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Five-Time Cup champion leads 243 laps to take home record eighth win at Monster Mile

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DOVER, Del. — Jimmie Johnson‘s run toward a possible sixth NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship shifted into high gear Sunday at Dover International Speedway.
 
On two fresh tires to polesitter Dale Earnhardt Jr.‘s four, Johnson held off his Hendrick Motorsports teammate during a 26-lap green-flag run to the finish of the AAA 400 and made a significant dent in the series lead of Matt Kenseth, who finished seventh.
 
Johnson picked up his fifth victory of the season, his record eighth at the Monster Mile — breaking a tie with Richard Petty and Bobby Allison — and the 65th of his career. The driver of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet vaulted over fifth-place finisher Kyle Busch into second in the Chase standings, eight points behind Kenseth.

Johnson, however, had plenty of cause for concern when he lined up for the final restart with Earnhardt right behind him — on four fresh tires.

"Two (tires) worked good for us in practice," Johnson said. "And believe me, I wanted to see four tires line up in the fourth or fifth row. When they lined up right behind me, I thought I was going to have my hands full. And I really did. Junior drove a whale of a race, and track position really gave me the advantage I needed to hold him off."

Johnson also took a moment to enjoy the magnitude of his record-breaking win.

"It’s incredible," he said. "To do anything Bobby or Richard has done is quite an accomplishment. We’ve had a few sneak away from us here, too, over the years. I’m just happy to get that done and be the sole leader of race wins here. It’s a very special day."

Johnson held a lead of nearly five seconds when NASCAR called the fourth caution of the race for debris in the form of a spring rubber that had dislodged from a car and landed on the concrete racing surface in Turn 3.
 
With every lead-lap car short on fuel — with the possible exception of Clint Bowyer‘s No. 15 Toyota — the yellow presented a welcome opportunity to refuel. Johnson’s crew chief, Chad Knaus, opted to change right-side tires only, while Earnhardt’s crew chief, Steve Letarte, called for a four-tire change.
 
Earnhardt restarted fourth on Lap 375 of 400 and quickly rocketed into second place, but couldn’t catch the five-time champion.
 
Joey Logano ran third, followed by Jeff Gordon and Busch, as Chase drivers claimed the top 10 finishing positions.

Earnhardt, whose winless streak reached 48 races, relinquished the race lead during a green-flag pit stop on Lap 119 after missing the entrance to pit road on the previous lap. The snafu cost Earnhardt seven positions and 13 seconds on the track, and though a caution on Lap 164 bunched the field and enabled him to make up lost ground, Earnhardt couldn’t mount a challenge to Johnson’s dominance after that.

On a later stop, Earnhardt lost time getting to his pit stall when he had to slow behind Mark Martin‘s Chevrolet. Earnhardt conceded that the issues on pit road, particularly the first one, may have changed the outcome of the race.

"Yeah, if you really look at the race as a whole, they did cost us a little bit, at least the mistake I made missing pit road completely. We had the lead, gave up the lead. Jimmie had the lead and was able to take advantage of that clean air when it counted.

"If I had not given up that track position, had a smart enough race to keep the lead when it counted right at the end, we might have won the race. It would have been hard to get by us, just like it was (hard) to get by Jimmie.

"I think missing the commitment cone was a big factor in us not finishing one spot ahead of where we are. But the other pit stop wasn’t that big a deal. I came on pit road about as hard as I could. The 14, Mark, was running maybe five, 10 miles an hour slow in the first couple of (pit road timing) segments. I don’t know that cost us a ton of time."

Chase drivers Kurt Busch and Carl Edwards were casualties of bad luck and a broken part, respectively. Busch was caught two laps down after an early green-flag pit stop that preceded the second caution on Lap 164. He finished 21st and dropped to ninth in the standings, 55 points behind Kenseth.

Edwards, who entered the race fourth in points, took his car to the garage on Lap 377 with broken hub, finished 35th and plummeted seven spots to 11th in points, 65 out of the lead.

