The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series marches-on to Dover International Speedway’s concrete palace for the AAA Drive for Autism 400. We looked at past performances, season trends, and spoke to NASCAR contacts to shed a light on how the field will finish on Sunday.
When: Sunday, May 15; 1:15 p.m./et.
Weather: Party cloudy with a high around 60; wind out of the NW at 19 mph. There is a 50 percent chance of precipitation on race day.
The Track: Dover InternationalSpeedway
Dover is a one mile concrete oval with 24 degree banking in the turns and nine degree banking on the straight-aways.
Key to Race: THE MONSTER MILE
Dover International Speedway is the “Monster Mile”. The high-banked concrete track lets drivers run nearly wide-open the entire way around. While Kyle Busch is the hottest driver on the circuit this year we look for Jimmie Johnson to also bring a hot rod on Sunday. Johnson has won a track-record 10 times, including four of the last eight. Kevin Harvick also promises to be fast.
Qualifying Procedures:
40 cars will attempt to qualify for 40 spots.
Fantasy Cheat Sheet:
Top 5
No. 18 Kyle Busch: Rowdy has started this season on fire. He has nine top five finishes including three victories. There is no reason not to ride his hot streak.
No. 48 Jimmie Johnson: Johnson has dominated at Dover. He has 10 career wins at the track including a victory last spring.
No. 4 Kevin Harvick: Harvick led 355 laps at Dover last fall on his way to winning the race. He should have the No. 4 sled near the front all day.
No. 20 Matt Kenseth: Kenseth has brought one of the best cars to the Dover lately. He will be very fast again this weekend.
No. 19 Carl Edwards: Edwards ran fantastic on the concrete oval at Bristol earlier this year. He hopes the success will follow him to Dover.
6 to 10
No. 22 Joey Logano: Logano has seven top 10 finishes in the past 10 races at Dover. He should make it eight this weekend.
No. 2 Brad Keselowski: Keselowski won the 2012 fall race at Dover and was terrific in both of the 2014 races at the track. He is a good choice.
No. 78 Martin Truex Jr.: Truex Jr. has six top 10 finishes in the last 12 starts at Dover. He should be in contention to make it seven.
No. 24 Chase Elliott: Elliott is making his first career start at Dover, but the uber-talented rookie shouldn’t have any issues with the Monster.
No. 5 Kasey Kahne: Kahne finished inside the top 10 in both races at Dover last year. This is a good weekend to use him.
11 to 20
No. 11 Denny Hamlin: Hamlin has had his fair share of struggles at the Monster during his career. He should finish just outside the top 10.
No. 41 Kurt Busch: Busch has just one career win at Dover. There are better options this weekend.
No. 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Junior has cracked the top 20 in 13 of the past 22 races at Dover. He will be good again this weekend.
No. 3 Austin Dillon: Dillon has never had any success at the Monster, but that should change this weekend.
No. 31 Ryan Newman: Newman has been very quick at Dover during his career. We like him a lot this weekend.
No. 42 Kyle Larson: Larson cruised to a third place finish at Dover last spring. He will be fast again this visit to Delaware.
No. 1 Jamie McMurray: McMurray has been decent at Dover during his career. This is a good weekend to use the No. 1 driver.
No. 43 Aric Almirola: Almirola was great at Dover last year. He is worth using as a third driver in all leagues.
No. 27 Paul Menard: Menard notched a top 10 finish at Dover last spring. He is nice third or fourth driver in most fantasy leagues.
No. 14 Tony Stewart: “Smoke” has 11 career top five finishes at Dover. He could be sneaky-fast this week.
21 to 30
No. 6 Trevor Bayne
No. 15 Clint Bowyer
No. 16 Greg Biffle
No. 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
No. 21 Ryan Blaney
No. 47 AJ Allmendinger
No. 10 Danica Patrick
No. 13 Casey Mears
No. 38 Landon Cassill
No. 83 Matt DiBenedetto
No. 95 Michael McDowell
Field Fillers:
No. 98 Cole Whitt
No. 34 Chris Buescher
No. 44 Brian Scott
No. 23 David Ragan
No. 7 Regan Smith
No. 46 Michael Annett
No. 32 Jeffery Earnhardt
No. 30 Josh Wise
No. 55 Reed Sorenson
My NASCAR LIVE Team for this Week:
A.J. Allmendinger
Race Winner: Jimmie Johnson
Manufacturer: Toyota
My Yahoo! Fantasy NASCAR Team for this Week:
B. Kasey Kahne
