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Vital stats for the AAA 400

Track:  Dover International Speedway, Dover, Del., 1 mile, concrete surface, 24-degree banking in all turns, 9-degree banking on the frontstretch and backstretch.

Time/TV: AAA 400, 2 p.m. ET, Sunday, Sept. 29. TV: ESPN (coverage starts at 1 p.m. ET). Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

Trailblazers:  Richard Petty won the first Sprint Cup race held at Dover on July 6, 1969.

0.08 seconds is the closest margin of victory (since the advent of electronic scoring) in a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Dover International Speedway. This occurred when Jimmie Johnson defeated Kyle Busch on September 25, 2008.
1 driver has posted his first career win at Dover: Martin Truex Jr. This occurred on June 4, 2007.

2 female drivers have competed at Dover: Janet Guthrie and Danica Patrick.

3 drivers have posted three consecutive Cup victories at Dover International Speedway: David Pearson, Rusty Wallace and Jeff Gordon.

3 of Jimmie Johnson‘s victories at Dover have come in Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup races.

4 drivers made their first career Cup start at Dover: Bobby Labonte, Matt Kenseth, Kurt Busch and David Ragan.

5 is the number of Coors Light Poles Mark Martin has won at Dover, the most among active drivers. David Pearson holds the all-time record with six poles.

7 is the most victories any one driver has had at Dover. Richard Petty, Bobby Allison and Jimmie Johnson have all won at the track seven times.

8 is the number of times Mark Martin has finished as a runner-up at Dover. He also has the most top-five finishes (24) and the most top-10 finishes (33) at Dover.

8.611 is the average finishing position at Dover for Carl Edwards. Jimmie Johnson (9.000) is the only other active driver with an average finishing position in the top 10.

9 of the 13 Chase Contenders have won at Dover. The only four drivers in the Chase without wins at the track are: Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, Joey Logano and Kasey Kahne.

9.304 is the average starting position for Ryan Newman at Dover, which is the best among all active drivers.

13 times the winner of a Cup race at Dover has won from the Coors Light pole. Jimmie Johnson was the most recent driver to do this in 2009 and 2010.

15 times the winner of a Cup race at Dover has started second. This is the most proficient starting position in the field.

21.5 is the average finishing position for Kasey Kahne at Dover, which is the lowest among all 13 drivers in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

23 is the age of the youngest pole winner at Dover. Jeff Gordon was 23 years and 10 months old when he won the Coors Light Pole on June 4, 1995.

23 is also the age of the youngest winner at Dover. Kyle Busch was 23 years and 30 days old when he won at Dover on June 1, 2008.

25 is the worst finish by eventual Chase champion at Dover. Tony Stewart finished 25th at Dover before he went on to win the Sprint Cup Series championship that year.

37 is the deepest in the field that a race winner has started at Dover. Kyle Petty did this and won in the spring of 1995.

52 is the age of the oldest winner at Dover. Harry Gant was 52 years, four months and 21 days old when he won at Dover on May 31, 1992.

53 is the age of the oldest pole winner at Dover. Mark Martin was 53 years, four months and 23 days old when he won the Coors Light pole on June 1, 2012.

56 starts are the most series starts one driver has made at Dover. That is currently held by Ricky Rudd. Mark Martin leads all active drivers with 54 starts.

68 Cup races at Dover have been won from a top-10 starting position.

87 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races have been held at Dover International Speedway. The track has hosted two races a season since 1971.

130.430 mph was the speed at which David Pearson won the inaugural Coors Light Pole at Dover in 1969. Pearson leads all drivers with six poles at Dover.

373 drivers have competed in at least one Cup race at Dover International Speedway.

2,461is the number of laps Jimmie Johnson has led at Dover, the most among active drivers.

 

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Edwards and Biffle hope to come out of Dover with positive movement in the standings

Team co-owner Jack Roush said he remains "guardedly optimistic" about his drivers’ chances as the third week of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup prepares to unfold.

