Posted on by Holly Cain

You could say NASCAR’s stop at Dover Motor Speedway was “All in the Family,” a kin-to-win kind of weekend.  Martin Truex Jr. answered his younger brother Ryan’s NASCAR Xfinity Series victory on Saturday with a win in Monday’s rain-delayed Würth 400 NASCAR Cup Series race – the fourth win of his career at the 1-mile oval he considers his home track.

Truex, who started 17th in the 36-car field after qualifying was cancelled due to weather, methodically worked his way forward in the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. The 42-year-old New Jersey native finally took the lead for the first time with 69 laps remaining and led all but one of those final laps to claim his first points-paying victory of the season, ending a 54-race winless streak.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Dover

He and his JGR pit crew ultimately had to earn the win with pit strategy and pit execution. On a pit stop during the race’s final caution period, Truex’s team opted to put only fresh right-side tires on his Toyota. With the quick stop, he was able to beat the field back out to the track and then on the ensuing re-start — with seven laps to go — hold off a hard-charging Ross Chastain, whose No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet had taken four fresh tires on the stop.

“It feels incredible,’’ Truex said. “I feel like we’ve been close a bunch of times, that’s for sure. Felt today, with that caution, what’s going to happen here and then good call by (crew chief) James (Small) to take two (tires) and then I was able to get a pretty good restart.

“Just thanks to everybody that stuck with me. … we knew we could do this. We’ve shown we can lead laps and have dominated races and it just never all came together. I’ve said we just had to keep doing what we were doing and not overthink it.”

Chastain, who took his fourth stage win of the season, finished a slight .505 seconds behind Truex but was unable to make up any real ground on the leader in the closing laps after passing Ryan Blaney, who also took only two tires on that final stop.

“Gosh, so close again,’’ said Chastain, who led 98 laps. “It’s surreal to continue to race against my all-time heroes.”

Team Penske’s Blaney finished third – his sixth top 10 of the season and second top three in the last two races. Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron led a race-best 193 laps and added his series-best sixth stage win before finishing fourth. It marks the second time he’s led the most laps in a race this year but not claimed the victory.

Truex’s JGR teammates Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell finished fifth and sixth.

Tyler Reddick, Brad Keselowski, Chris Buescher and Josh Berry rounded out the top 10. Berry was driving the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in place of Alex Bowman, who suffered a back injury racing sprint cars last Tuesday.

It marks the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series champion Truex’s 32nd career win and first since a victory at Richmond, Va., on Sept. 11, 2021. Snapping the streak and sharing Dover’s Victory Circle with his younger brother, Ryan, truly made the week for the veteran.

“It’s just special, you know,” Truex said. “This is a special place. Good day for my family and to see Ryan win Saturday, he’s worked so hard for so long to get good opportunities and it’s awesome.

“And then for us, we’ve given away a few here over the years so it’s nice to see it come around our way. Just excited and had a hot rod. Just needed to get it out front.”

The event was pushed to a Monday start after steady rain on its scheduled Sunday date. Three of Truex’s four Dover wins have come on Mondays.

Chastain was involved in one of the race’s early incidents, which knocked pre-race favorite Kyle Larson from contention. Chastain nudged the slower car of Brennan Poole into a spin, and Poole’s No. 15 Ford skidded into the path of Larson’s No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

Larson continued after extensive repairs and finished 32nd, 41 laps down. Poole was sidelined with a 33rd-place result and had harsh words for Chastain after a quick check at the infield care center.

MORE: Chastain-Poole contact collects Larson

Kyle Busch started from the pole position but was penalized on Lap 22 for speeding during the first round of pit stops. After the team was sent to the back of the field, Busch’s No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet sustained front-end damage in a Lap 34 stack-up that eliminated the cars of Daniel Suárez and Ty Dillon. Busch ended up 21st in the 36-car field.

The NASCAR Cup Series’ next race is scheduled for Sunday (3 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Kansas Speedway.

Note: Post-race inspection was completed in the Cup Series garage at Dover with no issues. Officials indicated that no cars would travel back to the NASCAR Research & Development Center this week for further inspection.

Contributing: Staff reports

Posted on by Staff Report

Pre-race favorite Kyle Larson dropped from contention early in Monday’s NASCAR Cup Series race after a Stage 1 crash at Dover Motor Speedway.

Ross Chastain’s No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet made contact with the slower No. 15 Rick Ware Racing Ford of Brennan Poole on the 81st of 400 laps in the Würth 400. The collision sent Poole’s car sliding into the path of Larson’s No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevy alongside the outside retaining wall in Turns 1 and 2.

