Monster Mile Weekend

Dover “The Monster Mile”


5 Hour Energy 200



DOVER, DELEWARE- The Nationwide Series ran their race this weekend at one of the tougher tracks on the circuit. The race is run on a one-mile concrete track. One of the biggest issues the drivers face, is a loose condition were the cars will not stick to the track. The rubber that gets put down by the cars, makes the track slippery. I was not able to watch the entire race, as I was attending a 50th Wedding Anniversary Party at a Sports Bar in Minnesota. I did however catch the last laps of the race as Lagono took the win. I can imagine the first couple cautions were most likely debris cautions. This happens on a regular basis in all races.

There were only five cautions during the race. Kasey Kahne (5) was attempting to get past Mike Wallace (01) and apparently became tired of Wallace blocking him, so he punted him out of his way, causing Wallace to crash and a caution to come out near lap 113.

The fourth caution came out for Reed Sorenson’s car stalling on pit road exit. The fifth caution flew for Dexter Stacey spinning out.

After being the dominant car in the race, Kyle Busch (54) would come up short once again as Joey Lagono (22) won his 3rd straight race in the NNS at Dover. On the final pit stop, Busch told his crew chief he wanted four new tires, when the rest of the field only took two. He lost several spots on pit road, and was not able to get back to the front. Busch did have a five second lead before the final caution was thrown.

The rest of the top ten were: Brian Vickers (20), Matt Kenseth (18), Trevor Bayne (6), Kyle Busch (54), Kasey Kahne (5), Sam Hornish Jr. (12), Austin Dillon (3), Regan Smith (7) and Kyle Larson (32).

The next race will be at Iowa Raceway next Saturday on ESPN at 8 PM.





“Fed Ex 400”

Benefitting Autism Speaks



DOVER, DELEWARE- The Sprint Cup Series also ran this weekend’s race at Dover. The twelfth race of the season was run at a track that Jimmie Johnson could almost have his name placed upon. Johnson has won at this track seven times in his short career. He has won the last five straight. He also is running a special paint scheme, the new Monsters University movie was released recently. Last week, a FOX camera caused a “Red Flag” and 10 fans received injuries. A rope that controlled the cameras movements broke and fell onto the track. The cars were damaged by it, as well as fans. The Pole Winner is Denny Hamlin (11) in a special paint scheme for Autism Awareness. Martin Truex Jr. (56) will start second. This was the final race of the season for FOX. The race was scheduled for 400 miles/laps on this concrete track.

In Opening Ceremonies, Dan Schafer provided the Invocation. The Group Gloriana sang the National Anthem. The Grand Marshall was Laurie Tucker, Vice President of Marketing for FedEx. The In-Race Reporter was Denny Hamlin.

Hamlin led the first 23 laps, before “Cockroach” Kyle Busch (18) took the lead away from his teammate. Matt Kenseth (20) ran third at this point. On lap 72, green flag pit stops began. Denny Hamlin attempted to go down pit road, and was too fast, as he missed the entry to pit road and had to go around the track again. Only 22 cars are left on the lead lap.

On lap 81, the first caution came out for debris. Tony Stewart received the “Lucky Dog” The top nine cars stayed on track. Only 20 cars remain on the lead lap after the first round of stop are made.

Another Caution for debris flew on lap 128. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (17) received the “Lucky Dog” 21 cars remain on the lead lap, with Matt Kenseth being the leader at the restart.

On lap 158, Joey Lagono had a tire go down on him, so he went to pit road. At the same time Leader Matt Kenseth reported his engine was expiring. The caution came out for oil on the track, as Kenseth did not get off the track before the engine let go. The top four cars only took two tires, as the rest of the lead lap cars all took four. Jeff Burton (31) was the “Lucky Dog.” 21 cars left on the lead lap.

During the race, they reported that Jimmie Johnson gave his winnings from Coca Cola 600 to the Moore, OK fund. He gave them roughly $150K to the area for helping all those affected by the EF5 Tornado that devastated the area, killing 24 people. This past week, the area was struck by numerous tornados again, killing another 13 people. Three of those that died were storm chasers for the weather channel network. At the halfway mark, Kyle Busch was the leader. On lap 206, Jimmie Johnson (48) took the lead away from Busch.

On lap 275, Landon Cassill (33) had a flat left rear tire and was able to get it off track without any caution. On lap 279, Martin Truex Jr. (56) had an engine failure that ended his day. This brought out the fourth caution. Carl Edwards (99) was able to get the “Lucky Dog” on this caution in 15th position. Ryan Newman (39) and Carl Edwards were both penalized for speeding.

On lap 300, Newman dumped David Gilliland (38) and brought out the fifth caution. Newman was trying to get Gilliland to move out of his way as he tagged him numerous times in a few laps, before he wrecked both of their cars. Both cars were one lap down at the time of the crash. A handful of cars did not make stops and another group decided to only take two tires. This scrambled the front runners a bit with less than 100 laps remaining.

On lap 316, Kasey Kahne (5) spun out of eighth place. The field all pitted and changed just two tires. After this stop, just sixteen cars are on the lead lap. With seventy five laps remaining, Johnson re-took the lead. A broken radiator sent Jamie McMurray (1) to the garage with only 68 laps remaining. He was a lead lap car when the radiator broke. With only fifty laps to go, the top five spots were held by Chevrolets.

On lap 376, Denny Hamlin ran up the track and into the wall to bring out the seventh caution. Jeff Burton received the “Lucky Dog” The top five cars only took two tires and the rest took four. This incident for Hamlin has hurt his chances to make the chase now. Juan Montoya (42) was able to get off pit road first. On the restart, Johnson was charged with jumping the start. He went from second place to seventeenth, one lap down. He would have clearly won the race if he had just given the spot back to Montoya after he jumped out ahead of him. He lost the race due to this penalty by NASCAR.

Juan Montoya did not restart properly, and that is why they black flagged Johnson. Tony Stewart (14) was able to get past Montoya with two laps remaining to win the race.

The rest of the top ten were: Jeff Gordon (24), Kyle Busch (18), Brad Keselowski (2), Clint Bowyer (15), Joey Lagono (22), Kevin Harvick (29), Mark Martin (55) and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (88).

The next race will be Sunday at 1PM at Pocono Raceway on TNT.



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