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No. 13 driver switched cars with Timmy Hill after crashing in Friday’s practice

DOVER, Del. — During Friday’s XFINITY Series practice at Dover International Speedway, Carl Long‘s No.13 wrecked after a weight fell off Peyton Sellers‘ No. 97 and Long ran over it. 

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The piece of tungsten went through Long’s radiator, into the steering and engine and caused the MBM Motorsports driver to slam hard into the wall. 

Having empathy for small team troubles, Selllers and the No. 97 team owner Victor Obaika quickly offered up any help they could. 

"We have spoken to Carl and we’ve offered him whatever we can," Obaika said in a statement on Friday. "(Our) backup car, our people, whatever he needs, you know because it’s unfortunate, but we have to show some responsibility on our part and we’ve done that and we’ll help however we can."

"When you’re on the bottom end, everybody kinda sticks together and tries to help each other," Long said on Saturday after the Coors Light Pole Qualifying session. "Some of the guys with a lot of money and a lot of focus and all, some help out, some don’t. But all of us little guys usually stick together."

While the Obaika Racing owner offered to let Long use the team’s backup, the No. 13 driver feels his ride was the way to go.

"(Sellers) offered me his backup car, but I had mine here," Long said. "This is the car we had at Iowa, we ran it Talladega, we ran it at Texas, we ran it everywhere.

"I just felt like from changing the seats over and doing all the work, we would still be working on his car right now to get it ready for me. So, I think this is a better race car, and that’s the ultimate thing is to be here to race, not to ride around."

Shortly before the start of the Buckle Up 200 presented by Click It or Ticket, it was announced that Long switched rides with the No. 40 of Timmy Hill due to the pain he was feeling after Friday’s hit. 

"Yesterday when I got out of the car nothing hurt," Long said. "This morning my chest is hurting, my shoulder is hurting, that’s a pretty hard lick, it just didn’t seem like it then."

"Carl took a pretty good hit yesterday and he’s feeling rather sore," Hill said. "He’s not sure if he can go the distance. Out of the two cars he’s really trying to get the 13 better in the points. With that being said, he wants to assure that the No. 13 runs the whole race." 

"My chest is hurting quite a bit and I didn’t realize that until I did my qualifying laps and I just got to thinking about it," Long said. "My main goal is to run good and have a good finish for our team. If I fall out of the seat, that ain’t a good finish."

Posted on by Holly Cain

Continues consistent communications between sanctioning body, stakeholders

DOVER, Del. — NASCAR officials and several Sprint Cup Series drivers were scheduled to meet Saturday evening at the Dover International Speedway on the eve of Sunday’s FedEx 400 Benefitting Autism Speaks.

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Kristi King, NASCAR’s Senior Director of Communications, Competition, said the meeting had been previously scheduled and that the sanctioning body meets with small groups of drivers periodically throughout the season.

"It’s NASCAR’s job to always meet with its car owners, drivers and crew chiefs,” King said. "So this meeting is nothing out of the ordinary, nothing that we haven’t been doing.

"I think a bigger story would be if we didn’t talk to our drivers. It’s really not a big deal, something we consistently do, just a lot of times it’s not done at the race track. This time it is."

 

Posted on by Holly Cain

Chris Buescher collided with Darrell Wallace Jr. on final laps for Dover win

DOVER, Del. – Having a victory decided by two teammates can go one of two ways. And that depended on who you spoke with Saturday afternoon following the Buckle Up 200 presented by Click it or Ticket at Dover International Speedway.

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Chris Buescher, 22, and his Roush Fenway Racing teammate Darrell Wallace Jr., 21, collided with nine laps remaining as they diced for the race lead. Buescher’s No. 60 Roush Performance Ford ended up in Victory Lane. Wallace’s pole-winning No. 6 Ford Ecoboost Mustang ended up on pit road to change a flat tire resulting from the contact and returned to salvage a 17th-place finish.