RELATED: Unofficial results | At-track photos: Dover

Larson continued with significant right-front damage. After meeting minimum speed to clear the Damaged Vehicle Policy clock, Larson took his No. 5 Chevrolet to the garage for further repairs. Larson returned to the race but finished 32nd, 41 laps off the pace.

“Ross flat-out wrecked the lapper, right?” Larson asked his No. 5 crew on the radio after the incident. “Yes, for no reason,” was the team’s reply.

Chastain continued and finished second behind race winner Martin Truex Jr., but not before Larson briefly slowed his pursuit of the leader in the closing laps. Chastain offered an apology to the Rick Ware-owned team in his post-race interview.

“It’s completely my fault,” Chastain said after his best finish of the season. “I was actually going to follow Brennan past the 3 (car of Austin Dillon) there and he checked up quicker than I thought. Totally my fault. Tomorrow, I’ll go out to Sonoma to the Skip Barber (Racing School) and when I get home from that, I’ll go find him and Rick and make some of that right.”

Chastain said “no comment” when asked about Larson holding him up in the closing laps. Larson’s version of events was noncommittal.

“I don’t know. I mean, you can take it for whatever you think it might be,” said Larson, who placed outside the top 30 for the third time in the last four races. “Just a long frustrating day for me and another day where I get caught up in something that’s not my fault.”

Poole’s day ended with terminal damage to the No. 15 Mustang and a 33rd-place result. After a quick evaluation at the infield care center, Poole expressed his frustration, saying that Chastain “probably needs to get his butt whupped.”

“I’m not exactly sure, but I feel like I just got ran over,” added Poole, an Xfinity Series regular making his first Cup Series start of the year. “As soon as he ran into me, I just kind of got shoved into the corner, like way too deep, and then I was just immediately turned around. So, I think it was the No. 1? Go figure. I mean, just a joke … 80-something laps into a race? No reason. I was side-by-side with the No. 3, just got to the outside, and it’s not like I can go anywhere or give him any more room than what I had. He just ran me over. So, it’s kind of pathetic. I don’t know. It seems to be something Ross does a lot recently. Just uncalled for. It was my first time in a new Cup car, and 80 laps out … for what?”

Larson’s teammate Alex Bowman, sitting out Monday’s race with an injury, offered his commentary after the incident.

 

Posted on by Adam Fenwick

Following another lengthy break after the most recent event at Richmond Raceway, the 2023 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season kicks into overdrive this Saturday evening with the running of the Duel at the Dog 200 at New Hampshire’s Monadnock Speedway.

Saturday’s race marks the 15th time the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour has visited the quarter-mile bullring located in Winchester, New Hampshire, and doubles as the first Tour race of the season in the Northeast. Ken Bouchard won the inaugural series event at the track in 1986, with future NASCAR star Jimmy Spencer picking up a victory the following season. Others to earn trips to Victory Lane at Monadnock include Mike Stefanik, Reggie Ruggiero, Jamie Tomaino, Ted Christopher, Todd Szegedy, Ryan Preece, Doug Coby and Timmy Solomito.

The winningest NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour driver at Monadnock is Justin Bonsignore, who has four victories at the track, including a victory during the 2022 season.

Saturday’s race is also the first race of JDV Productions’ Whelen Granite State Short Track Cup, which will award $15,700 in bonuses to NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour drivers who compete in the events at Monadnock, Lee USA Speedway (May 27) and Claremont Motorsports Park (July 29).

Below is everything you need to know about Saturday’s Duel at the Dog 200 at Monadnock Speedway.

MORE MONADNOCK: Tickets | Streaming

Duel at the Dog 200 at Monadnock Speedway

What to watch for:

After a quiet rookie season in 2022, Austin Beers is off to a fast start this year.

He opened the season at New Smyrna Speedway in February by leading 51 laps and finishing eighth before being shot out of a cannon at Richmond Raceway, where he won the pole, led 102 laps and won his first NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour race.

Beers sits tied at the top of the series standings with Ron Silk, who won the opening race of the season at New Smyrna after going winless in 2022. Both should be considered potential contenders this weekend at Monadnock Speedway.

If either Beers or Silk hopes to win on Saturday, they’ll have to find a way to defeat the all-time Monadnock win leader Justin Bonsignore, who sits third in the Tour standings behind Beers and Silk after finishes of second at New Smyrna and fourth at Richmond.