Kasey Kahne (13th place) suffered engine problems with 10 laps to go, the second week in a row he failed to finish on the lead lap.

More of the same tough luck he’s seen all season showed itself at Dover for Brad Keselowski, who missed the Chase just a season removed from winning his first Cup championship. On Lap 225 his No. 2 Penske Racing Ford was forced to the garage after a part in his rear-end housing burned up, spewing fluid on the track and bringing out the third caution of the day.

"They noticed a lot of oil in the wheel well, so we tried to get off the track as fast as we could with the Miller Lite Ford to not bring out a yellow, but obviously wasn’t quite quick enough," Keselowski said. "We’re getting all of our bad luck out of the way this year, so watch out next year.”

Keselowski finished 37th.

The series now makes its way back to Kansas Speedway, where Kenseth earned his second victory of the season. Catch the Hollywood Casino 400 (ESPN, 2 p.m. ET) next Sunday.

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Johnson wins at Dover

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Johnson breaks record

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Posted on by Holly Cain

Four-time NASCAR champ and "The Crossing" star discusses acting and what’s next for him

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"The Crossing" — an original series created and produced by NASCAR Productions — gave four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon a chance of a lifetime to connect with Hollywood film director and producer Ron Howard. Their meeting gives glimpses into one another’s storied careers from child stars and prodigies to successful adults — each champions in their respective field.


Gordon sat down with NASCAR.com to share his behind-the-scenes perspective about the five-part series:

How did the idea of pairing you and Ron Howard for this new project originate?

"We were asked to put a list of some people together that I’d be interested in meeting and talking to and getting to know and Ron was one that came up. It was purely just because I liked the way he goes about what he does and also the movie "Rush" he just directed, the tie to racing and the timing. It all came together. "We met at Indianapolis, and I just became a huge admirer of him because I saw what a good person he was.”

You got to spend some quality time with Howard both trackside and in Hollywood. What were your impressions?

"As a kid growing up and watching "Happy Days," knowing who Ron Howard is and then also being a fan of Apollo 13 and some great movies he’s done and knowing he was going to do a racing movie, I was really looking forward to meeting him.

"I was so impressed. He is just such a humble guy. He works extremely hard. You’d never know this is a guy that’s been working in Hollywood since he was a kid. It was very refreshing, and I feel like we connected in some ways through the whole experience because I think while he learned a lot about racing, he has more respect for race car drivers through this. I have always respected him, but gained a whole new respect because I saw how passionate he was about making sure the movie was done well and is authentic. He genuinely wanted to know what people’s thoughts were."
 
What were your thoughts on Ron Howard’s newly released movie "Rush" and its addition to a long lineage of racing movies?

"Before I even saw anything Ron had done, I thought the best racing movie is going to be the one that has the least amount of racing in it. I think it’s because it’s very hard to capture the speed and excitement and the thrill of it, and that’s what I love about the movie "Rush." He did do a good job of capturing the racing but also it has such a great storyline to go along with it. It complements the racing, and the racing complements the story.”
 
You got rave reviews hosting Saturday Night Live in 2003, are a popular and recurring co-host on "LIVE with Kelly and Michael" and have made several popular commercials. Is acting a possible second career for you?

"I’d never consider myself having much talent in that area (acting), but I also know I’m a risk taker, I’m comfortable being in front of a camera. I don’t have any skills necessarily that allow me to pull off any role, but with the right thing, I have a good time and let go of who I am and can make fun of myself and enjoy it. "Saturday Night Live" was certainly a stretch, but I had a lot of fun doing it and I said, if I’m going to do it, I’m going to do it right and make the best of it. And it turned out great. Or if I’m hosting with Kelly (Ripa), I’m not always the most comfortable going into it, but somehow, it seems to come together in that moment."
 
Throughout your career you have represented a new generation of NASCAR fans crossing over in platforms and eras.