Roush Fenway Racing drivers Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle head to Dover, site of this weekend’s AAA 400, fourth and fifth, respectively, in the standings.

Edwards, twice a winner this season (at Phoenix and Richmond), trails leader Matt Kenseth by 36 points while Biffle, a winner at Michigan in June, is 38 out of the lead.

Kenseth, the former RFR driver, has won both Chase races and a career-best seven for the season. Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch has been runner-up to Kenseth the past two weekends while five-time champion Jimmie Johnson sits third.

Can Dover serve as a launching point for Roush Fenway as it attempts to put itself back in the thick of the Chase battle? Both Edwards and Biffle have won previously on the high-banked concrete track, and it has historically been one of the better tracks for the pair.

It is, the veteran owner noted, "a good track for us."

"We weren’t as good and were a little disappointed in our performance in the spring there, because it wasn’t up to our standard," Roush said of top-15 finishes by Edwards, Biffle and teammate Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

"But the improvements we’ve made and the things we now understand about the new car that we didn’t understand when we were there before, I think, will come to bear.

"The guys have got great expectations.  … We think that we’re preparing to win and have good top-five finishes with all three of our cars.  We’ll see how practice unfolds, but I’m very optimistic about Dover and feel that we can get ourselves on track and close some of the gap on the 18, the 20 and the 48.” 

It’s been a long season, and Roush admitted his group’s focus in the development of the new car and the changes it required might have been initially misplaced. But, he said, "we’ve covered enough of the car now to feel like we’re not really lacking in any area.

"We’ve had a significant improvement in the downforce based on some things we did, and we’ve got enough time with those modifications to adequately understand what the aero-balance is and to be able to use it to our best advantage."

Beyond Dover lie the mile-and-a-half tracks of Kansas, Charlotte, Texas and Homestead, with Talladega, Martinsville and Phoenix scattered in between.

While Kenseth and Busch have been dominant on the 1.5-mile tracks this year, winning six of seven, Roush said he expects the strength of his own organization to … "manifest itself on the mile-and-a-half race tracks."

As for elsewhere …

"You always hope for the best when you go to Martinsville and you hope for the best when you go to Talladega, knowing those are places that there could be a crash on any lap," he said. "Carl won at Phoenix earlier and we’re certainly going to build on that with the improvements we’ve made in the car since then, so I’m guardedly optimistic."

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Monstrous moments

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Burton, Blaney and Crafton prove themselves in the Nationwide Series

It was three hours before the opening practice of the NASCAR Nationwide Series weekend at Kentucky Speedway, and Jeb Burton was in the garage in his jeans and cowboy boots, peering into the hood of the No. 34 Arrowhead Chevrolet as crew members chatted around him.

The 21-year-old circled the vehicle a few times with studious eyes, helped remove the jack from the left side and pushed the car with his team to the Sunoco fueling truck. Once full, Burton helped give it another shove as the group looped back around the garage to take his car to the inspection station.

Last weekend was Burton’s first time in a Nationwide Series ride, and the Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series wanted as much hands-on time with the car as possible.

His curiosity and astute acumen paid off — Burton finished his first Nationwide race in eighth place. And he wasn’t the only Truck Series driver moonlighting at the Nationwide Series’ final stand-alone event of the year who had success.

In fact, Ryan Blaney won last Saturday’s Kentucky 300 in his No. 22 Penske Racing Ford, and Truck Series points leader Matt Crafton finished third in the No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.

Those drivers are all confident that the momentum from their Kentucky conquests is transferrable as the Truck Series returns to the track this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

"This race was a lot of fun," Burton said. "The style and feel is completely different from trucks. I think if we had gotten more time in the car during practice, we could’ve run in the top five. But hey, for getting only 20 laps in the car before racing it, I think a top-10 finish is a win for us. … We learned a lot, had fun and now we’re even more ready for Vegas." 