A general view during the Duel at the Dog 200 for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at Monadnock Speedway on June 19, 2022. (Photo: Nick Grace/NASCAR)

No other driver has more than one victory at Monadnock and only one other previous winner at the track is entered in Saturday’s event. That honor belongs to six-time NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion Doug Coby, who scored his lone Monadnock victory in 2015. Coby, who is wheeling Tommy Baldwin Jr.’s No. 7, is seeking his 35th career victory this Saturday.

After not competing with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour in 2022, Woody Pitkat makes his return to Tour competition this weekend driving for Mertz Racing Enterprises. Matt Hirschman, who finished second last year at Monadnock, will look to rebound from a difficult run at Richmond with a strong performance Saturday. Defending NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion Jon McKennedy, who is looking for his first top-five of the season, should also be considered a potential threat to win Saturday.

Two drivers – Jacob Perry and Sam Rameau – are making their season debuts Saturday at Monadnock. A third, Cory Plummer, is scheduled to make his NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour debut.

Other notable entries include Jake Johnson, Tim Connolly, Patrick Emerling, Tommy Catalano, Eric Goodale, Craig Lutz and Anthony Nocella.

The complete entry for the Duel at the Dog 200 is available here.

RACE FACTS

Race Duel at the Dog 200
Date Saturday, May 6, 2023
Track Monadnock Speedway
Layout Quarter-mile paved oval
Location Winchester, New Hampshire
Start Time 5 p.m. ET
Laps 200
Posted awards $83,450
Live stream FloRacing (Live)

Schedule: Saturday, May 6 … Final practice from 12:20 to 1:20 p.m. ET … Qualifying at 2:30 p.m. ET … Race at 5 p.m. ET

Qualifying: Two consecutive qualifying laps. Faster lap determines qualifying position. Adjustments or repairs may not be made on the vehicle after the vehicle has taken the green flag at the start/finish line. NASCAR reserves the right to have more than one vehicle engage in qualifying runs at the same time. Starting field for the Duel at the Dog 200 is limited to 28 starters including Provisional Positions.

Tire allotment: The maximum tire allotment available for this event is eight (8) tires per team. All tires used for qualifying and the race must be purchased at the track and scanned by Hoosier, unless otherwise approved in advance by the Series Director. Four (4) tires must be used for qualifying and to begin the race. All qualifying tires must remain in impound until released by NASCAR Officials. The remaining tire allotment may be used for practice and/or change tires during the event. The tire change rule is zero (0) tires, any position.

Posted on by Staff Report

Duel at the Dog 200

Monadnock Speedway

  • Entry list
Car No. Driver Organization Crew Chief Chassis Mfg Sponsor
01 Melissa Fifield Pine Knoll Racing, LLC Jake Marosz FURY Race Cars Pine Knoll Auto Sales
1 Cory Plummer Cory Plummer Cory Plummer SPAFCO Race Chassis Apex Racing; Gene’s Auto Service
3 Jake Johnson Boehler’s Racing Equipment Gregory Fournier Boehler Racing Propane Plus; Lin’s Propane Trucks
4 Tim Connolly Connolly Racing Shane Connolly LFR Connolly Companies, LLC
5 Kyle Ebersole Bob Ebersole Bob Ebersole FURY Race Cars Ebersole Excavating, Inc. & Technique Chassis
06 Sam Rameau Sam Rameau Randy Rameau LFR Quality Fleet Services; Dennison Lubricants
6 Woody Pitkat Mertz Racing Enterprises Mike Holmes Troyer Koopman Lumber
07 Patrick Emerling KPL Racing LLC Jan Leaty Troyer Bonesteel Aerospace
7 Doug Coby Tommy Baldwin Racing LLC Tommy Baldwin Troyer Mayhew Tools
16 Ron Silk Haydt Yannone Racing Philip Moran FURY Race Cars Blue Mountain Machine, Future Homes
18 Ken Heagy Robert Pollifrone Greg Gorman FURY Race Cars Buoy One Seafood
19 Anthony Sesely Wanick Construction Stephen Kopcik Troyer Wanick Construction Inc.
22 Kyle Bonsignore Kyle Bonsignore Cam McDermott FURY Race Cars Chalew Performance, MTT, Munns Auto
24 Andrew Krause Supreme Racing Rob Hyer Chevrolet Supreme Manufacturing Co.
25 Brian Robie Robie Motorsports LLC Cody Rose Troyer Maurice Enterprises
26 Gary McDonald Lake and Avenue Landscape Supply Chad McDonald Chevrolet Lakeland Avenue Landscape Supply
32 Tyler Rypkema Dean Rypkema Zach Truesdail FURY Race Cars Northeast Drilling, Musco Lighting
34 JB Fortin John Fortin Racing Kenny Lechner FURY Race Cars A&R Material’s, John’s Fuel Oil, Rapid Recovery, Queen Concrete, CYA Screen Printing
36 David Sapienza Sapienza Enterprises Greg Kleila LFR Sapienza Enterprises/Eastport Feeds
43 Matt Kimball William P. Kimball Trucking William Kimball LFR J&M Towing & Recovery; Edmunds Ace Hardware; Poodiack Wealth Management
46 Justin Brown Goodie Racing Doug Ogiejko Troyer Riverhead Building Supply
47 Jacob Perry Jack Bateman Dennis Perry Jr. Troyer Jack’s Competition Engine; Rick Rak
51 Justin Bonsignore Kenneth Massa Motorsports LLC Ryan Stone FURY Race Cars Phoenix Communications Inc.
54 Tommy Catalano David Catalano David Catalano Troyer FX Caprara; Catalano Motorsports
58 Eric Goodale Goodie Racing Jason Shephard FURY Race Cars GAF Roofing
60 Matt Hirschman Pee Dee Motorsports LLC Mike Stein LFR Pee Dee Motorsports
64 Austin Beers KLM Motorsports Ron Yuhas Troyer Dell Electric, Lumiere Electrical, Andrew James Interiors, AP Marquadt & Sons, Hughes Motors
79 Jonathan McKennedy Middlesex Racing LLC Dale Hedquist LFR Middlesex Interiors
82 Craig Lutz DWR Racing Corp. Jerry Babb LFR Horton Avenue Materials
92 Anthony Nocella Anthony Nocella Chris Burdell Chevrolet Nocella Paving; K and D Associates; Airgas
121 Anthony Bello John Bello Glenn Jensen LFR JB Management; SKM; NJK Sunoco
Posted on by Staff Report

