Jamie McMurray's crew will have a different car at Dover; the team is using its Bristol machine this weekend. Credit: Darrell Ingham/Getty Images

McMurray enters Dover with no room for error

Among the non-Chase drivers, there still is plenty of competition for 11th place -- and the $1 million bonus.

Jamie McMurray, who finished 11th last season and pocketed the bonus bucks on the strength of three top-five finishes and eight top-10s in the final 10 events, currently holds down the spot -- but he's only one point ahead of Jeff Gordon.

Inside the Numbers Finishing averages at Dover (full-time; minimum five starts) Rank Driver Races Avg. 1. T. Stewart 13 5.1 2. R. Newman 7 6.7 3. J. Gordon 25 11.9 4. R. Wallace 43 12.6 5. J. Johnson 7 13.4 6. M. Martin 38 13.4 7. J. McMurray 5 13.6 8. R. Rudd 54 14.0 9. M. Kenseth 13 14.6 10. D. Earnhardt Jr. 11 15.1 The race for 11th place No. Driver Pts. Behind 11. J. McMurray 3,099 -- 12. J. Gordon 3,098 -1 13. K. Harvick 3,076 -23 14. E. Sadler 3,067 -32 15. D. Earnhardt Jr. 2,999 -100

Coincidentally, Gordon and McMurray also are two of the best at Dover. Gordon has four wins at the 1-mile track, while McMurray's average finish is 13.6 in five starts.

"There's a reason Dover is called 'The Monster Mile,' " McMurray said. "Things happen so quickly at that place. The track acts as a sweeper when a wreck happens, and usually collects more than one car. If you can avoid the wrecks and be there at the end, you can get a good finish.

McMurray was 26th in the June race at Dover, his worst finish at the track.

"We struggled with the handling quite a bit at Dover earlier in the season," he said. "The car reacted drastically to every minor change that we made, but we believe that was caused by some damage from an early race accident.

"Whatever the case, we're taking a different car this week and it's one of, if not our best car. We last ran it at Bristol and had a top-10 run going before cutting a tire in the closing laps. I'm anxious to get on track with it because I believe it will be equally as good at Dover as it was there."

Another driver eager to get back to Dover is Dale Earnhardt Jr., who finished fifth at Loudon last weekend after reuniting with Tony Eury Jr.

"It was a lot of fun," Earnhardt said of having his cousin back on the No. 8 pit box. "I think everybody saw it coming, and I'm glad he's back.

"Last weekend was a good start for us. I was real proud of my team. People assumed that we'd just go through the motions in these final 10 races, but honestly, Tony Jr. coming back has kind of put a jolt in our enthusiasm. He's bound and determined to win some of these races and remind everybody what they've got to deal with next year.

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It's kind of funny actually, because I think his real motivation comes from the bonuses in his contract for wins and top-fives. He said he hasn't gotten as many bonuses this year as he did last year, so he has 10 races to try to make up the difference. I thought that was pretty funny."

Earnhardt has one win in 11 starts at Dover, and finished 22nd there in June.

"It's a place where we've won, so there's always that confidence there," he said of Dover. "Last year we raced our guts out for a couple of top-10s, especially the first one. We were two laps down with about 50 to go and ended up finishing third. That was one of the craziest races I'd ever seen.

"I'm a big fan of the place, enjoy going there, and hopefully we'll have a good car. We're taking a brand new car Tony Jr. built. It's no secret he builds great cars, and I'm looking forward to driving one of 'em again."

Another driver who seems to have found the right combination on the concrete is Ricky Rudd, who will be making his 780th consecutive start.

"A lot of times the setup that works well at Bristol will work at Dover," Rudd said. "You hear people talk about a 'concrete car,' so whatever runs good at Bristol will run good at Dover. To me, there are some similarities and some differences, too. There [are] setups and shock packages that seem to be unique to concrete.

Rudd enters the weekend 23rd in points and has set finishing in the teens as the goal for the final nine races.

"I think it's a realistic goal," he said. "We had that [wreck] at Richmond right toward the end of the race. I don't know that we would have been there, but we would have been close if we hadn't wrecked out. I believe that would have been a top-10 finish instead of 38th.

To be honest, I'm not as concerned about that as I am about focusing on a win. I want to win a race before the year is out. I don't think we can go to every race and be a car that is going to win, but in 10 races there are a couple of good legitimate shots of winning in that time. To me that is more important.

"Not that points aren't an issue, but, really, when you look at it, what's the difference in a teen rather than the low 20s? But, a win would carry a whole lot more than that. My first goal would be to try to win us a race. The second goal in my mind is to get the best point finish that we can."