See where your favorite driver will pit for Monday’s Gander RV 400 at Dover International Speedway (Noon ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
MORE: Full Dover schedule
DOVER, Del. — You can call him the Dover Dominator.
With a No. 13 ThorSport Racing Ford that was strongest at the end of Saturday’s Jegs 200 at Dover International Speedway, Johnny Sauter beat pole winner Brett Moffitt to the finish line after a late restart to win his first NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series race of the season and his third straight at the Monster Mile.
The former series champion, who returned to ThorSport this season after a less-than-amicable split with GMS Racing, could hardly contain himself after taking the checkered flag .603 seconds ahead of Moffitt, the reigning series champion, who signed with GMS during the offseason.
RELATED: Race results
“When you get kicked to the curb, you feel like you have a lot to prove,” Sauter said in Victory Lane. “I have to thank (owners) Duke and Rhonda Thorson most importantly — a couple months ago I didn’t know if I’d be racing.
“To get three in a row here is extra special. I have to thank these guys. I was highly motivated. I shut the motor off earlier today in the race and it wouldn’t re-fire and I was like, ‘Oh well.’ Track position was so important, but experience paid off.
“It’s so special. This ranks up there as one of the biggest wins of my career. We’ve got to keep it going—that’s the main goal here, not to get complacent. I knew after Atlanta (where Sauter finished second on Feb. 23) we’d have a shot to win races. I felt like we gave one away at Martinsville but got it today.”
RELATED: Sauter: ‘One of the best wins of my career’
Moffitt won the first 45-lap stage wire-to-wire and held the lead with nine laps left in Stage 2. But Sauter charged from third to first in two laps, passing Moffitt for the lead — and ultimately the stage win — on Lap 82.
Saving fuel during the final run, however, Sauter was turning his ignition off and on under caution, but the engine wouldn’t re-fire. Eventually he let the clutch out and the truck started, but Sauter fell to eighth for a restart on Lap 160.
Systematically, he worked his way back through the field, aided by a subsequent caution. He restarted sixth on Lap 166 after an accident that KO’d the No. 2 truck of Sheldon Creed. On Lap 170 Sauter navigated around both Moffitt and third-place finisher Harrison Burton to take the lead.
WATCH: Creed crashes in Dover
From that point on, Moffitt pursued Sauter to the finish line.
“It’s all about track position, really,” Moffitt said. “When we were out front, we could lead and won the first stage, but it was just a lot of traffic cost us track position that we never got back.”
ThorSport teammates Grant Enfinger, Matt Crafton and Ben Rhodes finished fourth, fifth and sixth, followed by Austin Hill, Derek Kraus, Tyler Ankrum and Ross Chastain, who recorded his sixth top 10 in six races this season.
DOVER, Del. – Even though Tyler Reddick won the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship on the strength of his final-race performance at Homestead-Miami Speedway last year, he concedes that Christopher Bell, driving the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, was the class of the Xfinity field.
“Last year, I thought he was just in another zip code whenever we were racing together,” Reddick said Friday at Dover International Speedway, site of Saturday’s Allied Steel Buildings 200 (1:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
RELATED: Four drivers get set to compete in Dash 4 Cash finale
After a switch from JR Motorsports to Richard Childress Racing and a new pairing with crew chief Randall Burnett, Reddick feels more competitive with the top cars in the series this year. And well, he should.
With last Saturday’s victory at Talladega, Reddick leads the series standings by 32 points over Bell. In the first nine races of the season, he has seven top fives and has finished no worse than fourth in the six events since Las Vegas in March. That translates to a series-best average result of 4.9.
“We enjoy being in the points lead right now,” Reddick said of the No. 1 ranking. “I know the 18 and the 20 (Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas) really like having that spot. It’s cool to be in their spot, and we’re trying to make the case that it’s our spot.
“We want to keep that points lead going. We want to keep scoring stage points. But we want to try and learn some things that are going to help us over the summer stretch — and definitely in the playoffs.”
