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In the shadow of the Dover Downs casino, drivers will try to press their luck and try to make it through the Autism Speaks 400.
Check back here for news, analysis, updates and a live race-day chat from Jeff Gluck.
Jimmie Johnson was frustrated after a certain top-two finish – and possibly a victory at Dover – turned into 16th place after he was caught speeding on a late green-flag pit stop.
How mad was the four-time champ? He wasn't pleased, but he also wasn't mad enough to start throwing things or kick his dogs.
"Man, my dogs are too small to kick," he said with a chuckle. But he added he was "certainly not happy with the issue on pit road."
"We'll have to dig in deeper and find out how we could accelerated faster in that given area than we're supposed to," he said.
Here's what happened on the speeding penalty, according to Johnson:
"It's just a shame when you think of 400 miles and however many hours of racing that one small thing – nine-hundreths of a (mile per hour) – was too fast and cost us an opportunity to win the race," Johnson said.
Was Johnson surprised that he made a mistake, since his No. 48 team has won four championships while building a reputation for being flawless during races?
"It surprises me I haven't done it more often," he said. "I mean, everybody gives me so much credit and gives this team so much credit that we're so calculated. In sports, especially our races, there are so many moving pieces that I'm surprised more stuff doesn't go wrong than what we've experienced."
Some have said Johnson's recent run of bad luck means the "golden horseshoe" Kevin Harvick once referred to is now gone. But Johnson said there wasn't ever a horseshoe – and if there was, it's not there anymore.
"When you're running well and luck is with you, I think maybe people don't want to face the obvious," he said. "(They) say, ‘Well, they're just lucky.'
"All along, I've said, ‘Hey, this stuff doesn't last forever.' We're not immune to it. It happens to everyone."
If you're a Dale Earnhardt Jr. fan, Sunday was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.
There was nothing to cheer about all weekend at Dover. The No. 88 car wasn't good in practice, it qualified poorly (27th) and finished even worse (30th).
Earnhardt Jr.'s brief return to the top 12 ended unceremoniously, the primary culprit being when the driver pitted under the green flag for a problem he thought was a broken part in the steering.
As it turned out, there was no problem at all.
"There's a bunch of marbles on the racetrack down there and I was on the inside," Earnhardt Jr. said. "We got the green and I hit those (marbles) and the car went straight. We'd been dragging the splitter all day in the corner coming off of (Turn) 4, and the car just went straight like it had a flat tire.
"We'd been so loose before that, I figured something must be fucked up and broke on it. That thing drove like it was fucking broke in half."
Indeed, prior to the mistaken pit stop, the No. 88 car wasn't ever a contender. Or even close.
Earnhardt Jr. was expected to run better at Dover, since this was his one-year anniversary with crew chief Lance McGrew atop the pit box.
Was it frustrating for the No. 88 to be so far off at Dover?
"Well, I mean, we've been running like this for two years now," he said.
‘Running like this' meaning at Dover or everywhere?
"Everywhere," he said. "You kind of get used to it."
Now 16th in points (43 markers behind a Chase spot), Earnhardt Jr. was asked where the No. 88 team goes from here. How does it rebound?
"Well..." Earnhardt Jr. said, pausing for a long seven or eight seconds. "There ain't no answer for that. I don't know. What do you think? I'm lost."
As he walked up the stairs out of the garage and toward the motorcoach, his voice took on a discouraged tone.
"I don't know, man," he said. "Oh well. What the fuck am I supposed to do? I know I'm a better race car driver than that. My shit ain't that good. It wasn't good today."
McGrew looked steamed, and gave only two short answers.
In regard to the car's problems, McGrew said, "Nothing was wrong."
And in response to the question of how the No. 88 team rebounds, McGrew said simply, "I have no idea" and walked away.
Here’s your spot to chat with other race fans in the NASCAR community about the Autism Speaks 400 today from Dover.
All topics are open for debate. Feel free to make predictions (even if they’re wrong), discuss wrecks (if the Monster gets hungry), or evaluate the TV coverage.
A tip: Make sure the “auto-refresh” box is clicked so you can see comments from other fans as they post.