"I do feel like we made conscious efforts over the years to find those opportunities to do more crossover. I think NASCAR is a great sport, it’s great racing, but I feel like it’s capable of so much more and by doing more crossover, it could help expand the audience and help the sport grow and me personally from a branding standpoint.

"You take advantage of opportunities."
 
In "The Crossing," Ron Howard talks about his move from childhood star to a role behind the camera. Does that hit home with you?

"It was something that genuinely interested me, that transition because he was a successful actor, but obviously he’s been probably an even more successful director. You would think it would be tough to go from being in front of the camera to being behind the camera, but at the same time, the knowledge you gain from being in front of the camera and working with these crews could benefit you greatly.

"That’s why I feel like I always want to be in racing. [My future] needs to be competitive, and it needs to be racing-related because that’s what I know best. That’s what’s driven me and given me these opportunities. I just won’t necessarily be behind the wheel.
 
What stands out most to you from this experience?

"My big takeaway from it is the one common thing I find about people that are successful. They are passionate about what they do, they work very hard at it and they always want to be better. That’s what I found in Ron. He’s such a great guy and cares so much about making sure the product he’s providing will be pleasing to the audience. Not because he’s getting a big check. He genuinely cares about it. He found an arena he didn’t know a lot about and learned all he could and excelled. That’s what I took away. Here’s someone that had every right to not be humble, had every right to not be down to earth, and he took me under his wing and couldn’t have been nicer or more down to earth.
 
Some might argue the dramatic ending to your regular season and your subsequent Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup berth would make a good Hollywood ending?

(Smiling) "I’ll call Ron one day and say, ‘Hey I’ve got something for you.”’

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Posted on by Holly Cain

Dale Jr. finishes second at Dover, remains winless on the season

MORE: FULL CHASE COVERAGE | RESULTS | STANDINGS

DOVER, Del. — Sounding every bit the fierce, motivated competitor he looked on track Sunday afternoon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was equal parts glad to turn his pole position into a runner-up finish and frustrated to have been so good yet left to watch his teammate Jimmie Johnson celebrate in Victory Lane at Dover International Speedway.

 "Two weeks in a row we’ve had two fantastic race cars," Earnhardt said. "(I’m) proud of all the guys for bringing such good cars to the race track. It certainly makes my job easier, gives us opportunities to win like this.

"Trying to look on the bright side, I’m a little disappointed we didn’t pull off the win. Felt like we had the perfect strategy. Had maybe the best car, arguably the best car, today. With those four tires I thought we could get it done.

"We left everybody in the mirror. We were clicking off some laps, but just not fast enough to get to Jimmie."

Earnhardt’s No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet was the first car on four fresh tires and came out fourth following the final round of pit stops with 26 laps remaining. He quickly passed two cars on the restart and began reeling in Johnson, whose Chevy had only two fresh tires.

Earnhardt got within a half-second of the No. 48’s bumper but ran out of laps, ultimately finishing .446 seconds shy of hoisting his first trophy of the year — but encouraged by his fourth top-10 in the last six races.

"The No. 88 was so strong early, when he got four tires, I thought he might be trouble for Jimmie," team owner Rick Hendrick said on pit road after the race.

Earnhardt, who led six times for 80 of the race’s 400 laps, was as fast as his pole-winning effort would indicate. But a pair of pit-road mishaps cost him early forcing him to play catch-up to his Hendrick Motorsports teammate.

While leading on Lap 117, Earnhardt prepared to drive down pit road but was unable to steer his Chevy within the mandatory pit road commitment marks, which forced him to turn another lap around the "Monster Mile." He went from holding a nearly four-second lead over Johnson at that point to returning to the track eighth.

Later in the race, Earnhardt got caught behind a much slower Mark Martin at the pit entrance, forcing him to patiently ride behind Martin for part of the long drive to his stall located all the way at the pit exit.

