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The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
Volume X, Edition LXXIV
What to Watch: Tuesday
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He was a-comin'. Jimmie Johnson may have been mired in the pack for much of the race but that didn't stop the guys in the booth from talking about the No. 48 all Sunday afternoon at Dover, did it? We could all see the 11th win happening even though the No. 78 of Martin Truex, Jr. and the No. 4 of Kevin Harvick seemed like they might have the 400-mile race in hand. Still, it was going to be exciting. A win for the Hendrick Motorsports car would break up the monotony of Joe Gibbs Racing's domination this season.
Alas, such a victory was not to be. Miles the Monster got hungry and decided he ought to chew up Johnson's transmission just in time to pile a mere 17 more cars up behind him on the Lap 356 restart. However, no matter the reasons behind the little Big One that wreck simply set us up for a classic battle to the finish and a scenario I hope to see many more times in the future.
Kyle Larson's No. 42 car had been stout all afternoon long. His red & white machine lingered at the front or just behind, building hopes and expectations for the 23-year-old prodigy. Larson's been two years behind on his arrival in Victory Lane and Dover is exactly the kind of track we've been waiting for him to conquer. It's steep and slippery. You can beat the track by riding the top if you can keep your tail end behind you. Finally in position to win, Larson's dirt tracking experience was looking to pay off at last, a mere 87 races into his Sprint Cup career. After the Johnson wreck, Larson was lined up behind the No. 19 car on the inside for the restart.
Carl Edwards, who seemed to block was simply in the way. He met his destiny with the inside wall.
That pushed us to restart again. This time, we had Matt Kenseth leading them to the green in his No. 20 car, which has seen more bad luck in 2016 than almost anyone except perhaps Truex. Kenseth's car was strong, but was it strong enough? Would a veteran's hard-earned experience keep him ahead of a very hungry millennial?
And so began a classic Dover International Speedway 30-lap shootout. Larson rode high. He ran low. He chased Kenseth's wiggling back end and hoped for that yellow car to spin out. Lap down cars were used as picks -- but it wasn't enough.
And if the tension building between Mr. Kenseth and Mr. Larson wasn't enough to have us bouncing on the edge of the couch, rookie Chase Elliott arrived on the scene in time to make a challenge for the lead as well.
I've said it far too many times this year, and that is no bad thing: 2016 is turning out to be an awesome NASCAR season. When the podium finishers all climb from their cars to talk about how fun it was to battle to the end, that is the kind of racing that gets us to tune in, over and over again. It wasn't dirty or underhanded. Poor decisions were not made on the drivers' parts.
It was simple, flawless and breathtaking. What a thrilling and entertaining way to spend a Sunday afternoon in May.
I don't know how NASCAR did it, but somehow their development programs, both for drivers and the cars, have finally begun to pay off. Enjoy it while it lasts.
Something Shiny
Ever wonder how Miles the Monster comes to be one of the coolest trophies on the Sprint Cup circuit? Check out this picture blog and see!
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Numbers Game: AAA 400 Drive for Autism
by Tom Bowles
0
Laps led by Kasey Kahne at Dover despite his fourth-place finish. Kahne, even with two top-5 finishes the last four races still has yet to lead a lap this season.
1
Lap down for Kevin Harvick on Sunday. The 15th-place finish was the first time in 2016 he had failed to complete every lap of the race.
2
Finishes outside the top 20 for Jimmie Johnson (25th Sunday) in the last two Dover races. He had two such finishes at Dover in the previous 13 years.
3rd
Sprint Cup Points position of Kurt Busch, the highest of any driver this season who has not won. Busch was fifth at Dover Sunday and has ten top-10 finishes in 12 races.
3
Rookies inside the top 20 at Dover: Chase Elliott (third), Ryan Blaney (eighth) and Chris Buescher (18th).
3
Top-15 finishes for Clint Bowyer in the last five races (12th at Dover). He had none in the first seven races of 2016.
4
Career Sprint Cup runner-up finishes for Kyle Larson including Sunday's effort at Dover. Larson last finished second in the fall 2014 Kansas race.
4
Joe Gibbs Racing drivers who have won a race so far this season, all but locking them into this year's edition of the playoffs. Matt Kenseth won for the first time Sunday to join Denny Hamlin (Daytona 500), Carl Edwards (two wins) and Kyle Busch (three wins) in Victory Lane.
12
Cautions for 65 laps at Dover, the most we've seen in any race there since 2007.
13th
Finishing position for Danica Patrick Sunday, her best of the season. Patrick accomplished the feat despite losing multiple laps during the race in a backup car after having a rear gear failure over the weekend.
37th
Finishing position for Michael Annett Sunday after being involved in a wreck. He has yet to finish inside the top 25 this season in 12 starts.
Tom Bowles is the Editor-in-Chief of Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at tom.bowles@frontstretch.com.
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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Monday's Answer:
Q: The first All-Star Race (then simply The Winston) occurred in 1985 during the Coca-Cola 600 weekend. It was a 70-lap sprint, no segmentation necessary at the time, with a mandatory (for multiple reasons) green-flag stop. What did the race have in 1985 that NASCAR failed to institute when they re-introduced a mandatory green-flag stop into the segmented race years later?
A: As fuel mileage in 1985 was not what it is today, having a 70-lap race requires a stop. However, NASCAR mandated the stop occur during a specific time period. When such rules returned years later, they didn't. That led to Jeff Burton's team pitting on the last lap of a segment years later so he could just chug across the line.
COMING TOMORROW
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