At Dover, a little 'Big One' always looms as possibility

It began innocently enough, with a simple kiss of sheet metal. But that was all it took to send Dave Blaney ricocheting hard off the outside wall and back down into traffic, where he was T-boned by Jimmie Johnson. On a track large enough to generate high speeds yet small enough to foster close contact, cars slammed into one another. The mechanical melee three years ago at Dover International Speedway sent 19 cars home early.

The 12 drivers competing in NASCAR's Chase for the Nextel Cup are already expressing concerns about Talladega Superspeedway, the mammoth Alabama track where the series tested last week and competes Oct. 7. They should be just as worried about Dover, a place where multi-car pileups are far from a rarity, and plenty capable of producing a little Big One that could leave a title contender's hopes smoldering in central Delaware.

Cemented berth

Martin Truex Jr. returns to the track where he got his first Cup victory and began his run to lock a spot in the Chase.

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It's a short track masquerading as a 1-mile layout, with narrow straightaways and low corners and a 24-degree banking that sends every accident tumbling down toward the apron. The 140,000-seat facility can leave drivers black and blue, packing a punch that rattles them again and again. With so many cars in such a tight space and drivers approaching top speeds of 160 mph, it's like Bristol on steroids. No wonder they call it the Monster Mile.

"It's a place that scared me when I first went there a few times," admits Kyle Busch, fifth in the Nextel Cup standings, with three top-10s in five starts at the track. "I just kind of got used to it. I guess I'm always scared there, but for some reason I run well."

The place, so fast for its size, can be intimidating. Jeff Burton remembers driving it for the first time in a racecar owned by his father, and being amazed at how a track could be so fast yet so narrow at the same time.

"It's a place where you never have a soft hit," said Burton, 11th in points, and the defending winner in Sunday's event. "When you hit, you always hit hard. It's very demanding and high-speed. I think it's one of the most physically demanding racetracks that we go to."

It's a place that can batter the bodies of car and driver alike. Mark Martin took a monstrous hit at Dover in 1993, when the right-front tire blew on his No. 6 car and he hammered the wall hard enough to rupture his fuel line, destroy his brakes, and start a fire in the rear of the car. He walked away. The same couldn't be said for John Andretti, who was lifted out of his car with what thankfully proved only a cut ankle after he was involved in an 18-car crash on the second lap in 1995.

That accident left the smoking husks of mashed-up racecars collected at the bottom of the racetrack in a scene more befitting an auto salvage yard. "This looks like one of those Talladega crashes," television announcer Mike Joy said.

When cars in front of a driver spin, there's often no place to go. Kasey Kahne learned that last year, when Tony Stewart went sideways and pinned the No. 9 car against the wall. The aftermath of that accident wasn't nearly as entertaining as one at Dover in 1996, when NASCAR officials had to pull a screaming Jimmy Spencer away from Wally Dallenbach's car window after the two made contact and ignited a pileup behind them.

"It's one of those places that if you make a mistake, you're going to hit something most likely twice," said Kevin Harvick, 10th in the standings. "So it's not a forgiving racetrack, but it's a fun place to race."

Why so much action at a facility that at first glance seems so benign? "The corners are below the level of the straightaway, so you're launching off into the corner and then trying to get the car to slow down and turn, and then driving back up onto the straightaway. It's really an entertaining track, a fun track to drive on, but you're on the ragged edge, and that's why it's such a dangerous track," said reigning series Jimmie Johnson, tied with Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon at the top of the Chase standings.

"And then the track is a self-cleaning track as I've heard mentioned, and if you get in trouble and you lose it, you're going to hit something. It's a place that is very challenging. The risk-reward thing, you've got to risk every lap, and there's a chance you're going to bust your butt, so the reward is very small for a lot of guys. It's one of my favorite tracks. I really, really enjoy running there."

Strangely enough, so does everybody else. Dover's high speeds and claustrophobic quarters make for a unique challenge for drivers. Those in the Chase see it as a fitting obstacle for a potential champion to overcome.

"I'm glad that track is in the Chase," Burton said. "What's important for the Chase is a good cross-section of racetracks that we run at during the year. Dover is the kind of racetrack that is very demanding physically, emotionally and structurally for the racecar. I think it fits in the Chase. It's an example of a racetrack that demands the most out of everything, and I think that is what racing is all about."