"If you look at the race as a whole, they did cost us a little bit, at least the mistake I made missing pit road completely," Earnhardt said. "We had the lead, gave up the lead and Jimmie (Johnson) had the lead and was able to take advantage of that clean air when it counted.

"If I had not given up that track position, had a smart enough race to keep the lead when it counted right at the end, we might have won the race. It would have been hard to get by us, just like it was to be by Jimmie.

"I think missing the commitment cone was a big factor in us not finishing one spot ahead of where we are. But the other pit stop wasn’t that big a deal."

Because both of those incidents happened relatively early in the race, Earnhardt rebounded over and over again.

"The pressure was on," Johnson said of the final laps. "I ran my guts out to stay ahead of him. Everything I could turn twist and pull on the car. … I drove the (expletive) out of that thing."

For Earnhardt, just knowing he had a car good enough to win was both the good news and the bad news for him.

"I feel like in the last couple of weeks, we’ve been able to really show what our team’s capable of," Earnhardt said. "We’ve been really quick on the sheet every day, fast in practice. The changes we’re making, everything seems to be working right, going in the direction you want. I feel like when we get it right we can compete and we can win.

"We came really close today. I don’t feel like today was a highlight for us. I think this is how it’s supposed to be every week."

The runner-up at Dover along with the sixth-place finish last week at New Hampshire moved Earnhardt up one position in the Sprint Cup Series standings to 10th.

He’s now 57 points behind championship leader Matt Kenseth, but only 18 points behind fifth-place Jeff Gordon with seven races remaining in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

"I’ll be honest with you, it sucks to lose regardless of who wins," Earnhardt said smiling and shaking his head. "It’s probably harder to run second than it is fifth or 10th. When you have a car like we had today, you don’t get good cars every week so you like to capitalize."

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Posted on by Staff Report

Moments that changed the course of the third race in the 2013 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup

UPS


JIMMIE JOHNSON’S TWO TIRES BEAT FOUR FOR WIN 

On two fresh tires to Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s four, Jimmie Johnson held off his Hendrick Motorsports teammate during a 26-lap green-flag run to the finish of the AAA 400 and made a significant dent in the series lead of Matt Kenseth, who finished seventh.

Johnson picked up his fifth victory of the season, his record eighth at the Monster Mile — breaking a tie with Richard Petty and Bobby Allison — and the 65th of his career. The driver of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet vaulted over fifth-place finisher Kyle Busch into second in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings, eight points behind Kenseth.

“Two (tires) worked good for us in practice,” Johnson said. “And believe me, I wanted to see four tires line up in the fourth or fifth row. When they lined up right behind me, I thought I was going to have my hands full. And I really did. Junior drove a whale of a race, and track position really gave me the advantage I needed to hold him off.”

Johnson also took a moment to enjoy the magnitude of his record-breaking win.

“It’s incredible,” he said. “To do anything Bobby or Richard has done is quite an accomplishment. We’ve had a few sneak away from us here, too, over the years. I’m just happy to get that done and be the sole leader of race wins here. It’s a very special day.”

DALE EARNHARDT JR. MISSES PIT ROAD WHILE LEADING

Earnhardt, whose winless streak reached 48 races, relinquished the race lead during a green-flag pit stop on Lap 119 after missing the entrance to pit road on the previous lap. The snafu cost Earnhardt seven positions and 13 seconds on the track, and though a caution on Lap 164 bunched the field and enabled him to make up lost ground, Earnhardt couldn’t mount a challenge to Johnson’s dominance after that.

On a later stop, Earnhardt lost time getting to his pit stall when he had to slow behind Mark Martin’s Chevrolet. Earnhardt conceded that the issues on pit road, particularly the first one, may have changed the outcome of the race.

“Yeah, if you really look at the race as a whole, they did cost us a little bit, at least the mistake I made missing pit road completely. We had the lead, gave up the lead. Jimmie had the lead and was able to take advantage of that clean air when it counted.

