Grueling gantlet starts at ‘Monster Mile’
7-race stretch key to deciding who will race for title
Dover International Speedway is nicknamed “the Monster Mile,” and Sprint Cup veteran Jeff Burton says the moniker fits perfectly.
“If you say Dover doesn’t intimidate you, you are lying,” Burton says. “You have to be exceptionally aggressive, but if you cross the line you will be in trouble. It’s an incredible racetrack and a huge challenge.”
It’ll be the first of myriad challenges in the coming weeks. Dover traditionally has signaled the start for whittling NASCAR title contenders.
The 1-mile oval with bonerattling concrete and lightningfast, 24-degree banking kicks off a seven-race stretch of diverse layouts, grueling temperatures and punishing track conditions in NASCAR’s premier series.
Eschewing the sameness of spending the last two weeks at Charlotte Motor Speedway, one of seven 1.5-mile tracks in the series, the Cup circuit will visit a 2.5-mile triangle, a 2-mile highspeed oval, a twisting road course and flat 1-mile track before reaching the final week off of the season in mid-July.
The Brickyard 400 on July 29 will begin a 17-race run through the Nov. 18 season finale.
Last year the top 10 in points, who qualify for the Chase for the Sprint Cup with two wild cards, were the same entering Indianapolis Motor Speedway as after the Chase cutoff race at Richmond International Raceway.
A poor finish Sunday quickly could compound into a points implosion ruining a team’s season. After Dover, the schedule has freshly repaved Pocono Raceway and Michigan International Speedway, and new surfaces often mean throwing away car setups that have worked in the past.
The next stop is Infineon Raceway, a road course where drivers make right turns on purpose for the first time this year and missing a shift or a sharp turn easily can result in losing three dozen positions.
Once such a stumble occurs, it’s difficult to recover, and it can take a toll on morale.
“It’s hard when you’re not running good to get things turned around and put together some magic,” 2003 champion Matt Kenseth says.
Second in the standings and 75 points clear of 11th, Kenseth has plenty of breathing room, but other renowned names aren’t as fortunate. Sizing up the outlooks for several drivers as the pressure heats up along with the weather:
On the Chase bubble
Tony Stewart (ninth): With wins at all of the next seven tracks except Kentucky Speedway, the three-time champion doesn’t have many weaknesses. And Stewart likes sizzling weather because it makes the tracks slicker and fits his style of sliding a car through a turn. But two 24ths and a 25th in the last six races raise questions.
Carl Edwards (10th): Dover (average finish of 7.3) and Michigan (8.2) rank third and fourth on his list of best tracks, and he has two victories at Pocono. The Roush Fenway driver will need to maximize results the next three weeks because Infineon (16.6) and Daytona International Speedway (17.3) have been stumbling blocks.
On the cusp
Brad Keselowski (11th): It’s hard to judge the rising Penske Racing star off his record, because he has tied or bettered his career-best finish at seven of 12 tracks this year. But he will be tested at Dover, where he has one top-15 in four starts. With two wins putting him in the lead for a wild-card berth, Keselowski probably can make the Chase from outside the top 10.
Ryan Newman (13th): It’s a contract year, and he hasn’t finished higher than 14th in six races since winning at Martinsville Speedway. Making the Chase could be essential to shoring up his future with StewartHaas Racing, and Newman has 10 wins spread over five of the next seven tracks.
On the fringe
Kasey Kahne (15th): The Coca-Cola 600 winner rides high into Dover, where he has an average finish of 22.6. That’s only slightly better than Infineon (23), so he likely will need to excel at Pocono and Michigan to keep his Chase bid alive.
Jeff Gordon (22nd): The fourtime champion’s 20th season in Cup has been his worst, but he still could salvage it as a Chase wild card. Among the upcoming tracks, he has wins everywhere but Kentucky (added last year).
Other series in action
-NASCAR Nationwide Series: 5-Hour Energy 200, Dover, Del. (2 p.m. ET Saturday, ESPN).
Last year in this race, Carl Edwards survived a wreck-filled final lap for the third of his eight 2011 victories. Edwards also won at the track in October.
Defending series champion Ricky Stenhouse Jr. leads the season standings, 13 points ahead of Elliott Sadler. Stenhouse has three victories, and Sadler has won twice.
Sprint Cup driver Joey Logano, also a three-time winner, is driving Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 18 Toyota.
Kurt Busch will pilot the No. 54 Toyota owned by brother Kyle. Kurt Busch won at Richmond International Raceway in the car.
Danica Patrick is ninth in the standings.
-NASCAR Camping World Truck Series: Lucas Oil 200, Dover, Del. (4:50 p.m. ET today, Speed).
In the series’ last race, Justin Lofton won May 18 at Charlotte Motor Speedway for his first series victory, getting the jump on leader Brad Keselowski on a late restart. The victory also was the first for Eddie Sharp Racing.
Lofton has a one-point lead on Timothy Peters in the season standings. Ty Dillon is third, 16 points behind Lofton.
-Izod IndyCar Series: Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix, Detroit (3:45 p.m. ET Sunday, ABC).
The inaugural version of this race, it is at The Raceway at Belle Isle Park over a 2.07-mile street course. The distance is 90 laps (184.5 miles).
The CART series ran at Belle Isle from 1992 to 2001, and IndyCar raced there in 2007 and ’08. Dario Franchitti won in 1999. Helio Castroneves swept the 2000-01 races.
Will Power, the winner this year on road and street courses in Birmingham, Ala., Long Beach and Sao Paulo, leads the season standings.
Castroneves won the seasonopening race on the St. Petersburg, Fla., street course.
The 45-lap Firestone Indy Lights race is Saturday.
-NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series: Toyota NHRA Supernationals, Englishtown, N.J. (4:30 p.m. ET Sunday, ESPN2).
In the most recent NHRA event, Jack Beckman earned his first Funny Car win of the season May 20 in Topeka. David Grubnic took the Top Fuel final, and Allen Johnson topped the Pro Stock field.
Last year in this event, Spencer Massey won the Top Fuel competition, beating Del Worsham in the final. Mike Neff won the Funny Car competition. Johnson topped the Pro Stock field, and Matt Smith took the Pro Stock Motorcycle final.
In 2008, Scott Kalitta was killed after his Funny Car burst into flames and crashed at the end of the track during qualifying. As a safety measure after Kalitta’s death, the NHRA cut the length of Top Fuel and Funny Car races from a quarter-mile to 1,000 feet — a reduction of 320 feet.
Massey, a three-time winner in the first eight events this year, leads the Top Fuel standings, 12 points ahead of Tony Schumacher.
Robert Hight tops the Funny Car standings, 179 points ahead of Ron Capps. Hight won four consecutive events from February to April.
Greg Anderson leads in Pro Stock, Ed Krawiec in Pro Stock Motorcycle.