The Smith’s 350 on Saturday in the Sin City is the 17th Truck Series race of the season, and drivers are running out of time to catch points leader Crafton. In the No. 88 Chevrolet, Crafton has notched 16 top-10s in 16 races. He leads second-place James Buescher, the defending series champion, by 41 points.

The 37-year-old driver’s success this year hasn’t been limited to his full-time Truck Series schedule, either. In three Nationwide Series starts, he’s finished with two top-fives and three top-10s. His third-place effort at Kentucky Speedway this week complemented his third-place finish at the 1.5-mile tri-oval earlier this year.

"It’s just a confidence-booster, without a doubt," Crafton said. "Each and every week, you get in something and run in the top five and be in contention to win races, it’s always a boost for the driver. We’ve had some very fast trucks this year, and hopefully we can go win a couple of these next six races and close this deal out."

Vegas has produced some fantastic finishes for Crafton. In his past five races there, he has five top-fives, including three runner-up showings.

Then again, those three second-place showings can hurt worse than seeing a blackjack dealer draw a 5 while showing 16. The most painful of the bunch came last year when Crafton, who led 15 laps and was out front when the white flag dropped, couldn’t hold off Nelson Piquet Jr. Piquet had stalked Crafton throughout the final laps, finally pulling off the pass on a slide job coming out of Turn 2.

"It sucks. It just plain and simple sucks," Crafton said minutes after last year’s race concluded. "My God, that’s a tough one to lose on the last lap. That’s a very, very hard one to swallow."

Crafton has 12 starts at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, so he likely would have felt comfortable heading into the track regardless of his Kentucky finish. Blaney and Burton, meanwhile, are two of five drivers making their Vegas debuts — Darrell Wallace Jr., Dakoda Armstrong and German Quiroga are the others.

Blaney has vaulted up to fifth in the standings, one spot behind Burton, with two top-fives and three top-10s in his past four Truck Series races. The victory at Kentucky was his first career Nationwide Series win in 15 starts and had the driver acknowledging he’d love to drive one of the Roger Penske Fords in the series full-time in 2014.

First, though, there’s the matter of trying to win two consecutive races in two different series.

"Confidence of a driver is such a big thing, especially when you go win a Nationwide race and go back to trucks, you feel like you’re on top of the world," Blaney said. "So I think it’s going to help out a lot, give more confidence to everyone. Especially to me.

"We’ve had a lot of good runs the past few months, and it’s unfortunate we got ourselves so far behind in the first half of the season, but that’s what racing is all about. … Right now our focus is to try to go out there and win these last, final races, and I think that, if the points work out to our favor, maybe we’ll be right there."

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Harvick focused on winning a championship in 2013 for RCR

MORE: Full coverage of the Chase for the Sprint Cup

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Kevin Harvick hasn’t set foot inside the Stewart-Haas Racing shop since 2009, the year Tony Stewart became a partner in the organization. He didn’t meet co-owner Gene Haas face-to-face until earlier this season. He wasn’t involved in any of the negotiations that led two his current car sponsors to move to the vehicle he’ll begin driving in 2014.

Harvick has drawn a clear separation between Richard Childress Racing, the team he’ll finish a long tenure with this season, and the SHR organization he’ll begin competing for next year. And his model for handling what could have been an awkward transition year also happens to be the driver he’s chasing for this season’s Sprint Cup Series championship — Matt Kenseth.

The way Kenseth handled the end of his 13-year stint as a Cup driver with Roush Fenway Racing — with class, and on good terms with his old shop — proved an example for Harvick, whose 13-year run with RCR ends after this season. Both circumstances came to a head late last year, with Kenseth’s impending move from Roush to Joe Gibbs Racing becoming public about the same time Harvick privately told Childress of his plans to relocate to SHR for the 2014 campaign.