Jeff Gordon has been sponsored by Delaware-based DuPont for 17 years, but with DuPont's Hendrick Motorsports agreement expiring at the end of this season, some have wondered: Will Gordon have a new primary sponsor next year?
"Being involved with DuPont for all these years, I can't imagine working with anybody else from a primary sponsor standpoint," Gordon said Friday. "I didn't say they weren't coming back, just saying we're in discussions with them."
Gordon added that "we're not really ready to talk about the details" but said much about the future of the longest driver-sponsor relationship in NASCAR depends on the economy.
DuPont used to hold hospitality events at every Sprint Cup race, but cut back to only six events in 2009, according to the Sports Business Journal.
But SBJ reported in March that DuPont has rebounded with 23 hospitality events this year – perhaps a sign that things are turning around.
"With the economy, the way it's been in the last couple years, you just don't know exactly where it's all going to play out," Gordon said. "I feel pretty confident that we're going to work something out with them and continue to work with them in the future."
A reporter asked Gordon if winning Dover would be more special because of DuPont. Gordon politely said no without saying "no."
"I feel like every weekend we get to the track and there's something special about that track that would make it more meaningful to get that first win of the season," he said. "Of course, right now we're not really biased to any track. We want to get a win and we're running good enough to win."
Juan Pablo Montoya always gets some of the biggest boos during driver introductions, typically ranking just behind Jimmie Johnson and the Busch brothers.
Yes, Montoya ruffled some feathers when he first came into the Sprint Cup Series in 2007. But what has he done to offend fans since then (aside from being from a foreign country)?
Don’t look to Montoya for the answer.
“I ask the same question about Jeff Gordon or Jimmie Johnson or Kyle Busch. I don’t know,” he said Saturday. “I’d rather get booed than get ignored, to tell you the truth.”
But does he ever think about why the fans are booing? About their reasoning?
In short, no.
“To tell you the truth, I don’t really care,” he said. "It’s actually funny. I find it really entertaining.
“I don’t know (why)…I don’t really care.”
Martin Truex Jr., he of the endless and possibly annoying "NAPA Know How" commercials (depending on how many times you've seen the ads), has won the pole for Sunday's Autism Speaks 400 Sprint Cup race at Dover.
The pole was the fifth of Truex's career, and it hasn't been all that long since his last: He won three poles last season.
But this was his first with his new team, Michael Waltrip Racing, and with the No. 56, the old number he used to run as he came up through the ranks.
"That has always been so special to me," he said. "Making my first Nationwide start here with that number on the car. All those little things make it special."
Truex out-qualified Kasey Kahne by just six thousandths of a second.
Mark Martin was third, followed by Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson, Ryan Newman and Clint Bowyer.
AJ Allmendinger, Carl Edwards and Sam Hornish Jr. rounded out the top 10.
Two drivers – Max Papis and Todd Bodine – failed to qualify for the race.
Among the drivers with disappointing efforts: Past Dover winner Greg Biffle (24th), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (27th) and points leader Kevin Harvick (30th).
Casey Mears, who is subbing in the Red Bull Racing No. 83 car for the ailing Brian Vickers, qualified 39th.
One other note: Kevin Conway and Robby Gordon were alarmingly slow. Both drivers had average laps of around 151 mph, which was six mph slower than the leaders.
Greg Biffle is a veteran driver now, so he has a good feel for what kinds of little tricks and gamesmanship other drivers use to get an advantage.
Apparently, though, the other drivers would be best served not to mess with Biffle.
For example, Biffle was asked what he does when another driver changes speeds to try to mess with him when NASCAR gives the opportunity for teams to get their pit road speeds before the race.
"If somebody wants to play games and you think they're doing it deliberately, I'll run into the back of them when we're getting pit road speed to make sure they close up or don't speed up and slow down," he said.
And what if someone changes their line in order to mess with an oncoming car during the race?
"If you're coming hard enough and they want to change their lane, well then you get up and shove them out of the way," he said.
Whoa. Suddenly, Biffle sounds like kind of a badass.
"They can play games, but me, (Juan Pablo) Montoya, Tony Stewart and a handful of other guys, are not going to put up with that for very long," he continued.