DOVER, Del. — In a battle of Hendrick Motorsports teammates, Chase Elliott knocked William Byron off the pole for Monday’s Gander RV 400 at Dover International Speedway (Noon ET, FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), stealing the top starting spot late in Friday’s single-car qualifying at the 1-mile concrete track.
As expected with a new competition package that features a taller rear spoiler and consequent added downforce, Elliott set a track record at the Monster Mile, covering the distance in 21.692 seconds (165.960 mph) to eclipse Brad Keselowski’s 2014 track record mark of 21.892 seconds (164.444 mph).
RELATED: Qualifying results | Full schedule for Dover
In winning his first Busch Pole Award at Dover, his second of the season and the sixth of his career, Elliott was .053 seconds faster than Byron (165.555 mph), whose time stood up until Elliott, who drew the 30th qualifying position, ran his pole-winning lap.
Grabbing the top spot on the grid only added to an excellent week for Elliott, who claimed his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory of the season last Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway.
“Team Hendrick is 1-2, which is awesome,” Elliott said. “Thanks to Chevrolet power and everybody that contributes to our car — they’ve been working hard. Hopefully, we can back it up on Sunday.
“It’s going to be a really tough race, so you better eat your Wheaties these next couple days and hydrate, because I think Sunday is going to be tough, especially if the sun’s out like it is right now.”
In fact, the sun made a huge difference in the speeds the Cup cars ran during qualifying. True, the top five qualifiers (Elliott, Byron, Kyle Larson, Joey Logano and Alex Bowman) all broke Keselowski’s previous track record, as Chevrolets swept the top three starting spots and four of the top five.
That was a far cry, however, from opening practice on Friday morning, when 23 cars eclipsed the record and Kurt Busch topped the speed chart at 168.445 mph in cooler conditions under overcast skies.
Elliott was more concerned about the pick of the No. 1 pit stall, closest to the exit from pit road. At Dover, that’s a distinct advantage.
“I think track position’s going to be key, and hopefully we can use it to our advantage,” Elliott said.
Stewart-Haas Racing teammates Kevin Harvick and Aric Almirola qualified sixth and seventh, respectively, as NASCAR returned to the single-car format versus the group qualifying structure used earlier this year.
Denny Hamlin was eighth in the fastest Toyota, and Keselowski and Clint Bowyer completed the top 10 in their Fords, giving that manufacturer five of the top 10 starting spots.
NASCAR officials ejected the car chief for the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 10 team after encountering issues in Friday’s pre-qualifying inspection at Dover International Speedway.
RELATED: Full schedule for Dover
The No. 10 Ford to be driven by Aric Almirola this weekend at the Monster Mile failed inspection twice ahead of Friday’s Busch Pole Qualifying. As a result, competition officials ejected car chief Chad Haney, sidelining him for the rest of the race weekend.
Almirola sits in a tie for 10th place with SHR teammate Clint Bowyer in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series standings. He was 12th-fastest in Friday’s opening practice at the 1-mile track. He later qualified seventh for Monday’s race.
Jimmie Johnson is a seven-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup champion, an 18-year veteran of the sport and an 83-race winner. And with 11 previous Dover International Speedway trophies, he is also the winningest driver in history at this week’s venue.
All that good juju in his corner and an omnipresent competitive desire for victory and most would assume Johnson is a perennial favorite for Monday’s Gander RV 400 (noon ET on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). It’s hard to believe, but a triumph this weekend would be Johnson’s first points-paying trophy hoist since Dover’s Victory Lane two years ago.
The 2018 season marked the first time the champion has gone a full season without a victory and Johnson is long tired of predicting when his ship will right its course. Every week he feels it is possible.
RELATED: Drivers to win at least nine races at a track | Analyzing Jimmie’s concrete history
Of course a record 11 victories, a record 3,105 laps led at this week’s track certainly makes this weekend a good option in furthering Johnson’s certain NASCAR Hall of Fame-bound trajectory.
As is so typically the case, Johnson showed up in the Dover media center Friday afternoon looking settled and sounding optimistic.
“Clearly, I’m very biased about this race track,” Johnson said smiling. “I think it’s the best one out there. I think all drivers appreciate just the challenge that comes with this track, the banking, the speed, the transitions from the straightaways through the corners.
