and crew
give him the right equipment to get the job done.:)
Kevin (@KEVDOGG329): Looking
back at the last ten years, the names that consistently show up in winner's
circle in the spring race are Johnson, Kenseth, Kyle Busch, along with a Truex
Jr, Biffle, Martin sighting as well in Victory Lane. I predict it will be
one of the drivers who has won here before in the spring. Many will see
that list, and pick Johnson, Kenseth or Kyle Busch, who are three of the best
drivers in the sport today, and one could argue for any one of those three to
win Sunday. However I believe that it will be another driver that has won at
Dover. That driver would be Martin Truex Jr. Dover is Truex's home track, has been running well, and is hungry to
break that long winless streak that dates back to this race in 2007, while
driving for DEI.
Mr. Seven:
I think I’m just going to take whoever finished in
seventh place. Deal with it.
(Editor’s
Note: Mr. Seven will be given credit for the points of the seventh place finishing
driver each week.)
Alabama: Guess who is always around at the end of Dover? I
mean besides Gordon and Johnson? Jeff has finished in the Top 10 better than
50% of the time after 40 races here. JJ however, has finished in the Top 10
approx. 70% of the time after 22 races. These two have 11 wins here between
them. The smart move for Dover, because of the track layout and makeup, may be
to pick a multiple winner like the No. 24 or the No. 48, or Stewart, Biffle,
Kyle, Matt or others. Mr.Keselowski was tough to pass
on...only six races here but already has a win. No, I'm going with a 17 race
veteran who has finished every race he has run here. He has won here before and
has 12 Top 10's out of those 17 races and 7 Top 5's, NOT counting his win. I'm
going to take Carl in the No. 99, although he won't win 'cause I just sealed
his fate. Look at what has happened to my picks the last three weeks. Need I
say more?
Jim
(@Forewasabi): Kenseth,
Busch, Johnson, Edwards, Kenseth, Busch, Johnson, Edwards…(That’s
my wheel spinning)…I think all of these drivers will have their poop in a group
when it comes to racing at Dover. One
driver has failed to score a top ten in the last ten races at Dover, and he has
won four of those other nine. The other
five were horrible finishes of 7th, 5th, 9th,
2nd, and 4th. If
you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m taking the current Monster Master, Jimmie
Johnson. In those last ten races, out of
a possible 400 laps, Johnson has led 1764 of them. That’s 44%, nearly half. I’m only concerned about him leading one
lap…the last one.
So, there are my challengers and our pro picks for the Fed
Ex 400 Benefitting Autism Speaks at Dover.
If you haven’t been to Dover, I suggest adding it to your “to-do” list. The track is fun, the facility first class,
and the folks are super nice. Crab Cakes
and NASCAR: That’s what DOVER does!
“I would stare at maps of Delaware for hours.”
–Ken Jennings
Jim Fitzgerald @Forewasabi
PattyKay Lilley @MamaPKL
Kevin Abraham @KevDogg329
Marshall Gabell @Gabell_Racing
Who is YOUR pick to win this week?