Find out where to watch NASCAR KANSAS May Race. Which channels have NASCAR Kansas TV programming this week? We answer that and give the weekly NASCAR television listings here in the NASCAR Kansas TV schedule.

Note: NASCAR  TV schedule Kansas. All NASCAR Kansas TV times are ET.

MORE: How to find USA Network | How to find FS1 | Get FOX Sports App | Watch on USA Network | Get the NBC Sports App | Watch on Peacock | FloRacing | How to watch NASCAR International

Monday, May 1
6 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub: 75 Years of Racing (re-air), FS1
Noon, NASCAR Cup Series: Würth 400 at Dover Motor Speedway, FS1
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1

Tuesday, May 2
Midnight, NASCAR Race Hub (re-air), FS1
1 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub: Best of Radioactive: Kansas (re-air), FS1
6 p.m. NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
6 p.m. Dale Jr. Download, Peacock
7 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series: Würth 400 at Dover Motor Speedway (re-air), FS1

Wednesday, May 3
12:30 a.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series: A-GAME 200 at Dover Motor Speedway (re-air), FS1
2:30 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub: Best of Radioactive: Kansas (re-air), FS1
3 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub: 75 Years of Racing (re-air), FS1
6 p.m. NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
6 p.m. Dale Jr. Download, Peacock
8 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series: Würth 400 at Dover Motor Speedway (re-air), FS2
11 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series: A-GAME 200 at Dover Motor Speedway (re-air), FS2

Thursday, May 4
6 p.m. NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
6 p.m. Dale Jr. Download, Peacock

Friday, May 5
Noon, NASCAR Pace Lap, MAVTV
3 p.m., NASCAR Pace Lap (re-air), MAVTV
6 p.m. NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
6:05 p.m., NASCAR Opening Night at Autodrome Granby, FloRacing

Saturday, May 6
10:30 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub: Best of Radioactive: Kansas (re-air), FS1
Noon, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series practice and qualifying at Kansas Speedway, FS1
1:30 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub Weekend Edition: Kansas, FS1
1:35 p.m., IMSA Porsche Carrera Cup: Miami Race 1, Peacock
2 p.m., ARCA Menards Series: Dawn 150 at Kansas Speedway, FS1
2 p.m., ARCA Menards Series: Dawn 150 at Kansas Speedway, FloRacing
3:30 p.m., NASCAR Weekly Racing at Berlin Raceway and Entertainment Complex, FloRacing
4 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub Weekend Edition: Kansas, FS1
5 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying at Kansas Speedway, FS1
5 p.m., NASCAR Opening Night at Riverhead Raceway, FloRacing
5 p.m., NASCAR Whelen Modifieds at Monadnock Speedway, FloRacing
6:05 p.m., NASCAR Weekly Racing at Jennerstown Speedway Complex LLC, FloRacing
6:30 p.m., NASCAR Weekly Racing at Meridian Speedway, FloRacing
7 p.m., NASCAR RaceDay: NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series at Kansas Speedway, FS1
7 p.m., NASCAR Weekly Racing at Larry King Law’s Langley Speedway, FloRacing
7 p.m., NASCAR Weekly Racing at Hickory Motor Speedway, FloRacing
7 p.m., NASCAR Weekly Racing at South Boston Speedway, FloRacing
7:50 p.m. NASCAR Modified 100 at Bowman Gray Stadium, FloRacing
8 p.m., NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series: Heart of America 200 at Kansas Speedway, FS1

