Tag Archives: Dover International Speedway

In One Sense, the Pressure’s Off Chris Buescher at Dover

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DOVER, DE - SEPTEMBER 30: Chris Buescher, driver of the #34 CSX - Play it Safe Ford, speaks with the media prior to practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Citizen Solider 400 at Dover International Speedway on September 30, 2016 in Dover, Delaware. Photo by Sean Gardner/NASCAR via Getty Images

DOVER, DE – SEPTEMBER 30: Chris Buescher, driver of the #34 CSX – Play it Safe Ford, speaks with the media prior to practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Citizen Solider 400 at Dover International Speedway on September 30, 2016 in Dover, Delaware. Photo by Sean Gardner/NASCAR via Getty Images

When racing pundits were making their Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup predictions at the start of the 2016 season, it’s doubtful that Chris Buescher made anyone’s top-16.

Nevertheless, Buescher defied the odds and qualified for the Chase on the strength of an unlikely victory in the rain-shortened Aug. 1 race at Pocono.

But the opening two events of the playoff didn’t go the way the driver of the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford would have liked. Buescher finished 28th at Chicagoland and 30th at New Hampshire to fall into last place in the Chase standings, 30 points below the cut line. Continue reading →

NASCAR XFINITY Series Drive Sober 200 at Dover Preview

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NASCAR XFINITY Series drivers will race 200 miles over 200 laps in the Drive Sober 200 at Dover International Speedway on Saturday, October 1st at 3 pm ET. Television coverage is on NBC Sports Network with radio coverage on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.

What to Watch For: Chase favorite Erik Jones tries to get back into the top-eight drivers in the standings. He currently sits three points behind Blake Koch on the cutoff line after a late wreck at Kentucky relegated him to 28th. Jones won at Dover in the spring.

Darrell Wallace Jr. finished runner-up at Dover in the spring and hopes to get his first career NASCAR XFINITY Series win. In four Dover starts, he’s registered two poles and an average finish of 10.5. .

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, Austin Dillon and Matt DiBenedetto are scheduled to compete in Saturday’s race. Continue reading →

Qualifying Rainout puts Keselowski on Pole for Elimination Race at Dover

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DOVER, DE - SEPTEMBER 30: Brad Keselowski, driver of the #2 Miller Lite Ford, practices for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Citizen Solider 400 at Dover International Speedway on September 30, 2016 in Dover, Delaware. Photo by Sarah Crabill/NASCAR via Getty Images

DOVER, DE – SEPTEMBER 30: Brad Keselowski, driver of the #2 Miller Lite Ford, practices for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Citizen Solider 400 at Dover International Speedway on September 30, 2016 in Dover, Delaware. Photo by Sarah Crabill/NASCAR via Getty Images

For the second time in the first three Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup races this year, rain played havoc with Sprint Cup qualifying, forcing cancellation of Friday’s knockout time trials for the first elimination race of the playoffs.

This is the third straight Sprint Cup event at Dover for which qualifying has been cancelled because of rain.

With the field set by the rule book, Brad Keselowski, whose No. 2 Team Penske Ford leads the owners’ standings, will start Sunday’s Citizen Soldier 400 at 2 pm ET on NBCSN from the pole. Martin Truex Jr., winner of the first Chase race at Chicagoland Speedway, will take the green flag next to Keselowski on the front row. Continue reading →

Elliott: Pressure will Increase as Chase Progresses

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DOVER, DE - SEPTEMBER 30: Chase Elliott, driver of the #24 Mountain Dew Chevrolet, speaks with the media prior to practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Citizen Solider 400 at Dover International Speedway on September 30, 2016 in Dover, Delaware. Photo by Sean Gardner/NASCAR via Getty Images

DOVER, DE – SEPTEMBER 30: Chase Elliott, driver of the #24 Mountain Dew Chevrolet, speaks with the media prior to practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Citizen Solider 400 at Dover International Speedway on September 30, 2016 in Dover, Delaware. Photo by Sean Gardner/NASCAR via Getty Images

As a Sunoco rookie in his first Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Chase Elliott has found the first two playoff races surprisingly “normal.”

Elliott comes to the elimination at Dover tied for ninth in the standings, 16 points ahead of Jamie McMurray and Austin Dillon, the first two drivers below the cut line.

But Elliott expects that, as the rounds of the Chase progress, the intensity will ratchet up significantly. Continue reading →

Truex Exudes Confidence as he Comes to Home Track

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Martin Truex Jr., driver of the #78 Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Toyota, speaks with the media after practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Citizen Solider 400 at Dover International Speedway on September 30, 2016 in Dover, Delaware. Photo - Sean Gardner/Getty Images

Martin Truex Jr., driver of the #78 Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Toyota, speaks with the media after practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Citizen Solider 400 at Dover International Speedway on September 30, 2016 in Dover, Delaware. Photo – Sean Gardner/Getty Images

If you don’t consider Martin Truex Jr. one of the favorites to win this year’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship, you haven’t been paying attention to the first two races in the Chase.

Truex won the Chase opener at Chicagoland Speedway and had perhaps the fastest car a week later at New Hampshire, though he dropped to seventh at the finish after a late restart.

Now he comes to Dover, the track closest to his childhood home in Mayetta, N.J., full of confidence—and not just because he’s locked into the Chase’s Round of 12 by virtue of the win at Chicagoland. Dover gave Truex his first Sprint Cup victory in 2007; in addition, he notched two poles and ten top-tens at the track. Continue reading →