“If I had not given up that track position, had a smart enough race to keep the lead when it counted right at the end, we might have won the race. It would have been hard to get by us, just like it was (hard) to get by Jimmie.

BAD LUCK, BAD PART COST BUSCH, EDWARDS IN CHASE

Chase drivers Kurt Busch and Carl Edwards were casualties of bad luck and a broken part, respectively. Busch was caught two laps down after an early green-flag pit stop that preceded the second caution on Lap 164. He finished 21st and dropped to ninth in the standings, 55 points behind Kenseth.

Edwards, who entered the race fourth in points, took his car to the garage on Lap 377 with broken hub, finished 35th and plummeted seven spots to 11th in points, 65 out of the lead.

The NASCAR Wire Service contributed to this report.

Posted on by Staff Report

Stay on point with NASCAR.com lap-by-lap updates from Dover

FOLLOW: Lap-by-lap Dover updates

 

 

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Posted on by Staff Report

Watch episodes of ‘The Crossing’ as a four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champ meets a two-time Academy Award winner

Click here to watch episodes of ‘The Crossing’ with Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup contender Jeff Gordon and ‘Rush’ director Ron Howard.

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Earns his second victory of the season, first career win at Las Vegas

Related: Results | Standings

LAS VEGAS — Timothy Peters took advantage of a rare mistake by Ron Hornaday Jr. on the final restart at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to win the Smith’s 350 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race.

Peters started 12th and when the final caution came out late in the race, he was running second to Hornaday — known for his prowess on restarts. When the green flag flew with two laps to go, Hornaday spun his tires and Peters powered to the lead. As Hornaday faded back, Peters held off Johnny Sauter to record his seventh career victory, his second of the season and his first in Las Vegas.

"Track position was so important," said Peters. "You had to get all you could on the restarts because once you spread out that dirty air, it was bad to pass. I mean, they were crazy. I was really thankful for that last caution. I was getting good restarts all night long. Just everything went our way tonight. This is huge."

In a city where numbers mean everything, Peters, who drives the No. 17 Toyota, won the 17th race of the season in the series’ 17th race at the 1.5-mile speedway.

Sauter finished second, followed by Miguel Paludo, pole winner Ty Dillon and Darrell Wallace Jr., the highest finishing rookie in the race.

"It was a crazy race," said Sauter, who posted his seventh top-five finish of the season. "That last restart it looked like Ron spun the tires a little bit and he lost momentum. Then he fanned out and I thought, ‘Hey there’s a hole there and I’m taking it.’"

Matt Crafton held onto the series points lead with an 11th place finish.

He led two times for 30 laps and was leading with less than 30 laps to go when the handling went away on his No. 88 Toyota and he started to fall back through the running order. It marked the first time in 2013 that Crafton has finished outside the top 10.

"All of the sudden it just went dead loose," Crafton explained. "Within one lap it was a little bit loose and then it went to un-drivable and we lost one second on that run."

Crafton’s lead holds steady at 41 points over defending series champion James Buescher with five races to go in the season.

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will take the next two weekends off before returning to action at Talladega Superspeedway on Oct. 19.

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Team adds members from RCR Nationwide squads to improve weak point

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DOVER, Del. — Furniture Row Racing has made substantial changes to its over-the-wall pit crew in the hopes of bolstering Kurt Busch‘s chances of contending in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

The No. 78 team confirmed Saturday that its over-the-wall crew will feature four new members for Sunday’s event at Dover International Speedway, all of them coming from the NASCAR Nationwide Series program at Richard Childress Racing. Furniture Row and RCR share information through a technical alliance that also includes the use of Childress-built engines and chassis by the Denver-based team.

Busch is seventh in the Chase standings, 40 points behind leader Matt Kenseth. Although he carried single-car Furniture Row into the playoff for the first time, Busch has been hampered repeatedly this season by issues on pit road — including last weekend at New Hampshire, when a broken jack led to a long pit stop and an eventual 13th-place finish.