On MRN: 
2 p.m., ARCA Menards Series: Dawn 150 at Kansas Speedway
5 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying at Kansas Speedway
7:30 p.m. ET, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series: Heart of America 200 at Kansas Speedway

Sunday, May 7
7:30 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub: Best of Radioactive: Kansas (re-air), FS2
8 a.m., NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying at Kansas Speedway (re-air), FS2
11 a.m., ARCA Menards Series East: General Tire 125 at Dover Motor Speedway (re-air), CNBC
1:35 p.m., IMSA Porsche Carrera Cup: Miami Race 2, Peacock
2 p.m., NASCAR RaceDay: NASCAR Cup Series at Kansas Speedway, FS1
3 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series: Advent Health 400 at Kansas Speedway, FS1
6:30 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub: Best of Radioactive: Kansas (re-air), FS2

On MRN: 
2 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series: Advent Health 400 at Kansas Speedway

Posted on by Track Release

BRASELTON, Ga. — With “Front Row” Joe Nemechek appropriately on the pole and one of the most famous families in all of motorsports presiding over the celebration, Historic Sportscar Racing (HSR) paid tribute to NASCAR’s 75th Anniversary in a big way Saturday at the 45th HSR Mitty at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.

Founded in 1948, NASCAR marks its 75th Anniversary in 2023, and this weekend’s HSR Mitty is just one part of the year-long celebration. Historic Stock Cars have been a major part of HSR events at Michelin Raceway in recent years, but Saturday’s NASCAR 75 tribute set a new standard. The event attracted an HSR entry of more than 50 historic and vintage stock cars for both competition and exhibition laps on the 2.54-mile road course north of Atlanta.

RELATED: Inside NASCAR’s 75th anniversary

The iconic Wood Brothers Racing family was the perfect choice for this weekend’s Grand Marshal duties. Eddie Wood and Len Wood — the sons of the late Glen Wood who founded the team over 70 years ago — joined their equally legendary Uncle Leonard Wood in representing the family at the 45th Mitty on Saturday.

The NASCAR 75 feature events are also the second annual Gene Felton Memorial Challenge races, which honor the late road racing star and 2019 HSR Mitty Grand Marshal Gene Felton. Nemechek won the inaugural Gene Felton Memorial race last year and made his repeat bid a little bit easier by winning the pole for this weekend’s race.

Nemechek led a field of 35 HSR Group 8 Historic Stock Car competitors to the green flag for Saturday’s featured sprint and stayed there until the checkered flag. He pulled off the flag-to-flag victory in his NEMCO Motorsports 2007 No. 22 Chevrolet Silverado but the win was far from easy as top HSR regular Curt Vogt pressured Nemechek to the finish in his Cobra Automotive 2006 No. 38 Ford Fusion.

Vogt crossed the finish line in second place just 1.114 seconds behind Nemechek while Joe Burke was even closer to the No. 38 to secure a close third in his 2006 No. 48 Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS.

Along with a solid turnout of competitors and race fans, several NASCAR and IMSA Executives were among the enthusiastic attendees Saturday. The group included NASCAR Chairman and CEO Jim France, NASCAR Vice Chairman Mike Helton, IMSA President John Doonan, IMSA CEO and NASCAR EVP, Chief Administrative Officer Ed Bennett and several other Daytona-based executives who were welcomed by MRRA President Rick Humphrey and HSR President David Hinton.

The second and final Gene Felton Memorial Challenge NASCAR 75 feature race of the 45th HSR Mitty weekend is scheduled to start at 12:15 p.m. ET Sunday.

Posted on by Dustin Albino

Before Cup Series cars hitting the track on Saturday, Hendrick Motorsports was expected to be the class of the field. And while the four-car powerhouse didn’t take the top spot — that belonged to Brad Keselowski — they took positions two through four. The lone exception outside the top five was Josh Berry, who is filling in for Alex Bowman. But of the four cars to make a 10-lap run, Berry was the quickest.