"Matt was a lot of the inspiration that I had for how I wanted to handle this year, and how I wanted it to end with Richard," Harvick said Tuesday during a visit to the NASCAR Hall of Fame. "Seeing the circumstances that he was in last year, they were very similar to the situation that I’m in right now. My goal all along has been to be able to shake hands with Richard after Homestead and be friends and move on. I think a lot of the emotion of when we announced last year, and there was a lot of emotion involved, and I think that was part of the reason for me wanting to get it announced and get it out of the way."

Despite his impending move, Kenseth went on to win two races last season in the Chase for the Sprint Cup and finished seventh in the final point standings. He didn’t even set foot in the JGR shop for the first time until the Monday after the season finale at Homestead. Again Harvick has followed suit, qualifying for the Chase as a fourth seed and standing sixth after a subpar result last weekend at New Hampshire. His focus is on his current ride and not his future one, as evidenced by the fact that he hasn’t visited the SHR facility in the four years since Stewart became co-owner. He knows of the construction ongoing to accommodate Kurt Busch‘s fourth team only through what he’s seen on social media.

"I know some of the guys who work for me have been in and out a few times. Everyone is trying to be as respectful as possible of each other’s circumstances. So it’s been a balance, but everything’s fine," Harvick said.

"They told me to not worry about it and go race my car, and do what I was supposed to do with my commitments with RCR and the sponsors and the people, and try to get the best result we could. Because that was in the best interests of everybody involved from both sides … to post results on the race track."

That separation also applies to the sponsors on the race car. Two of Harvick’s backers on his current No. 29 — Budweiser and Jimmy John’s — are following him to SHR, with the latter announcing Tuesday it would serve as a primary for 12 races next season. It happened despite Harvick being unable to take part in the negotiations due to contractual limitations, a different experience for a driver who’s used to being involved in the process of bringing new partners on board.

"From my side, we’ve always been very involved in going out and seeking the sponsors. And in this particular instance when I signed my contract with Stewart-Haas, it was responsibility taken out of my hands so I could concentrate on driving the cars," Harvick said. "It was a risk they were willing to take. … Moving forward it looks like the car is going to be funded for several years coming, so those guys have done a good job. And to be honest with you, I don’t know very many of the people at SHR to even call them and tell them good job and thanks."

Kevin Harvick answers a question at the NASCAR Hall of Fame on Tuesday, September 24, 2013.

Harvick had assurances that whether his new No. 4 car had "two dollars or $2 million" in funding, it would be on the race track next season. "We kind of were in a unique circumstance, and I told (Stewart) my concerns, and they took all the risk," he added. Rather than force him to keep one eye on next season, it’s allowed him to concentrate fully on his final run with Childress, and try to deliver the team its first premier-series championship since Dale Earnhardt’s last one in 1994.

Toward that end, he has some work to do. A scheduled test at New Hampshire was rained out, and Harvick’s 20th-place finish Sunday at Loudon dropped him 39 points behind Kenseth, who’s established himself as the clear frontrunner by winning the first two Chase events. Harvick now heads to Dover International Speedway — another great track for Kenseth, and one where Harvick has never won — needing to return to the form that saw him finish third in the playoff opener at Chicagoland.

"I’d say that’s it as far as a mulligan," Harvick said. "We need to go out and perform like we did the first week."

Harvick said he’s talked some with Kenseth about the transition they now have in common, but he mostly observed how the former Roush driver handled the final year of his long stretch with his former organization. And he can’t help but notice how Kenseth has thrived in his new environment, to the tune of a personal record seven race victories and a career-best season to date. That’s another Kenseth model Harvick would surely like to follow — when the time come.

"It definitely gives you a lot of hope," Harvick said, "for sure."

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Biffle finishes third; pole winner Newman drops to a 16th-place finish

With the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway being the second Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race this season, drivers had to kick it into gear to start seeing positive movement in points.