Wallace emerged from his car after the race clearly frustrated, but taking great care in choosing his words.

"Got run over; sucks it was my teammate,” Wallace said. "I thought he got help from the No. 7, but I just saw the replay.

"I was saving fuel, I didn’t think I was holding him tight and next thing you know we’re almost in the fence. The crappy thing about it is we had a really strong Ford Ecoboost Mustang. Just couldn’t get off pit road to save us and got back there in dirty air. Then we got in fuel conservation mode. I thought we were doing OK until that little incident.

"I would say I’m happy. Roush won. But I’m not."

The two cars exchanged the lead while negotiating heavy traffic, eventually making contact as Buescher pulled around and Wallace’s car got the worst end of it.

He did not stop by Victory Lane to congratulate Buescher, who said he planned to speak with his teammate on the plane ride back to North Carolina.

"We were on similar strategies to save fuel and were keeping a pretty quick pace,” Buescher said of the situation. "It felt like we were in position to make the pass a couple times and with traffic and some lapped cars, we got the door closed on us pretty hard a couple occasions."

"It looked like our opportunity. We were late in a tire run and saving fuel,  just got a little free on the bottom. We’ll talk about it. We’re heading to the same place, going to get on the plane right now."

Team owner Jack Roush candidly addressed the situation in the winner’s press conference.

"I had an image in my mind of two of our cars running out of gas on the last lap, turns out one had a flat tire,” team owner Jack Roush said. "It’s the first time we’ve had an incident between our two cars. … I know no one meant to have contact so we’ll sort that out and get everybody feeling good again.”

And, he added, "No worse horror than two programs in position to win a race and have them have contact. …We’ll have to sort that out.”

On the upside, Roush’s XFINITY team cars are still leading the way for the storied organization – all four drivers ranked among the top eight in the standings.

The victory – his second in the last three races — extended Buescher’s championship points lead to 15 over Ty Dillon and 37 over defending series champ Chase Elliott as the series has a week off before heading to Michigan International Speedway on June 13.

Wallace and RFR driver Elliott Sadler are ranked fifth and sixth, respectively, in the standings. Ryan Reed is eighth.

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No. 48 driver would join NASCAR’s elite with a ‘Monster Mile’ victory

DOVER, Del. – With six NASCAR Sprint Cup championships and 73 race victories Jimmie Johnson is the most decorated driver of his era. And yet this Sunday, he still stands to elevate his legacy and join the sport’s greats in another milestone.

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Should Johnson, 39, drive his No. 48 Lowe’s Pro Services Chevrolet into Dover International Speedway‘s Victory Lane in Sunday’s FedEx 400 Benefiting Autism Speaks, it would he his 10th win at the famed and feared Monster Mile, putting him in elite "double-digit" company.

The last person to win 10 races at a single track was the late seven-time Cup champion Dale Earnhardt at Talladega in 2000.

Only three others have accomplished the feat – NASCAR Hall of Famers Richard Petty (at Daytona; Richmond; Rockingham, North Carolina; Martinsville, Virginia; and North Wilkesboro, North Carolina), Darrell Waltrip (Bristol, Tennessee; Martinsville; and North Wilkesboro) and David Pearson (Darlington, South Carolina).

And if that weren’t impressive enough, Johnson is only 24 laps shy of leading 3,000 laps at Dover. Should he break that threshold he would be one of only seven drivers in history to lead 3,000 miles at a single track. His Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon is the only other active driver to hit that mark (at Martinsville).

In winning this race last year, Johnson led a dominant 272 laps.

"It’s crazy for me to have this reality,” said Johnson, who will start 14th Sunday. "It’s nothing that I thought would happen. I’m certainly enjoying the moment while I’m here."

Beyond the status in the history books, Johnson has often expressed how genuinely honored he is to have his name alongside the NASCAR legends. He has always spoken reverently about the drivers who came before him and even after all he’s accomplished Johnson still seems to be the one humbled by the company he’s keeping.