Dustin Albino’s race-day lineup:

Starter 1: Chase Elliott
Starter 2: Kyle Larson
Starter 3: William Byron
Starter 4: Martin Truex Jr.
Starter 5: Kevin Harvick

Garage pick: Christopher Bell

NEXT IN LINE: Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Bubba Wallace

RELATED: Set your Fantasy Live lineup | Monday’s starting lineup

RISING: It’s been nearly 11 years since Keselowski hoisted the Miles the Monster trophy in Victory Lane at Dover Motor Speedway. He also doesn’t have a top-five finish in his last 10 races at the track. But the No. 6 Ford was the quickest thing in Delaware on Saturday. His RFK Racing teammate won the pole in last year’s Dover race and finished inside the top 10.

As noted in Fantasy Fastlane earlier this week, Dover is by far not one of Blaney’s best tracks on the circuit. In 12 starts, he has a pair of eighth-place finishes that are the best on his resume. Lately, Dover has been a hindrance for Team Penske, with all three of its cars finishing at least three laps down last season. On Saturday, all three of them had single-lap speeds inside the top 11, led by Austin Cindric in fifth.

FALLING: Last spring, Ross Chastain led 86 laps en route to a third-place finish. However, the No. 1 car ranked 28th in practice and his Trackhouse Racing teammate Daniel Suárez went for a spin in the opening group of practice. With the No. 1 car being more than half a second off the fast lap, he’s dropped from my lineup this weekend.

Harvick has mastered Dover in recent years, picking up three wins since the fall 2015 race. As you saw, he’s still in my lineup, but it’s understandable if you would take him out of yours as he was 21st in practice. It’s worth noting that he was in the second group when more rubber was laid down and his crew chief Rodney Childers is known to make some swings in setups on his cars to have them better for race day.

MORE: Updated weekend schedule — race moved to Monday at noon ET

FEATURED MATCHUPS:  

Chase Elliott vs. Ross Chastain: Of current drivers in the Cup field, Elliott is among the best at Dover with a pair of victories in the last seven Dover races. In 12 starts, he has top-five finishes 75% of the time (nine). As the defending winner of the event, the lone Next Gen car race at Dover, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the No. 9 car repeat and lock into the playoffs.

Chris Buescher vs. Chase Briscoe: Both cars were mired in the field during practice, with Briscoe having the 18th-best time and Buescher the 20th. Both drivers are also reputable on concrete tracks. But Buescher, specifically, stands out, as he won the pole at Dover last year and the Bristol concrete race in September. Plus, Buescher’s teammate Keselowski paced the field in practice. Thinking the No. 17 car will finish better on Monday.

Ryan Blaney vs. Brad Keselowski: Straight up, both drivers’ speed was a tad surprising on Saturday. Keselowski had a tenth of a second on the field in practice and has been one of the most consistent Fords in 2023. Blaney ranked 11th on single-lap speed but has struggled at Dover throughout his career. As he told me on Saturday, “It hasn’t been a great track for us.” That leads me to go with Keselowski.

Christopher Bell vs. Kevin Harvick: This is a tough one, particularly because neither driver showed lights-out speed in Saturday’s practice session. What makes it even more of a challenge to decide is both teams often improve their cars throughout the race every week. Harvick, however, has eight consecutive top 10s at the Monster Mile, so he’s the choice. However, I have both available to use in my lineup.

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is riding plenty of momentum into Dover Motor Speedway.

The latest addition to the list of Daytona 500 champions, Stenhouse returns to the “Monster Mile” after a friendly battle with its concrete canyons in 2022 produced a runner-up finish, his best result of the season.

DOVER: Cup Series race postponed (Monday, noon ET, FS1) | Starting lineup

Stenhouse was comfortable right away in last year’s Next Gen debut around the 1-mile, steeply banked oval, in part propelling him to his only top-five finish of the season. He’s back this time with a revamped No. 47 team from JTG Daugherty Racing, emphasized by the addition of crew chief Mike Kelley during the offseason.

“I’m pumped to get back there knowing that I feel like we have a little bit better setup,” Stenhouse told NASCAR.com in a teleconference. “We had a second-place finish but felt like we had a winning race car last year, and I think I would have pushed a little bit harder knowing that maybe our tires had a little bit more life left in them towards the end of that race. And I felt like I was taking it easy at points of that last run.

“So I think all in all, I’m super-excited to get back there, knowing that maybe we could click off another win.”