Greg Biffle led the Coca-Cola Racing Family with a third-place finish at New Hampshire, bumping him up six spots in the Chase standings to fifth.

Denny Hamlin almost saw the top 10 this week with a 12th-place finish after qualifying 14th.

Meanwhile, Joey Logano improved from Chicagoland, but still not enough for a top-10 finish. Starting in the sixth position, Logano couldn’t keep up and eventually finished 14th.

A roundup on the Coca-Cola Racing Family in order of how they finished at Richmond:

Greg Biffle (No. 16)

Roush Fenway Racing, Ford 

Recap: After struggling at Chicagoland and finishing 16th, Biffle knew he had to make an impact at New Hampshire to see positive movement in the Chase standings. Biffle made the most dramatic jump in the standings this week by finishing third at New Hampshire. Starting 10th in the field, Biffle eventually grabbed third from Kyle Busch at Lap 259 and managed to hold off a hounding Jimmie Johnson for the rest of the race. Biffle stood 11th in the Chase standings prior to the race, but after his third-place finish, he now holds fifth with 2,073 points.
Quotable: “It was a miracle. We didn’t pass anybody in the pits, we passed them all on the race track. I feel really good about how far the team has come. We had great pit stops, but we just got good at the end and our car really, really took off. We were able to drive by those guys and get up to third. We probably reeled in the 20 a full straightaway almost and the 18 — catching them — so it was the most fun I’ve had in a long time even though we finished third. It was about to be good. The 18 was gonna catch the 20 in the next few laps and I was probably gonna get to the 18s bumper, so it was a lot of fun. I just wish it was the 325, instead of the 300.”
His standing: Biffle is fifth in the standings with 2,073 points. 
Outlook: Going into the third Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Dover International Speedway, Biffle needs to hold onto this momentum while he can. Biffle already has earned two wins at Dover in 2005 and 2008, and if he keeps up the pace, perhaps 2013.

Denny Hamlin (No. 11)

Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota 

Recap: This was one of Hamlin’s best races in a while. Coming off of Chicagoland with a 33rd-place finish, Hamlin stepped it up at New Hampshire and drove across the start/finish line 12th after starting in the 14th position.
Quotable: Hamlin was unavailable for comment.
His standing: Hamlin is 25th in the standings with 528 points.
Outlook: Although Hamlin is not in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, perhaps he still can hold onto this momentum going into Dover and find a top-10 finish. In his career, Hamlin has earned two top-five finishes and five top-10s at Dover. 

Joey Logano (No. 22)

Penske Racing, Ford

Recap: Anything could have been better for Logano this week after his disappointing 37th-place finish at Chicagoland. Logano’s finish this week might not have been as high as he would have liked, but at least it’s some positive movement compared to last week. Logano originally started sixth, but couldn’t keep up with the veterans and eventually slid back to 14th, right behind fellow Chase contender, Kurt Busch.
Quotable: “This is Loudon for me. It was nothing different. It’s just such a tricky race track to get around. At times we had a top-seven or eighth-place car, and I think we did even at the end of the race, but we took four there at the end because when we took two earlier we were really slow. So we thought we would be on the aggressive side instead of being on the defense side. Anytime you’re on defense you have the chance of getting wrecked and we’d rather be aggressive and passing cars. I didn’t have as good of a last restart as I needed. I got passed by a couple and passed about three instead, so you had to be in the right lane on that last restart to get a few more and we probably could have finished in the top 10 today. But it’s just so hard to pass. It is the hardest race track in the world to pass. It’s the most frustrating place I think I’ve ever been to, so I’m just glad to leave.”
His standing: Logano is 12th in the standings with 2,042 points.
Outlook: At the start of the Chase, the 23-year-old had as good a shot as anyone to win the championship, but after his not-so-hot past two finishes, Logano needs to step it up in Dover to prove that he belongs in the Chase. Logano has one top-five finish at Dover, and maybe he will gain another this coming race.