So is Biffle a NASCAR enforcer?
"I've got the wheel and the gas pedal and the brake, right?" he said. "Yeah. If we're coming, it's time to get out of the way."
But it works both ways, he added quickly. If another driver is coming behind him, "I'll do all I can to stay out in front of him, but I am not going to block the guy, because I know I'm going to pay the price eventually."
Montoya and Stewart, among others, "are guys with short fuses," Biffle said. "I'm not saying I have a short fuse, but those guys will come up and rub you to get you out of the way pretty quick – they aren't going to wait for you to move. I think we are all like that to a degree."
Normally we listen to a driver's interview, pull the best parts for you and make them into a blog.
On Friday at Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s top 12 media availability, there were no best parts. They were all bad.
Just like the No. 88 car this weekend, apparently.
So instead of trying to digest the three-minute interview for you, here's a transcript to see for yourself:
Q: WHO IS SPOTTING FOR YOU TODAY? (Regular spotter T.J. Majors is home awaiting the arrival of his first child.)
JR: I don't know.
Q: YOU DON'T KNOW WHO'S SPOTTING?
JR: I don't know. T.J.'s gonna have a baby.
Q: HOW'S YOUR CAR?
JR: It's not good. But we're just in qualifying trim. Hope to God we can get it right tomorrow.
Q: TALK ABOUT RACING AT DOVER AND YOUR THOUGHTS ON THIS TRACK.
JR: I wish it was asphalt. That's what I think when I think about it. What else?
Q: HAVE YOU BEEN TO THE HALL OF FAME YET? WHAT'S YOUR IMPRESSION OF IT?
JR: Haven't been there yet. I'll go there I guess when they have the dinners and stuff next week.
Q: WHAT DID YOU THINK ABOUT MICHAEL WALTRIP SAYING YOU WOULDN'T WIN ANY RACES THIS YEAR?
JR: I didn't hear that.
Q: HE SAID THE CAR WASN'T FAST ENOUGH.
JR: Yeah, well. We'll see.
Q: IT'S NOW BEEN A YEAR WITH YOU AND LANCE MCGREW. IS THAT A MILESTONE FOR YOU?
JR: No. Anything else?
Q: ANYTHING ELSE YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT?
JR: No. Y'all good? (opens hauler door to leave). Y'all got any other questions? I'll answer 'em.
Q: WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE ALL-STAR MOMENT?
JR: Winning the thing. Yup. That'd be it.
Q: WHY DO DRIVERS LIKE THE ALL-STAR RACE SO MUCH?
JR: I don't really like it unless I run good. Otherwise, it's just a big-ass waste of time. But if you run good, it's pretty fun.
Q: WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOUR CAR TODAY?
JR: I don't know. Drive my ass off, and I only run (23 seconds) flat. That's not good. It's been a little bit loose, a little bit tight, but it just ain't been fast. I don't know what's wrong with it.
Q: YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT BRIAN VICKERS?
JR: I just hope he recovers well. I've never had anything like that and I hear it's not too good of a thing to get diagnosed with. I just hope he doesn't have too rough a time with it.
Q: OBVIOUSLY, YOU (ARE CRANKY) BECAUSE YOU WANT TO GO MEET WITH YOUR CREW CHIEF RIGHT NOW AND FIGURE OUT WHAT'S GOING ON, RIGHT?
JR: That's probably not it. I just get pissed when I show up when my shit ain't good, you know? Hell, what are you supposed to do? You ain't supposed to be happy about it.
Miles, the intimidating, red-eyed stone monster who serves as the mascot for Dover International Speedway, looks hungrier than ever this week to chew up some cars on the 1-mile concrete oval.
In the shadow of the Dover Downs casino, drivers will try to press their luck and make it through the Autism Speaks 400 and avoid Miles' wrath at the same time.
Check back here for news, analysis, updates and a live race-day chat.
For now, here's the weekend schedule (all times Eastern):
Updated Sprint Cup Point Standings And Full Race Results
Here are the full results for Sunday's Autism Speaks 400 at Dover International Raceway:
May 16 7:41p by Jeff Gluck - 0 comments