"If I was able to accomplish it, I’d just be honored to be in that same situation that had been done by Dale Earnhardt Sr.,” Johnson said. "I never had the chance to race against him. It’s one big empty void that I have in my career. I feel is that I never had a chance to be crashed by him or have a tire mark put on my car, to pass (laughing) or to be passed. That whole experience, I didn’t have that opportunity and I so wish that I did.”

Johnson’s success at the notoriously challenging Dover one-mile concrete oval is especially impressive. The track is nicknamed the"Monster Mile" for a reason – tight, high-banked and physically demanding. There is little room for error on track or on pit road.

And yet Johnson has been good here since day one. Literally.

In his 2002 rookie year, Johnson swept both Cup races. And he has shown a propensity to get on a roll. He’s won back-to-back races three times. He swept the 2009 races at Dover and has won two of the last three here, finishing third to teammate Gordon last fall.

"I go all the way back to my first trip here in an ASA (American Speed Association) car and it was love at first site,” said Johnson, who won the pole and finished eighth in his very first Dover race in 1999.

So why has Johnson been able to master the Monster that has challenged so many others? Interestingly, it’s the difficulty that intrigues Johnson, not that the track is necessarily easy for him.

"I guess to generalize it, it would be the intensity required to run a lap here,” Johnson said. "It’s hard to say that there is one aspect that I enjoy the most, but just the set of corners from straightaway to straightaway. You kind of work up your bravery, you make it through the corner.

"You get it on the next straightaway and you smile like, ‘wow that was pretty cool. I’m going to do it again. Here we go.’ And you fly though turns three and four and you just end up with that mindset around the track. It’s tons of fun.”

Nine trophies no doubt make it more fun.

"There are a few tracks where I’m in a really neat position to chase history,” Johnson said. "Again, it’s not a situation I ever thought I’d find myself in, but now that I’m here it’s certainly in front me.

"It’s on my mind and it’s something I would love to do."

Posted on by Holly Cain

Catch up before the FedEx 400, 1 p.m. ET (FOX Sports 1)

What: FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks.
Where: Dover International Speedway, 1-mile oval in Dover, Del.

When: Sunday, May 31; 1 pm ET

TV/Radio: FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 400 miles
Pit road speed: 35 mph

Caution car speed: 45 mph
Fuel window: 81 laps

On the front row | Full starting lineup
 Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin earned his first pole position of the season and third career at Dover. The Martinsville (VA.) winner will start alongside the hometown favorite, Martin Truex Jr. It is the best start of the season for the New Jersey native Truex, who is the highest ranked driver without a win in 2015. He has good history at The Monster Mile, scoring his first career Cup victory here in 2007.

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Fastest in practice: Pole-winner Hamlin’s No. 11 FedEx Toyota topped both of Saturday’s practice sessions, turning in a best speed of 156.087 mph in final practice. His Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Carl Edwards was second fastest in each Saturday practice and JGR driver Matt Kenseth top-10 in both. Defending race winner Jimmie Johnson was fastest in Friday’s practice and fifth quickest in both Saturday sessions.

Last year’s winner: Johnson won last year’s race in relatively dominant fashion, leading a race best seven times for 272 laps. It was his second win in as many weeks and made him the all-time Dover race winner with nine victories. 

On the line: With nine winners in the first 12 races, the trend is for yet another to punch his ticket to the Chase. Truex has to be considered the favorite for this. He and Kevin Harvick lead the series with 11 top-10 efforts. Truex’s No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Chevy has led the most laps in the last two points-races — at Kansas and at Charlotte. He was runner-up at Las Vegas in March and has two fifth-place showings in the last three races and qualified second.