Ryan Newman (No. 39)

Stewart-Haas Racing, Chevrolet 

Recap: Coming out of Chicagoland finishing 10th, this week’s Coors Light Pole Award winner Newman was in the perfect position to win at New Hampshire, but only led for two laps. Kasey Kahne quickly gained the lead over Newman in the fourth turn of Lap 2 as Jeff Gordon followed. At Lap 214, Newman had faded all the way back to 26th running as the last car on the lead lap. Newman made up for some of his fall and eventually finished 16th. 
Quotable: “I still don’t understand what happened with the car. It just never drove the same after we won the pole on Friday afternoon. Even in practice on Saturday. Glad we got back up to 16th after the deal on pit road, but I don’t know. We’ll head to Dover and see what we can get.”
His standing: Newman is ninth in the standings with 2,064 points.
Outlook: Going into Dover, Newman should feel confident knowing that he’s already won three times at this track — twice in 2003 and once in 2004. He currently sits 47 points behind leader Matt Kenseth, so a win at Dover could bump Newman up to a more competitive playing field with other Chase contenders.

Danica Patrick (No. 10)

Stewart-Haas Racing, Chevrolet 

Recap: Patrick struggled at New Hampshire with a car that didn’t have the speed she needed to make an impact on the race. She finished 27th in her 38th career Sprint Cup start.
Quotable: “It’s disappointing. It’s something to learn from and put in the notebook for next time. The car just never felt ‘in’ the track today. It wasn’t for a lack of effort by Tony Gibson and the guys, but it just wasn’t quite where we needed it to be. We took two tires on the last stop, but that last restart hurt us and we lost a lot of spots. It’s disappointing, but we’ll move on.”
Her standing: Patrick is 27th in the standings with 514 points. 
Outlook: The best Patrick has finished at Dover was 24th earlier this season. Her constant 20-something finishes are holding her back from moving anywhere in the standings. A decent qualifying position at Dover could set her up nicely for the competition. 

Tony Stewart (No. 14)

Stewart-Haas Racing, Chevrolet 

Recap: Stewart missed his seventh consecutive race this past weekend and watched Mark Martin pilot his No. 14 Chevrolet to a 23rd-place finish. Stewart is still nursing his broken leg and won’t return in 2013.
His standing: Stewart is 23rd in the standings with 594 points.

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Jimmy John’s will be the primary sponsor for the No. 4 team

Jimmy John’s will follow Kevin Harvick to Stewart-Haas Racing as a sponsor for the No. 4 Chevrolet in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series beginning in 2014. 

The sandwich franchise will be the primary sponsor for 12 races, including the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and will be an associate sponsor for the remaining Cup races. It will also be an associate sponsor of the No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet of SHR driver/owner Tony Stewart.

"We are fortunate to partner with Kevin for many more years in a very meaningful way," said Jimmy John Liautaud, CEO and founder of Jimmy John’s. "On and off the track, Kevin and (wife) DeLana Harvick are winners in all they do. And Tony’s reputation as a fierce competitor speaks for itself. Game on."

Jimmy John’s had been a Harvick sponsor for select races this season, the driver’s final slate with Richard Childress Racing. The company began sponsoring Harvick in 2009 in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

"I’ve known Jimmy since 2009 and I’ve personally seen how driven he is and how his work ethic is embraced by Jimmy John’s franchisees," said Harvick, winner of 21 Sprint Cup races, including the 2007 Daytona 500 and 2003 Brickyard 400. "He wants to be the best, period. And he’ll out-work everyone to be the best. That’s the same mindset we have in racing. I’m proud to continue this partnership with Jimmy John’s at Stewart-Haas Racing." 

Kurt Busch will also be a new addition to SHR in 2014. Busch and Harvick will comprise a four-driver team with Stewart and Danica Patrick.