Each of Stenhouse’s three career wins have come on superspeedways – two at Daytona International Speedway and one at Talladega Superspeedway, with wins at each in 2017. But the Mississippi native has always loved these high-banked, concrete ovals, primarily spotlighted by four Bristol top fives and six top 10s in 18 starts in Tennessee. His Dover totals are lower — one top five and four top 10s in 19 starts — but the translation has been great thus far in the Next Gen era, continuing Saturday after posting the ninth-quickest five-lap average and 14th-fastest single lap.

“It’s the cars that drive the least bad that are fast, right?” Stenhouse said. “So nobody’s comfortable. The race cars aren’t comfortable to drive, the way you drop down into the corner. Basically, anywhere that’s uncomfortable feeling, I feel like, is a place that I like to excel at and that I enjoy. The concrete tracks, they don’t have as much grip, especially when the rubber builds up on them. Your cars are sliding around. It’s easy to blow through the tires, so you have to kind of drive it and kind of creep up onto the maximum grip level of the car and tires, which changes lap to lap at Dover and very similar to Bristol.”

MORE: What to Watch: Dover

His winning confidence is well-guided. Stenhouse, already in his 11th year as a full-time Cup driver, has posted eight top-20 results in 10 races this season with an average finish of 14.2 – on track to better his career best by nearly three positions and blast by last year’s 22.8 clip. Through 10 races a season ago, Stenhouse was averaging a finish of 26.9.

The impressive start, punctuated by the Harley J. Earl Trophy that helped lock him into the 2023 playoffs, features three top 10s and four top 15s in the last five races, the only blemish a 35th-place showing at Richmond after an early mistake on pit road relegated the team numerous laps down.

“I feel like we’ve been really competitive at a lot of different race tracks,” Stenhouse said. “I felt like last year, mile-and-a-half race tracks and superspeedway race tracks were probably where we were the most competitive and felt like, obviously, our short-track program needed some work and (part of that is) work with some help from Chevrolet and from Hendrick (Motorsports) and just kind of utilizing all our resources that we had.

“And I mean, we’ve got a few top 10s and been competitive on short tracks. So I’m definitely thrilled about where we are as a race team at this point of the season.”

Stenhouse credits Kelley not just for the fast cars but for how the driver perceives his abilities and feels ahead of a race weekend. That circles back to their pairing as crew chief and driver from 2010-12 in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, where they claimed back-to-back championships in 2011 and 2012.

“I think mentally, it’s totally different and showing up ready to go,” Stenhouse said. “Looking at the 2011 and ’12 (Xfinity) seasons, our short tracks were really strong. And so he’s like, ‘Hey, just because it’s a short track doesn’t mean you can’t get it done there. We’ve just got to give you something capable of being able to get it done with.’ So that part of it, and then just looking at different things throughout the week, I feel like our meetings are going really well of really dissecting what needs to be better at each race track. And we’re doing a great job as a whole organization together looking at that.”

JTG Daugherty Racing has existed in its current form since 2009, but team co-owner Tad Geschickter has been a car owner in NASCAR dating back to 1995 in the Xfinity Series. In Cup, JTG has never finished higher than 13th in points, that mark coming in 2014 as a result of AJ Allmendinger’s Watkins Glen triumph that propelled him into the playoffs.

Stenhouse knows he’ll be in the postseason thanks to his Daytona 500 win. But he admits they’re targeting more.

RELATED: Check out Stenhouse’s driver page

“I think right now, what we’re doing at JTG Daugherty Racing is we’re trying to model something that I would say like a Furniture Row (Racing) did back when they were a single-car team,” Stenhouse said of the organization that won the 2017 championship with Martin Truex Jr. “Trying to get as many resources in the door as they can, utilize them the right way and then go perform on the race track. We’re trying to kind of do that at JTG Daugherty Racing right now.

“We got the best alliance we’ve ever had with Hendrick Motorsports and with Chevrolet, and we’re trying to just make the best of those situations. And so for me, as a driver, when you click off a win, no matter what, when it is, it always gives you a little bit more confidence showing back up to the race track, especially during that season. And then the guys giving me cars a lot more competitive than what we had last year, especially at those race tracks we struggled at — Phoenix and Richmond, Martinsville, places like that — it’s nice showing up.

“Even the road course (Circuit of The Americas), we were a lot more competitive than what we were there last year. And so little things like that give me more confidence, like, ‘Hey, I do still know what I’m doing. And I haven’t gotten worse.’ “

Posted on by Staff Report

NASCAR officials postponed Sunday’s Cup Series race at Dover Motor Speedway because of a forecast for steady, daylong rain.

