CarDomain Blog » Dover International Speedway

So Long, Miles!

Jen Dunnaway — Mon, 17 May 2010 09:21:30 +0000

It’s been a pretty fantastic race weekend at Dover, and I’m even more in love with this dazzling, hard-driving track than I was the first time I saw a race here. In addition to being a really cool place to watch NASCAR, Dover has some incredible people–NASCAR can be a tough nut to crack, but PR director Gary Camp and the media center staff do an amazing job of opening Dover’s doors and making sure that you get a chance to see everything you want to see. If you’re ever anywhere near the East Coast, the Monster Mile is a track you need to visit.

If you’re just coming back to the internets from your own awesome weekend, you might only just now be figuring out that the blog was inundated with NASCAR coverage while you were gone–you can check out my collected blogs from Dover here, and browse through both the Nationwide gallery and the Sprint Cup gallery in our Events section. Enjoy, and watch for more weekend race coverage on CarDomain in the coming weeks. Valvoline is sending us to Charlotte, Pocono, and maybe even Infineon!

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Two In A Row At Dover For Kyle Busch

Jen Dunnaway — Sun, 16 May 2010 21:11:46 +0000

Damn, I was really enjoying that battle between Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch–that was an extremely cool show to watch in person, and I’m sure it was great on TV as well. Too bad it was cut short by Jimmie’s pit road speeding penalty near the end of the race, because it’s unlikely that he and Kyle wouldn’t've given each other a run for their money in place of what turned out to be a cruise-control finish. Still, Kyle Busch deserves a big congrats for proving himself in Sprint Cup on the heels of his victory in the Nationwide series yesterday. Oh, and Dover still gives the coolest trophy in NASCAR.

Pit Road Pandemonium

Jen Dunnaway — Sun, 16 May 2010 20:03:11 +0000

The latest pit-road incident involves Clint Bowyer driving off with his jack stuck under his car, but on Dover’s pit road, it’s not hard to see why things like this happen. The pit lane here was widened and lengthened recently, but it’s still right up against the track, separated from the frontstretch by only a wall instead of the usual expanse of grass, meaning there’s no room for runout and nowhere to go when someone launches into your path. Stuff can’t help but get crazy when everyone needs to pit at once–from the roof of the media center, cars looked like they were virtually on top of each other as they slammed into the pits two- and three-wide.

The Race Is On–Who’s Your Pick To Win?

Jen Dunnaway — Sun, 16 May 2010 17:34:58 +0000

Let’s see: Mark Martin has won here like a million times, but Jimmie Johnson’s got the greatest percentage of wins, with five in his 16 starts at Dover. He’s also got the fastest car on the track right now, and swept bot the fall and spring races here last year. On the other hand there’s the Gibbs Toyotas: Kyle Busch won the Nationwide race yesterday and is running up front, and Denny Hamlin has momentum on his side, and was doing pretty well in yesterday’s race until he was wrecked out by Clint Bowyer at the end. Kasey Kahne walked away from the field as soon as the race started, though Johnson just chased him down and is in first. So who’s your pick? Who do you think will win today? Watch the race now on Fox.

Sprint Cup Tech Inspection

Jen Dunnaway — Sun, 16 May 2010 16:21:11 +0000

Out in Dover’s garage area, the cars are undergoing pre-race inspection. They pass through a number of stations, some of them in the garage and some of them outside, to make sure everything’s within spec and nobody’s trying to bend the rules too much. See a few more pics below the jump!

Jeff Hammond Filming Cutaway Car Segment For Fox

Jen Dunnaway — Sun, 16 May 2010 15:41:09 +0000

Sometimes it’s just really surreal to stumble upon something you’re used to seeing on TV. I was wandering up around the inner horse-track portion of the infield and there was Fox’s Hollywood Hotel trailer set up with Jeff Hammond and a small crew taping the Ford Cutaway Car segment in the gravel out front. It’s one of my favorite portions of Fox’s NASCAR broadcast, one of only parts of the pre-race show that specifically focuses on the race cars. I said hi to Mr. Hammond after the taping and shook his hand–it briefly occurred to me that I could lose an appendage this way, but the expected bionic death-grip was actually a gentle and affable handshake. Whew!

A Few Things To Keep In Mind About Dover

Jen Dunnaway — Sun, 16 May 2010 13:05:42 +0000

It’s been described as “Bristol on steroids,” but Dover’s one-mile concrete oval is a monster all its own. It’s steeply banked–24 degrees in the turns and 9 in the straights–and many drivers have described it as the most physically demanding track on the circuit. The transitions from corners to straightaways are particularly abrupt–you’ve got to throw the car down into the corners as hard as you can and fight it to keep it at the bottom. The car doesn’t want to be where it needs to, and your hands can go numb from white-knuckling the wheel. Dover’s concrete surface is bumpy, and the seams collect a lot of rubber, making the cars’ handling more and more bouncy as the race wears on. As rubber is laid down on the track, the “line” or groove that drivers need to follow changes, and they need to adapt their lap strategies to follow it. Pit road is treacherous, not as bad as it used to be before they widened and lengthened it, but it’s rough getting in as the entrance is just off the exit of brutal Turn 4. Finally, in part because of the banking, any mishap or spin at this track is likely to shoot you up into traffic–and into the wall. So hold on, because this Monster Mile is aptly named.

Kyle Busch Wins Heluva Good! 200

Jen Dunnaway — Sat, 15 May 2010 21:36:30 +0000

Following a big wreck and a bout of uncharacteristic fisticuffs between Denny Hamlin and Clint Bowyer, and amidst a crazy last few laps, Kyle Busch rocked the final restart and grabbed the win for the Nationwide race, delivering a solid “so there” to Joe Gibbs for pulling him off his full-time Nationwide Series schedule. Kyle has showed that even if he doesn’t get to run every race, he’ll deliver on those he does run. In the post-race press conference, Kyle said it’s frustrating to not get to compete for the championship this year, it doesn’t stop him from running the same race as he would otherwise–he’s in it to win. Congrats!

Sideways In The Backstretch

Jen Dunnaway — Sat, 15 May 2010 19:33:24 +0000

The Nationwide race is on, and I’ve been out taking pictures. I walked the track to find the good photo spots, and caught Michael Annett taking the No. 15 car around right ahead of Turn 3. Lucky that the traffic was pretty strung out by this point, because Dover’s narrow straightaways and steeply-banked turns tend to put an out-of-control car right into the path of traffic. And the spooky thing is, the exact same thing just happened again, as championship points leader Brad Keselowski spun on the front stretch, also without hitting anything. There’s gotta be an invisible lucky rainbow above Dover today or something. Go below the jump for a few more pics, and check out abc to catch the last half of the race on TV.

Sprint Cup Practice At Dover

Jen Dunnaway — Sat, 15 May 2010 18:15:56 +0000

The Sprint Cup cars are running a few more practice sessions in advance of tomorrow’s race. Jimmie Johnson, generally a strong contender for the win here at Dover (he swept both races last year), was rubbing a tire as soon as he was out on the track. The No. 48 seemed to be smoking out of the right side after he pulled it onto pit row for the tire-testers to inspect before heading straight back to the garage. Check out a few more pics from practice below the jump.