History lesson: Even with six championship trophies and 73 wins, Johnson approaches another historical milestone this week that he is especially proud of. Should he collect his 10th Dover win on Sunday, he would be only the fifth driver in NASCAR history to record double digit wins at a track. The last to do it was Dale Earnhardt (10) at Talladega. Johnson would join the esteemed company of Richard Petty who has double-digit wins at Daytona, Martinsville, North Wilkesboro, Richmond, and Rockingham, and Darrell Waltrip (Bristol, Martinsville, and North Wilkesboro) and David Pearson (Darlington).

A Good Start: Outside polesitter Truex can take solace in an interesting Dover statistic. The second starting position has produced more winners in this race than any other starting position. Front row drivers have won 31 percent of all the races. Nearly 80 percent of Dover race winners started from the top 10 positions on the grid.  

Return to Glory: Three-time Cup champ Tony Stewart‘s last victory came in this race two years ago. Smoke has a good record at The Monster Mile with three wins and 17 top-10s in 31 starts. And, although his No. 14 Code 3 Associates/Mobil 1 Chevy will be starting from the 26th position, Stewart holds a distinguished mark. Only five times in 90 Dover Cup races has the winner started from outside the top-20. Stewart was the last to do it – winning from 22nd place on the grid. Kyle Petty won the 1995 spring Dover race starting 37th.

They said it: "It’s hard to say one aspect that I enjoy the most [about the Dover track], but just the set of corners from straightaway to straightaway, you kind of work up your bravery. You make it through the corner, you get on the next straightaway and you smile, ‘like wow, that was pretty cool, I’m going to do it again here, here we go.’ And you fly through [turns] two and three and you just end up wit that mindset around the racetrack. It’s a ton of fun." – Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe’s Pro Services Chevrolet)

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Roush Fenway driver conserved fuel for ‘Monster Mile’ victory

RELATED: Final results

DOVER, Del. — Chris Buescher had enough fuel left at the end of Saturday’s Buckle Up 200 NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Dover International Speedway to do a celebratory burnout, but his No. 60 Roush Fenway Racing Ford wasn’t the only thing that was smoking after the checkered flag.

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Yes, Buescher won for the second time this season and extended his lead in the series standings to 15 points over eighth-place finisher Ty Dillon, but his winning pass of teammate and Coors Light Polesitter Darrell "Bubba" Wallace Jr. left Wallace fuming.
 
Contact between the cars on Lap 191 of 200 cut the left front tire of Wallace’s No. 6 Ford and forced the car to pit road for an unplanned stop.
 
While Buescher spent the final nine laps coasting to an 11.477-second victory over runner-up Matt Kenseth, stretching 98 laps out of his last tank of fuel, Wallace left the Monster Mile in 17th place — and understandably unhappy about it.
 
"I was saving fuel there, and Chris just ran over me and he ends up winning," Wallace said. "It should be interesting Monday morning (in the team competition meeting). We just got run over. It sucks that it was my teammate. I thought he got help from the 7 (third-place finisher Regan Smith), but I just saw the replay there.
 
"I was saving fuel. I didn’t think I was holding him tight and the next thing you know we’re almost in the fence," continued Wallace, a NASCAR Next and Drive for Diversity alum. "The crappy part about it is we had a really strong Ford EcoBoost Mustang, and we couldn’t get off pit road to save us, and we got caught in dirty air, and then we were in fuel saving mode. I thought we were doing OK until that little incident. I would say I am happy Roush won but I’m not."
 
MORE: Tension rises with Roush on-track contact

The victory was Buescher’s third in the series and his second in the last three races. The winner pointed out that his teammate, who also was on fuel-conservation strategy, was running a slower pace when Buescher caught him.
 
"That was tough, because we are sitting there, and he was saving a lot more fuel than I was because they were shorter, and I was able to run into the corner harder, but I couldn’t do anything with the track being pretty narrow and two guys racing for the win," Buescher said.
 
"It was tough. We got side by side and it (Buescher’s car) got pretty free, but this Roush Mustang was good all weekend. The race wasn’t exactly where we needed to be, but then (crew chief) Scott (Graves) pulled great strategy and the team did a nice job, and we got to Victory Lane with this Ford."
 