"As we have moved forward this year, the performance of the car has grown at a rate that has left our pit crew somewhat behind," said Furniture Row’s general manager, Joe Garone. "Being in the Chase and competing against the cars we’re competing against has prompted this change. The pit crew is made up of a solid group of athletes; however, we haven’t been able to find the consistency that we need to be able to move forward on pit road. We want to give every effort we can to winning races, and have been loyal to giving enough time for the guys to solidify. However, the clock is ticking forward and we felt we needed to make a change and regroup. We have reached out to our partners at RCR, and they are letting us use the crew off the (No.) 2 Nationwide car as we continue to recruit and develop our own crew."

Sunday, four of the team’s six over-the-wall crewmen will be new — front tire carrier Thad Wymer, rear tire changer Jake Lind and jack man Brian Gainey will come over from the No. 2 Nationwide team of RCR driver Brian Scott, while rear tire carrier Josh Sobecki will be used from the No. 3 Nationwide team of driver Austin Dillon.

Prior to the Chase opener two weeks ago at Chicagoland, Furniture Row began using front tire changer Matt Humphries from Scott’s team at RCR. Gas man Milan Rudanovic, who joined the No. 78 squad in the spring, remains in his position.

Furniture Row started its own pit crew this season after using one from Stewart-Haas Racing in past years. Although the team has made huge strides with Busch behind the wheel, it has been denied a trip to Victory Lane this season partly due to issues in and around pit road, like a slow final stop in the Sprint All-Star Race and a broken wheel hub last month at Bristol.

One thing Busch has enjoyed all season is speed. He was 11th in final practice Saturday at Dover, and will start the race from the ninth position. The 2004 champion of NASCAR’s premier circuit is moving to a new fourth car at SHR next season. Without setbacks on pit road, the team has the chance to finish strong in Sunday’s race.

Scott believes his regular crew is ready to step up and make that happen for the No. 78.

"They’ve earned the shot to go up there and pit those guys on Sunday," he said after finishing 11th in Saturday’s Nationwide event. "And I’m thankful for the opportunity that they’re going to have in the Sprint Cup Series. I think it will make them better in the Nationwide Series, and I think it will help Kurt’s chances … in his bid for the championship. So I think it’s a win-win. Definitely a very deserving group of guys. They’ve been pitting together forever, and they’ve got a lot of experience, and I hope to see them kick butt up there."

 

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Front pair in Nationwide standings now separated by just four points

Related: Nationwide Series point standings

DOVER, Del. — He might not have been aware of the details, but the message repeated over the radio told Austin Dillon all he needed to know: Big picture, big picture, big picture.

With good reason. NASCAR Nationwide Series points leader Sam Hornish Jr. had fallen two laps down after incurring a pit-road speeding penalty, opening the door for Dillon to cut deeply into the Penske Racing driver’s point advantage. Dillon did just that, finishing sixth Saturday at Dover International Speedway to pull just four points behind Hornish in the standings with five races remaining on the schedule.

"Today was a day we could capitalize on," said Dillon, who entered Saturday 15 points behind. "Now we’ve just got to beat him for five races. Beat him straight up for five races, and we’ll have the championship."

It’s the closest the Nationwide standings have been since early August, when Dillon led Hornish by three points following the event at Watkins Glen. While Sprint Cup Series regular Joey Logano was running away to victory — in a vehicle inspectors would later deem too low in the front — the greater drama was unfolding on pit road, where on lap 117 Hornish was flagged for speeding into pit road and forced to make a pass-through penalty.

The infraction dropped Hornish from 15th place to two laps down in 21st in what had already been a problematic event for the former Indianapolis 500 champion to that point. He had battled a loose race car that only got worse after an earlier two-tire pit stop, and then was finally hit with the penalty. It all added up to a 17th-place result that was his worst since he finished 34th with an overheating problem at Indianapolis.