“I noticed on social media before we got here that drivers and crew members and crew chiefs were all talking about how much they love coming here. It’s just a very unique challenge and a totally different race track than anything else we race on.”
Johnson’s No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was 10th fastest in opening practice on Friday and all three of his Hendrick Motorsports teammates were also among the top-10. It’s a good sign going forward as is the momentum in general for Chevrolet and the team.
RELATED: Opening practice results | Early odds for Dover
Johnson brings an enviable record to Dover – an 10.9 average finish and 9.9 average start. He has maintained that average with 34 starts. He won the first two races he ever competed on at the track and has won back-to-back trophies three different times in his career.
Since his victory in the Spring, 2017, Johnson has a pair of top-10 finishes on Dover’s “Monster Mile,” including a third place in the Fall of 2017 and a ninth place in this spring race – won by Kevin Harvick – last year.
Johnson has four top-10s – including a season best of fifth at Texas Motor Speedway, where he also won the pole position. He suffered his worst finish of the season last weekend at Talladega Superspeedway after running over debris and getting a flat tire less than 30 laps into the race.
However, he had to leave Alabama feeling encouraged. Johnson’s teammate Chase Elliott led a Chevrolet 1-2-3 sweep at Talladega – the first win for the manufacturer this season. Elliott is also the most recent winner at Dover, claiming the Playoff win here last October.
“I think we’re all trending in the right direction and getting better each and every week,” Johnson said. “Hendrick Motorsports has improved and is doing better. So, I’m optimistic and certainly very happy to be at the track that I love so much and I feel like we can hopefully string together a couple of really strong weeks here.”
DOVER, Del. – The atmosphere was festive Thursday at Dover International Speedway, which should’ve surprised no one in attendance at the latest installment of The NASCAR Foundation’s Speediatrics Fun Day Festival.
“Celebrations with a cause” – that’s one way to describe the fun-filled events, which have found several homes throughout the United States and are held in conjunction with NASCAR Cup Series race weekends. At each festival, children flock to participate in a variety of group-oriented activities that promote exercise and healthy lifestyles.
NASCAR drivers are always waiting for them, ready to make an afternoon special … and memorable.
Teamwork makes the dream work. A memory this kid will never forget. #Speediatrics | @WilliamByron pic.twitter.com/i6m5V0mNzA
— The NASCAR Foundation (@NASCAR_FDN) May 2, 2019
That was the case again on Thursday, with festival attendees and volunteers gathering at the speedway, as the iconic “Miles the Monster” statue loomed in the background. The five-driver group attending included the driver of the famed No. 24 Chevrolet, William Byron, as well as Ross Chastain, Vinnie Miller, Matt Mills and Reid Wilson. The drivers interacted with the foundation mascot, “Chase,” and nearly 80 children, the majority from the Dover YMCA.
“Having so many of our drivers join us for the Fun Day Festival is so very important to the success of the event – and the enjoyment of the children,” said NASCAR Foundation’s executive director Nichole Krieger. “We are so appreciative that they found time during a race week to take part in our Fun Day Festival.”
Children participated in four activities: the Pit Stop Challenge, Gas Can Relay, Goodyear Tire Race and “Looking for Lug Nuts,” a new activity. A highlight of those competitions was seeing Miller try to bump Mills, his NASCAR Xfinity Series teammate, off the course – and almost take him himself out of the action instead.
Children also received a NASCAR Foundation “fit kit” that included an activity book, jump rope and pedometer watch. The pedometers will facilitate participation in a “step challenge” to see who can walk the most steps between now and May 23 – with bragging rights on the line, as well as a chance to win prizes from The NASCAR Foundation.
The event at the “Monster Mile” marks the first time The NASCAR Foundation has hosted a Speediatrics Fun Day Festival in the Dover area. It is also the second in a series of six events that will take place throughout the 2019 season. The first event took place surrounding the March race weekend at ISM Raceway, with the remaining events scheduled for race weekends at Chicagoland Speedway, Daytona International Speedway, Michigan International Speedway (August) and Martinsville Speedway.