The Würth 400, the 11th race of the Cup Series season, was rescheduled for a Monday start at noon ET. The 400-mile event will be broadcast live on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

RELATED: Starting lineup | What to Watch: Dover

Competition officials on Friday had shifted the scheduled start time one hour earlier because of the bleak forecast, posting a 1 p.m. ET target for Sunday’s go. But the prediction for heavy rainfall and a flood watch for the Delaware capital city forced the postponement.

Rain had also washed away Saturday’s Busch Light Pole Qualifying for the Cup Series and all of Friday’s scheduled on-track activity. The starting lineup was set according to the NASCAR Rule Book’s inclement weather procedures, putting Kyle Busch – last week’s winner at Talladega Superspeedway – in the No. 1 starting spot.

The decision marks the second consecutive year that Dover’s Cup Series date has been pushed to a Monday start by rain. Chase Elliott won last season’s delayed 400-miler, leading the final 53 laps to the checkered flag.

Martin Truex Jr. is a three-time Dover winner, and two of those triumphs at the 1-mile track have arrived on a Monday (2007, 2019). He’ll be going for a distinctive family sweep of the weekend after his younger brother, Ryan, broke through for his first NASCAR national-tour victory in Saturday’s Xfinity Series race.

LISTEN: Martin shares thoughts on Ryan’s win

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

DOVER, Del. — Cole Custer escaped the clutches of the “Monster Mile” a cool $100,000 richer on Saturday afternoon.

A seventh-place finish at Dover Motor Speedway netted Custer his second consecutive triumph in the NASCAR Xfinity Series’ Dash 4 Cash bonus program, backing up his success from a week ago at Talladega Superspeedway.

MORE: Race results | At-track photos: Dover

“It’s huge. I mean, winning $200,000 in the last two weeks is huge for our team and it’s a big accomplishment,” Custer said. “We’ve been solid the last few weeks and we’ve been starting to put it together. Obviously, we want more. We want to go win and I think we’re capable of that. It’s just a matter of having everything come together, but we’ll enjoy this.

“It’s awesome to have that bonus and it’s really cool that Xfinity does that and lets us race it out for $100,000. I mean, that’s pretty incredible.”

To score the extra cash, Custer had to best Sheldon Creed, Jeb Burton and pole-sitter Parker Kligerman. Creed made Custer sweat as the checkers neared, leading 17 laps while trying to stretch his fuel mileage before finally pitting at Lap 189 of 200. At Lap 101, Creed’s No. 2 Chevrolet went for a long slide through Turn 3 as the field somehow avoided him, the car spinning sideways after entering the corner in the middle of a three-wide sandwich with Justin Allgaier high and Sammy Smith low.

Ultimately, Creed rallied to finish 11th, the final car on the lead lap after the yellow flag he needed to cycle to the front of the field never flew.

“When we put tires on and freed it up, best race car I’ve ever had since I’ve been in Xfinity,” Creed told NASCAR.com. “Like, just drove good all day long. I thought we freed it up enough, and I was super good on the long run there. And yeah, that would have been really cool if the caution would have come out. With like 20 to go, they were saying we’re staying out. So I thought we were gonna run it all the way to the checkered. And I was ready to do that, but I guess we wouldn’t have made it on fuel.”

Burton, last week’s race winner at Talladega, finished 18th while Kligerman was credited with a last-place finish in 38th.

Kligerman’s efforts came to an early end at Lap 63 on Saturday. Despite starting on pole thanks to a washed-out and canceled qualifying, Kligerman backslid through the field during the early portions of Saturday’s event. The No. 48 Chevrolet was running just inside the top 20 and pushing high through the exit of Turn 2 when Xfinity Series debut driver Corey Heim contacted his left-rear, sending Kligerman hard nose-first into the inside wall.

MORE: Kligerman’s day ends early

“It hurts because of what was on the offer, the opportunity here today,” Kligerman told FS1. “We weren’t good. I think we were in that position because we were going backwards. We were struggling. But (crew chief) Patrick Donahue and everyone was going to work on this thing, and it seemed like one of those days where we were really gonna have to find a way to get better and keep working on our Spiked Coolers Camaro and go for this opportunity at $100,000 because I looked and none of our competitors are having that good of a day either. It wasn’t like they were lights out. So we could’ve worked on it and been there at the end and hopefully, we could’ve had a big day.

“And obviously in the points, this hurts a ton. But I just hate it because where we were hurting, the driver that got into us, like, you could see we’re struggling. Give me a corner. Give me a corner and we’ll gather it up, you can go by. Just wasn’t the case. We’ll be better next time. That’s the best thing you can do.”