"At the end of the day, the drive-through only cost us about four spots. The two tires is what hurt us," Hornish said. "We just need to be able to sit down, look at it and figure out how we need to be better. I feel bad for the guys, obviously, because we didn’t get out of it today what we could have. … We’ll move on to next weekend and figure out how to be better and not let it happen to us again.”

It all cracked a window of opportunity for Dillon, who lost a lap on lap 156 due to pit strategy, gained it back, and could ultimately only make up so much ground in an event that ended with the longest green-flag run — 159 laps — of any Nationwide race ever contested on the Monster Mile.

"Just a weird race, man, (with) 160-some laps green," Dillon said. "We had to make sure we could make it on fuel at the end, and we had some pretty good lap times. Car was a little loose. Fought a little loose condition all day. But up front, if we could have gotten our track position back, we were the fastest car taking off. So I’m happy with where we finished. Good points day. It could have been worse."

It certainly was for Regan Smith. The JR Motorsports driver, who led the points for 10 weeks earlier this season and once held what seemed a commanding 58-point edge, also appeared to be in position to take advantage of Hornish’s problem and cut a chunk out of a 45-point hole. But Smith gave up third to pit with 17 laps remaining and fell to a 15th-place finish, and dropped one position to fourth behind Elliott Sadler in the standings.

It only served to reinforce what’s now clearly a two-man race, with Hornish and Dillon separated by just four points and new third-place driver Sadler 42 off the lead in third. Smith is fifth, 43 back.

"I know that we’ve got five races to go and we go to some tracks that I really like — Texas, Phoenix, Miami, Charlotte. There’s not a place that I don’t like that we’re going to, so I’m really excited about what we’ve got," Hornish said.

"I also know that it’s real easy to have a day like this where you make one bad call on pit road and then there’s not another caution the entire rest of the race …. There was no time to make up anything. That’s the tough part about running the Nationwide races is that you sometimes have to take chances that you wouldn’t like to, because you’re trying to stay ahead knowing you’ve only got 200 laps … We all know what the issues were, and we’ll talk about it because whining about it now isn’t going help us get our points back. Keeping our heads down and going out there and having a good race next weekend at Kansas is what’s going continue to build the points lead back up."

Dillon was runner-up to Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in last year’s Nationwide event at Kansas, a finish that certainly fits with his goals going forward.

"Same mentality I’ve had the last three weeks — top-five, top-five, top-five," Dillon said, "and I think it will win."

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Preview; see Kenseth’s wrap
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No. 11 driver finding comfort in impact on team’s success

DOVER, Del. — Denny Hamlin emerged from his No. 11 hauler after an extensive debrief with his race team, the top half of his black and orange firesuit unzipped and dangling around his waist. Given his role these days at Joe Gibbs Racing, a white lab coat might have been more fitting.

With teammates Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch first and second, respectively, in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Hamlin has become the mad scientist tinkering with experiments that might benefit his stable mates gunning for a title. That’s been evident in the first two weeks of the playoff — at Chicagoland where Hamlin lost an engine trying a different package under the hood, and at New Hampshire where he finished 12th trying a setup different from what the other JGR drivers used.

All of this while Hamlin and crew chief Darian Grubb are trying to find some improvement of their own, near the finish of a season that was interrupted by a back injury that forced the driver to miss most of five races, and is concluding with him missing the Chase for the first time in his career.

"It’s a tough balance, I’d say. We’re trying to get better, and we’re chipping away at getting better. … It’s difficult, because you know every best, bad-ass car that comes down the line is going to go to those guys from this point on. Motors, and all that stuff," Hamlin said at Dover International Speedway.

"But we still should be able to be more competitive that what we’ve been, which has been disappointing. I’ve got eight races to get better, and there’s a lot of testing we’re about to do that’s going to make us better. I see things heading in the right direction, at least. We’re at least not on the downfall. We’re at least climbing our way back to being more competitive than we have been. So at least I can take some solace in that."