To learn more, visit NASCARfoundation.org.
Under the light of the moon, before and during Prohibition, moonshiners would gather in private locations throughout the rural south to brew homemade spirits which they would later sell secretly to avoid alcohol taxes and bans. Dating back to the 1700s, and even more during Prohibition, production skyrocketed.
Today, things are done a little differently. Sugarlands Distilling Co. based out of Gatlinburg, Tennessee, uses award-winning spirits, along with a barn house location, to complete a new, different and modern distilling experience.
The proud, locally owned brand has been around since March 2014, but the history of moonshine dates much further back. And both have deep ties to NASCAR.
RELATED: Partnership between Sugarlands, NASCAR
Back in the old days, moonshiners needed runners – drivers that could smuggle the moonshine to ready customers. The cars looked normal enough to avoid any type of unwanted attention but were set up with heavy-duty shocks and springs, keeping the moonshine safe on the backwoods roads. High-powered engines gave cars extra speed to outrun cops or tax agents along their routes.
After Prohibition ended, drivers found themselves with these unique, fast cars — but no work.
That is until Dec. 14, 1947, when Bill France held a meeting with drivers, owners and mechanics to put in place rules for a unified racing series – and then there was NASCAR.
“You’ve got all these guys that are running moonshine in the backwoods and around the countryside in these souped-up cars and they started getting together to race those cars. That was the start of NASCAR,” said Sugarlands Distilling Co. head distiller Greg Eidam.
So, moonshine and NASCAR go way back. But the whiskey is still just as relevant today as Sugarlands Distilling Co. has partnered with NASCAR to become the Official Moonshine of NASCAR.
“NASCAR has such a loyal following of fans,” Eidam said. “We’re excited to introduce our moonshine to a group of people who appreciate the history of the sport – and enjoy celebrating it with good spirits.”
MORE: Get your own jar!
Last weekend at Talladega Superspeedway, fans were able to enjoy hand-crafted cocktails made with Sugarlands Shine. Sugarlands, in partnership with Talladega Superspeedway, also introduced a limited-edition Corn Whiskey created specifically to celebrate 50 years of speed and shine.
The traditional, unaged corn whiskey is similar to that of the spirits previously bootlegged throughout Appalachia, which mirrors Sugarlands’ goal to never stray from its roots.
“We strive to keep the history in each bottle,” Eidam explained. “It (the recipe) came out really good and it was fairly simple. … We’ve got a strain of yeast that we really like here. It has produced some really great characteristics for our whiskey, we’ve experimented with different strains of yeast in the past and this one has done really well for us. We are extremely proud of the Talladega 50th Anniversary Corn Whiskey, it is a smooth shine that we know fans will enjoy.”
Spread across the country, the 50th Anniversary Corn Whiskey can be found in retail liquor stores or at Sugarlands’ Gatlinburg, Tennessee distillery. To learn more about this authentic whiskey, and to find a store with Sugarlands Shine near you, visit www.sugarlands.com/NASCAR.
As an official partner of Talladega Superspeedway, Sugarlands also is the entitlement sponsor of the fall race for the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series. On Saturday, Oct. 12, the Gander Trucks Series will compete in the Sugarlands Shine 250.
“We’ve got very exciting plans in the works for the fall race and we can’t wait to share a sip or two with fans of speed and shine,” Eidam said.
Gary Putnam has been through just about everything in racing.
From winning at the highest level as a car chief in the Daytona 500, all the way to buckling the belts behind the wheel of an open-wheel modified, Putnam has absolutely no regrets for a path that has taken him all around the block in the last few decades.
He was born in Connecticut, but moved down south, where things really took off. Throughout his journey, he has been part of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour.
“I got to be working in the Whelen Modified Tour and I was good friends with Tommy Baldwin and Kevin Manion, and when they moved down south, they called me up and said they had an opening and I went down there and started working with Ricky Craven,” Putnam said.
Since then, it’s been a wild ride. Among some of his highlights down south, Putnam competed with Richard Petty Enterprises (now Richard Petty Motorsports) as a crew chief, and that wasn’t his only job calling the shots.