As the highest finisher among eligible series regulars, Regan Smith, who thought he was racing Kenseth for the win before Buescher’s fuel strategy paid off, won the $100,000 XFINITY Series Dash 4 Cash bonus.

MORE: Smith wins first XFINITY Dash 4 Cash bonus
 
"We’ll take some of XFINITY’s money as a consolation prize, but I want a win so freaking bad," Smith said.
 
Buescher, Smith, sixth-place finisher Chase Elliott and seventh-place Brendan Gaughan are the four drivers eligible for the money in the second of four Dash 4 Cash races on July 25 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
 
Note: Sprint Cup regulars Austin Dillon and Kasey Kahne finished fourth and fifth, respectively, but in post-race inspection, Dillon’s car was deemed too low in the rear on both sides. If penalties are forthcoming, NASCAR will announce them next week.

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Any potential penalties would be determined Tuesday by NASCAR

NASCAR officials announced Saturday that the No. 33 Chevrolet driven by fourth-place finisher Austin Dillon in the XFINITY Series failed post-race inspection at Dover International Speedway.

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The Richard Childress Racing entry measured too low on both sides in the rear after Saturday’s Buckle Up 200 presented by Click It or Ticket, the 12th of 33 races this season. Series officials said any potential penalties would be determined Tuesday at the NASCAR Research & Development Center in Concord, North Carolina.

NASCAR removed rules restricting ride heights in the Sprint Cup Series ahead of the 2014 season, but those limits remain in place for the XFINITY and Camping World Truck Series.

The No. 33 driver ranks third in the XFINITY car owner standings. Dillon competes for the drivers’ championship in the Sprint Cup Series and is not eligible to collect XFINITY Series points.

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See where every driver will pit Saturday at 2:30 p.m. ET, FOX

RELATED: Starting lineup

Darrell Wallace Jr. won the Coors Light Pole Award and led a front-row sweep for Roush Fenway Racing with points leader Chris Buescher in XFINITY Series qualifying for the Buckle Up 200 presented by Click It or Ticket at Dover International Speedway (Saturday, 2:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM).

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Wallace will pit his No. 6 Ford Mustang in the second stall, which is the first one at the exit of pit road, heading into Turn 1. Buescher chose the 16th stall with an opening behind where he will pit his No. 60 ride.

Joe Gibbs Racing nabbed the second row and three of the next four spots with Matt Kenseth and Daniel Suarez qualifying third and fourth respectively and Erik Jones taking the sixth spot. Kenseth’s No. 20 Toyota Camry will pit in the 36th pit stall. Suarez will take his No. 18 to the 10th stall with an opening in front of him while No. 54, Jones, will pit in the seventh stall.

The fastest Chevrolet Camaro in the field, Brian Scott‘s Richard Childress Racing No. 2, was fifth in qualifying and will pit in the fourth stall. The fourth row will be made up of Chevys as well with Kasey Kahne pitting his No. 88 JR Motorsports ride in the 17th stall with an opening in front of him. Austin Dillon‘s No. 33 for RCR chose the ninth stall with an opening behind him.

Team Penske‘s Ryan Blaney and JRM’s Regan Smith round out the top 10 with Blaney picking the 14th stall and Smith choosing the 42nd stall, the first box at the entrance to pit road off of Turn 4.

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Buescher seals 1-2 Roush sweep in Dover XFINITY qualifying

RELATED: Qualifying results

Darrell Wallace Jr. sped to the Coors Light Pole Award in Saturday qualifying for the NASCAR XFINITY Series at Dover International Speedway.

Wallace drove the Roush Fenway Racing No. 6 Ford to a fast lap of 153.991 mph, securing the top starting spot for Saturday’s Buckle Up 200 presented by Click It or Ticket (2:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM). The pole position was Wallace’s first of the season and second of his XFINITY career — both coming at the Monster Mile.