As he can in helping his teammates maintain their position in the Chase, where Kenseth and Busch have finished first and second — in that order — in each of the playoff’s first two races. Hamlin’s team is in full-blown experimentation mode, trying engine and setup packages that might aid Kenseth or Busch later in the playoff, while at the same time trying to take points away from other championship hopefuls by finishing in front of them.

Meanwhile, he’s also trying to lay the groundwork for a better 2014, and keep alive his streak of winning at least one race in every year of his Cup career as a full-time driver. Toward that end, his 12th-place finish last week at New Hampshire was his best in more than three months. He may be the odd man out at JGR when it comes to the championship, but Kenseth stressed he’s still a part of the process.

"Certainly he’s not the odd man out at all when it comes to meetings, trying to perform, trying to finish," said Kenseth, who leads Busch by 14 points. "He’s still got a lot at stake this year. I know he wants to run the best he can every week. I know he wants to get back to Victory Lane this year and get everything kind of rolling along. Get some momentum back, get that feel back in the team like everything is clicking and going good again before the year is over … carry that momentum over the offseason and build on that and get ready for ’14. It’s not like it’s a wasted year."

It certainly helps when he can have a direct impact, which may have been the case a week ago in New Hampshire. Information gleaned from the No. 11 team in a test session and the first race this season in the Granite State helped Kenseth turn the tide on a track where he had never won before last Sunday. And Busch said the setups he and Kenseth used at Loudon were both variations of a setup pioneered by Hamlin, a two-time winner at the track.

"Denny has always been fast at Loudon, so spring of last year we bolted in Denny Hamlin’s setup," Busch said. "We just said, ‘Here it is, go figure it out. It works, so I’ve got to figure out what I’ve got to do to be good at Loudon and drive it.’

"Since then, we’ve only made little, little tweaks to it, and haven’t ventured too far from it to develop the Kyle Busch Loudon setup. So the last two times we’ve been at Loudon, the spring we led a of of laps and finished second, and this time … we got to second at the end of the race and had a fast car. Matt did essentially the same thing. They just bolted in our setup, which is a Denny setup, and just learned how to drive it. (Kenseth) spent the spring (race) learning it, and obviously he conquered it in the fall."

Contributions like that certainly help Hamlin weather his first Chase-less season a little bit better. So does progress on his problematic back, which has given him trouble since before he fractured a vertebra in a final-lap crash at Fontana on March 24. Treatment a few weeks ago helped, and has Hamlin hoping he won’t need surgery at the end of the season as he once feared. "Two or three weeks of not racing will probably go a long way," he said.

Then there was Thursday night, when Hamlin was honored in Washington with the March of Dimes’ most prestigious award for his work in raising awareness on behalf of a charity that helps babies born premature. Hamlin’s No. 11 car occasionally sports a March of Dimes paint scheme, and earlier this week he visited Capitol Hill to lobby for a bill that would expand and improve screening programs for newborns.

"I got to meet a lot of great people, and we’ve made some headway, I think, in the Senate and House tying to get that bill passed," said Hamlin, who has a daughter of his own. "It was a great experience. It was an honor for me to be recognized by them for being an advocate. I’m just lucky enough to be receiving the award when, really, I was chosen to be the advocate for them. I was humbled, to say the least."

This entire NASCAR season has been humbling for a driver who entered the year with championship aspirations and is finishing it in a supportive role.  Having an impact on his teammates’ success helps, but the better he runs, the more assistance he can give to Kenseth and Busch as they continue their parallel quests for a title.

"It’s satisfying, but in the same instance you’ve got to evolve, and I feel like we haven’t evolved that well," Hamlin said. "We have seemed to struggle since the new types of setups have come into our sport. But my job for these last eight races is to be a help to them in any kind of way that I can. Ultimately my goal is to finish better so I can be between them and other Chase guys. We beat probably five or six last week, which is good, but we’d like to beat 10 of them."

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