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Driver has 136 career starts in Nationwide Series, pair of runner-up finishes this year

NASCAR Nationwide Series driver Brian Scott will make his Sprint Cup Series debut next month at Charlotte Motor Speedway, according to Richard Childress Racing officials.

The 25-year-old will be behind of the No. 33 Chevrolet, which will carry sponsorship from Shore Lodge, when the Cup series returns to Charlotte for the Oct. 12 running of the Bank of America 500.

"It’s something I’ve dreamed about since I got into racing," Scott said in a release issued by the team. "I really like the track and it will be really cool to do that in front of the NASCAR home crowd."

Team owner Richard Childress said Scott had been "doing great" in his Nationwide Series efforts, "and it’s always good to see young talent coming up in our sport.

"He’s shown a good feel for how to race our cars and that he’s qualified to try his hand in the Sprint Cup Series," Childress said.

Scott drives the No. 2 Chevrolet for RCR in the Nationwide Series, and is seventh in points through 27 of this year’s 33 races. Winless in 136 career starts, he has finished second on two occasions this year — most recently at Richmond, where he led 239 laps in the 250-lap race.

The No. 33 Cup entry is fielded by Circle Sport Racing (owner Joe Falk), and has competed in all 28 Cup races this season. RCR driver Austin Dillon has made four starts in the car, with a best finish of 11th at Michigan.

Landon Cassill, Ron Fellows and Tony Raines have also driven for the team this year. The No. 33 entry is 37th in owner points.

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Earnhardt Jr. is one of four Chase drivers without a win this season

MORE: Full coverage of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Dale Earnhardt Jr. has whittled points deficits down before. Just how much he can erase in the final eight races of this year’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup remains to be seen.
 
In a 10-race battle that has threatened to turn into a runaway for a handful of drivers after only two stops, Earnhardt Jr. finds himself 11th in points. He blew an engine in the opener two weeks ago, then rallied for a sixth-place finish Sunday at New Hampshire.
 
And he heads to Dover International Speedway, site of Sunday’s AAA 400, trailing points leader Matt Kenseth by 62.
 
Kenseth has opened the Chase with back-to-back wins; Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch has been second across the line on both occasions.
 
"Those guys might not have bad finishes," Earnhardt Jr. said Tuesday during an appearance at the NASCAR Hall of Fame."I know everybody expects that the guy that wins the championship is going to average a fifth-place finish or something ridiculous like that, but they could just as easily have trouble. Everybody could just as easily have trouble."

It’s not impossible, he said, that his Hendrick Motorsports team could "win a couple of races and get back in it."
 
But, he added, "As well as they’re running, it’s going to be hard to win races. But it can be done and we’re going to try to do it."
 
Wins would be vindication for where his team, led by crew chief Steve Letarte, stands at this juncture of the season, regardless of where the team winds up eight weeks from now.

"We’re due a win," he said. "And we’re a good enough team we should have won a race or two this year."
 
The wins haven’t come, however, and Earnhardt Jr. prepares to head north for this week’s stop 47 races removed from his last checkered flag in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series. He’s one of four drivers in the 13-driver field that is winless on the season, but he is also one of only four drivers that led the points at one point this year.
 
A strong start pushed him to the top after five weeks, but mistakes behind the wheel, miscues on pit road and mechanical maladies took their toll.
 
"When people ask me about the season, they say we’ve been consistent," he said, "but I don’t feel like we have. … We’ve had issues. It’s either been me making mistakes, calls that … didn’t go our way, engine failures, stuff like that that’s taken a really good car out of the race."
 

Dale Earnhardt Jr. answers a question at the NASCAR Hall of Fame on Tuesday, September 24, 2013.

It was an aggressive approach on the track and in the pits, he said, that put him in contention this past week. "Our strategy was as aggressive as it could have been.
 
"That was the best car I’ve had in practice all year," he said. "That’s what we need. When we don’t tune the car and improve the car on Saturday and when … practice is over and we don’t feel confident about the car, that’s when we’re in trouble. That’s when we can really get ourselves lost."
 