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Series points leader Chris Buescher, Wallace’s Roush Fenway teammate, will share the front row after posting the second-fastest lap, 153.886 mph in the No. 60 Ford. Buescher, who also notched the fastest lap in the opening 20-minute round of qualifying, holds a four-point lead in the XFINITY standings over Ty Dillon heading into the 12th of 33 races this season.

Sprint Cup Series regular Matt Kenseth was third-fastest at 153.715 mph in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota. Rookie Daniel Suarez was fourth-best in another Gibbs entry while Richard Childress Racing‘s Brian Scott completed the top five in qualifying on the 1-mile concrete track.

Defending series champion Chase Elliott posted the 14th-fastest lap in Round 2, just missing out on the 12-driver cutoff for the final qualifying round. "Not going fast enough, just as simple as that," Elliott told FOX Sports 1 after his qualifying pass.

With 40 cars vying for 40 starting spots, no drivers failed to qualify.

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Coors Light Pole winner, teammate Edwards go 1-2 in both sessions

RELATED: Practice 2 results | Final practice results

Denny Hamlin kept his car at the top of the speed charts in Saturday’s final NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice, a session cut short by a significant fluid leak at Dover International Speedway.

Hamlin pushed his Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Toyota to a best lap of 156.087 mph on the 1-mile concrete track. Hamlin also led Saturday’s early practice and secured the first starting spot with the Coors Light Pole Award in Friday’s qualifying.

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As in Saturday’s early session, Hamlin’s JGR teammate Carl Edwards was second-fastest in the No. 19 Toyota with a lap of 155.602 mph. Paul Menard was third-best at 155.206 mph in the Richard Childress Racing No. 27 Chevrolet.

Matt Kenseth was fourth-fastest and Kyle Busch fifth as Joe Gibbs Racing entries claimed four of the top five spots on the practice leaderboard. Jimmie Johnson, a nine-time Dover winner, logged the sixth-best lap ahead of Sunday’s FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks (1 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1, MRN, SiriusXM).

The final session was originally scheduled for 50 minutes, but a major fluid leak from the rear of Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Hendrick Motorsports No. 88 Chevrolet oiled a large portion of the track. Practice was stopped for approximately 13 minutes for extensive clean-up. Race officials added five minutes to the end of the session to make up for the red flag.

Defending Sprint Cup champion Kevin Harvick, the standings leader, was seventh-fastest in the final tune-up in the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Chevrolet.

Hamlin stays the course in practice 2

Denny Hamlin continued his steady show of speed at Dover International Speedway, leading Saturday morning’s next-to-last NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice.

Hamlin wheeled the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Toyota to a best lap of 156.331 mph on the 1-mile concrete layout. A day earlier, he landed the Coors Light Pole Award, clinching the No. 1 starting spot for Sunday’s FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks (1 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1, MRN, SiriusXM).

Though Hamlin has three pole positions for the last six Dover events, he has yet to score a Sprint Cup victory at the Monster Mile. Hamlin already has wins in hand this season at Martinsville Speedway and in the non-points NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race.

Carl Edwards, a teammate of Hamlin’s at JGR and last weekend’s Coca-Cola 600 winner, clinched the second spot on the practice leaderboard with a 156.325-mph lap. His best time in the No. 19 Toyota was just one-thousandth of a second slower than Hamlin’s chart-topping lap.

Kurt Busch was third-fastest at 155.736 mph in the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 41 Chevrolet. Jimmie Johnson, a nine-time Dover winner in the Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 Chevy, was fourth-fastest at 155.723 mph. David Ragan, prepping for his third start in the Michael Waltrip Racing No. 55 Toyota, completed the top five at 155.602 mph.

Defending Sprint Cup champion and current points leader Kevin Harvick was eighth-fastest in the 50-minute session.

Final Sprint Cup practice is scheduled for 1-1:50 p.m. ET (FOX Sports 1).