“After the crew chief role with Petty, I went over and worked with Joe Nemechek on a NASCAR Busch Series (now Xfinity Series) car and won a race with him at Kansas,” Putnam said. “I ended up with DEI after that.”
Above all, the marquee moment was winning NASCAR’s most prestigious event as a car chief in 2010.
“I would have to say winning the Daytona 500 with Jamie McMurray was definitely the most memorable moment,” Putnam said. “Being able to sit on the pit box, being the car chief, after going there for over 20 years and working with Bono Manion (crew chief at the time), my good friend, it was something else. Listening to the spotter on the last lap and watching the T.V. on the pit box, while the T.V. does have a slight delay, getting the live action from the spotter was incredible.”
Before making the trip south, it was a former NASCAR Modified winner Charlie Pasteryak with whom Putnam worked with while up north
“Charlie Pasteryak, growing up, he really taught me a lot and gave me my first opportunity. I got to work on his car and his brother’s car full-time,” Putnam said.
Now, Putnam finds himself behind the wheel of a NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour car at least for a partial schedule each year. He does work during the week for Chip Ganassi Racing in the shop, but still finds the time to wrench on his car and make the trip to specific events.
In 21 career starts, Putnam has a best finish of ninth, at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 2017.
RACING-REFERENCE: Putnam’s Whelen Modified Tour Career
“I do it for fun, it’s really my hobby. It helps me to be a better mechanic and work on race cars. It helps my day job quite a bit, just being able to know what the drivers are talking about and feeling in the car” Putnam said. “At Myrtle Beach this year, I really had a great car. I feel like I would’ve probably finished in or near the top five before a crash.”
He has prior history of being a car owner in the Modifieds as well. Last year, Monster Energy Cup Series driver Ryan Newman competed in Putnam’s car in July at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, finishing third after starting from the pole. In September, Ryan Preece drove the car and was challenging for the lead entire the final corner of the inaugural Musket 250 at New Hampshire, before a crash took him from contention.
“I look forward to the Musket 250 and actually being able to drive it myself this year,” Putnam said. “I think it’s a really cool race with a nice throwback feel to it. It reminded me of the Thompson 300 or the old Race of Champions at Pocono.”
“I am 100 percent content with where I am right now. I’ve been very fortunate to experience everything that I have, and if it all ended tomorrow, I would be ok with it.”
Kurt Busch assembled the fastest lap Friday morning in opening Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Dover International Speedway.
Busch pushed the Chip Ganassi Racing No. 1 to a best speed of 168.445 mph on the 1-mile concrete layout. His fastest lap was the best among 23 drivers who unofficially topped the track qualifying record of 164.444 mph, set by Brad Keselowski in 2014.
RELATED: Practice 1 results | Dover schedule
“It’s fast,” Busch said of the effect of higher downforce leading to fastest corner speeds. “It’s really fun. The guys nailed the setup. We were a little loose to start, a little tight on our second run, and then that run right there, it’s one of those laps where you say, ‘go have at it. Knock it off the top.’ But we’ve got to back it up later.”
Kyle Larson, Busch’s teammate with the Ganassi organization, was second-fastest at 168.106 mph ion the No. 42 Chevrolet. Defending race winner Kevin Harvick turned in the third-fastest lap in the 50-minute session in the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Ford.
William Byron was fourth-fastest, and Ryan Blaney completed the top five in the opening tune-up for Monday’s Gander RV 400 (noon ET on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Jimmie Johnson, who leads Dover’s all-time win list with 11 victories, was 10th-fastest in the Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 Chevrolet. Teammate Chase Elliott, last weekend’s winner at Talladega and Dover’s most recent victor last fall, was ninth-best in the No. 9 Chevrolet.
Competition officials penalized four teams by deducting 15 minutes of practice time for inspection issues.
• No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet of Kurt Busch (multiple inspection issues at Talladega)
• No. 15 Premium Motorsports Chevrolet of Ross Chastain (late to inspection)
• No. 37 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet of Chris Buescher (late to inspection)
• No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Ford of Cody Ware (late to inspection)