Without a capable car, such a plan of attack is isn’t just risky, it’s ill advised. A two-tire stop in a car "that’s not even competitive with four tires," Earnhardt Jr. said, "it’s going to be very difficult to hold that position and … hold that advantage until you can get four tires back on it. It’s definitely a challenge."
 
Although he finished 10th at Dover earlier this year, Earnhardt Jr. described the run as "not that great."
 
"We’ve had some fast cars there, I’ve had some fast cars there in my career and had some good runs," he said, "but in the last several trips we really just haven’t been able to find the magic.
 
"I think we ran a little bit better this last trip … and I think we’re a better team now than we were in the spring."

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Posted on by Nascar

Late-race mistake costs No. 24 team in Chase’s Round 2

LOUDON, N.H. — This one’s on his shoulders.
 
Jeff Gordon‘s chances at victory and a shot at putting himself back in the thick of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup battle slid from his grasp just past the 200-lap mark in Sunday’s Sylvania 300.
 
"I’m highly disappointed in myself," Gordon said on the heels of a 15th-place finish at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

A week after a hard-fought sixth-place finish at Chicagoland Speedway propelled Gordon from dead last in the 13-car Chase field to a much more stable seventh, this miscue was costly. Twenty-four points behind red-hot Matt Kenseth (winner of both Chase races thus far) after last week, the 42-year-old now trails by 42.
 
"The team put me in a great position. We had a decent car and then track position made it into a great car. So it was obviously important to maintain that," he said.
 
Instead, the single slip took the four-time NASCAR Cup champion from first to 24th in the running order.
 
Pitting with the lead following the day’s fifth caution — this one for debris — Gordon drove too deep into his pit box, the front of his No. 24 Chevrolet barely crossing the front line. Seconds passed as his team pushed his car back into the box before it could begin service.
 
"I just came in and slid through. I hadn’t come close to sliding through all day and I guess just leading, I carried a little bit more speed in there and crossed the splitter over the line by an inch and that’s all it takes to make a difference between a chance at winning and finishing 15th," he said.
 
No argument ensued. The infraction was obvious. "I saw the (NASCAR) official react," Gordon said, "and I knew we were in trouble."
 
Although he led 36 laps on the 1.058-mile track before the stumble, Gordon was unable to race his way to the front following the setback. He slowly inched his way closer to the top 10, climbing as high as 13th at one point.
 
But track position proved too difficult to obtain and Kenseth proved too fast.
 
"If Kenseth keeps doing what he’s doing, it’s not going to matter what anybody else does," Gordon said of the Joe Gibbs Racing driver, now 2-for-2 in this year’s Chase.
 
The performances of his own cars and team have been more than up to par, he said, giving him hope that at least a top-five points finish is still attainable. Those in front of him aren’t exactly slugs, so the going won’t be easy. But only six points separate Gordon and fourth-place Carl Edwards.
 
"For us, we have to be realistic and look at our points position and outcome and right now we’re not that far out of fourth, so that’s a realistic goal for us. But anything is possible. We go to these next several races and go on a tear, who knows? But we’re higher in points than where we started this thing so we’ll just keep that going.
 
"I think we are very capable of doing it but the driver can’t make mistakes. … I made a crucial one and I can’t allow that to happen."
 
Gordon has one or more wins on all eight of the remaining tracks in the Chase. The last of his 87 career victories, however, came nearly a year ago, in the season-ending race at Homestead, Fla.
 
The series moves to Dover International Speedway this week. What took place at Loudon will be yesterday’s news soon enough, he said. He won’t dwell on what could have been.
 
"I’ve been doing this for 20-some years, man. It’s not like I’ve never made mistakes before but you just hate to make them at a crucial time like that," said Gordon. "So I’m very disappointed.
 
"And I’ll be disappointed until we get to Dover and start working on Dover."

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