At Dover, one win in a year is never enough

DOVER, Del. -- That Ryan Newman, Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart swept both races in a single season at Dover International Speedway is not that shocking. Since 1988, seven drivers have swept both the two Dover races.

But what might be a little surprising is only three of those drivers won again at the Monster Mile. And none of those three have won more than once after completing their sweep.

Bill Elliott won both races in 1988 but won only once after that. Same for Dale Earnhardt, who swept in 1989, and Jeff Gordon, who doubled up in 1996.

On the other side, Rusty Wallace (1994), Stewart (2000) and Johnson (2002) have been shut out at Dover. Newman hasn't won again, either, but he hasn't had a chance to race here, of course.

	Ryan Newman celebrates one of his two Dover victories in 2003. Credit: Autostock

Newman and the rest of the NASCAR Nextel Cup drivers get a chance to visit Dover's Victory Lane this weekend in the MBNA 400 "A Salute to Heroes."

But clearly, it won't be easy.

"I think Dover is so unique," said Johnson, who crashed and finished 38th last June and was eighth last September here. "There isn't another track on the circuit that is remotely close to what you have at Dover. So when you find the right setup with the racecar and the driver has the right rhythm for it ... it really just applies to (only Dover) so you can fine tune and hone in on it."

Stewart was untouchable at Dover in 2000, leading 405 of the 800 laps in the two races. In the six races since, he's led 203 laps and has a best finish of third, scored last September.

Why the seemingly slip in performance? Tires.

"Tires are definitely the No. 1 reason why that race has changed," Stewart said. "Looking back, it was a tough situation for Goodyear. There were a lot of tire failures when we won in 2000, but we never had any problems with the tires. Goodyear had to deal with teams that were abusing their tires and causing tires to blow.

"It wasn't because of how the tire was manufactured. It was because of some team's inability to make their cars turn through the corners. With their chassis setup, they were asking the tires to do something they were never designed to handle."

Goodyear came out with a harder, more durable tire. It's safer, for sure, but it's made it a little easier for some teams to get a handle on Dover's concrete. And Stewart's setup from four years ago is now useless.

	Tony Stewart swept Dover in 2000. Credit: Autostock

"Goodyear had to make a more durable tire, and that really changed the complexion of how we race at Dover," Stewart said. "Goodyear has made some changes with the tire, and in all reality, probably made it safer for all of us. The teams that were struggling with the tires now have a tire that's harder for them to abuse. That helps protect Goodyear, which Goodyear had to look at because they had to take care of themselves too.

"We've got a tire that makes you slide around a lot more on the race track, and that makes the balance of the car very critical."

The tire used this year is softer, but it's no comparison to the 2000 version. Whether drivers will slide around much remains to be seen, but handling will be more important than ever.

Newman knows that and is confident he and his team can break the "Dover Sweep Curse," if you will.

"The bottom line is we've proven we can get around the racetrack and we can win there," Newman said. "Now the determining factor is we've got to go back and repeat. We've got no excuse. We've been the fastest car on Friday and we've been the best car on Sunday. The bottom line is to go back and do our best job like we did last year and let things happen the way they're going to happen.

"If we get beat, we get beat. If not, we'll go to Victory Lane just like before. Sometimes you have to work real hard and sometimes things come easy. More often than not you have to work real hard. Dover has been a good track for us in the past. We've qualified well there, and we've raced well there. We can't say that at every racetrack."