Don’t Forget Us: Chase Not Just A Two-Horse Race

Don’t Forget Us: Chase Not Just A Two-Horse Race

If Brad Keselowski were to receive a grade for his NASCAR Sprint Cup career at Dover International Speedway, the report card might read "incomplete." With just five Dover starts, Keselowski has yet to finish among the top 10.
He finished 12th in Dover’s spring race – eight positions higher than a year ago during Keselowski’s initial Chase appearance. The Michigan driver likely will have to do much better than that to keep his second-place ranking, one point behind Jimmie Johnson.
Keselowski, however, may build on his then-Penske Racing teammate Kurt Busch’s victory in last year’s AAA 400.
Fourth-place Tony Stewart must shake off his recent Dover blues. The two-time Dover winner’s last top 10 (ninth) came in the spring of 2010. He repeated last year’s Chase finish of 25th in June, the victim of a 12-car accident on the race’s ninth lap.
June’s performance at Dover International Speedway may help define what could be a career season for Dale Earnhardt Jr. By matching or eclipsing that fourth-place finish – one of 18 top 10s in 2012 – Earnhardt could cut into his 26-point deficit to Johnson. The seventh-place driver has a single victory in Dover, coming in 2001.

Home Tracks Roundup

Kyle Larson gave Rev Racing its second win of the season and eighth over the last two years with his victory Saturday in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The 20-year-old from Elk Grove, Calif., member of NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity, moved within three of points leader Brett Moffitt as the series heads to Dover Friday. The top four drivers, including Corey LaJoie and Chase Elliott, are within 13 points of each other with three races remaining.

TWO CHAMPS CROWNED: Lee Pulliam, 24, from Semora, N.C., wrapped up his first NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national championship. Pulliam, who competed in an asphalt Late Model in the southeast, won 22 times in 38 starts after finishing third in the series last year. Pulliam and the rest of the top 10 in the final standings earned locked-in spots to the Late Model portion of the UNOH Battle At The Beach next February at Daytona. … DJ Kennington won for a record seventh time this season to claim his second NASCAR Canadian Tire Series presented by Mobil 1 title in three years at Kawartha Speedway Saturday. Kennington outdistanced runner-up J.R. Fitzpatrick by 27 points.

Go Time: Slow Starters Need To Kick Into High Gear

For the likes of Greg Biffle, Martin Truex Jr. and Matt Kenseth, it’s go time.
Though none of the three have slogged through completely wretched Chase starts, they’re not exactly blowing the doors off the place either.
Biffle, ninth in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings, has finished 13th and 18th to open the Chase. Truex, in 10th, has finished ninth and 17th. Kenseth, in 11th, has finished 18th and 14th.
In the Chase era, the lowest points position of an eventual championship after two Chase races is eighth, by Jimmie Johnson in 2006. In all seasons, the eventual champion was fifth or better after the first two Chase races. In five of the nine Chases, the eventual champion was either first or second.
In other words, another mediocre finish could deflate championship hopes altogether.
Biffle is a two-time Dover winner in 2005 and 2008, seasons in which he finished second and third in points. His Driver Rating of 104.2 ranks fourth best.
Truex, from nearby Mayetta, N.J., scored his only NASCAR Sprint Cup victory at the "Monster Mile" in 2007. He also is a two-time Coors Light Pole qualifier including last year’s AAA 400 and finished seventh in June.
Kenseth has won twice most recently in the spring of 2011. He stands second in four Loop Data categories including Driver Rating (110.5) and Average Green Flag Speed (143.630 mph). Kenseth finished third in June’s Dover race.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Etc.

    Brian Dawkins, former hard-hitting safety for the Philadelphia Eagles and Denver Broncos, will be the grand marshal for Sunday’s race. Martin Truex Jr., an Eagles fan, will wear a Dawkins-themed helmet during the event. …  Danica Patrick will make her seventh start of the season and first at Dover. Patrick is coming off her best finish thus far, a 25th at Chicagoland Speedway after starting 41st. … Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who will run a full schedule for Roush Fenway Racing in 2013, will make his third career start this weekend. Stenhouse finished 20th in the season-opening Daytona 500 earlier this year. He took home an 11th in his debut for the Wood Brothers in the 2011 Coca-Cola 600. … NASCAR released the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule. Click here to see the schedule in its entirely. … Ali McDonough of Wilmington, Del., is going to get a VIP experience at Dover as one of four national finalists for the 2012 Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award, given annually to a NASCAR fan who has had an impact on children in the local community. McDonough will get a pace car ride and garage tour and will meet Joey Logano, and other NASCAR Toyota drivers. McDonough’s chosen charity, The Andrew McDonough B+ (Be Positive) Foundation, will receive $25,000 from The NASCAR Foundation. The national winner, chosen by a fan vote on NASCAR.com/award, will receive $100,000 for his or her charity and be recognized at the awards banquet in Las Vegas in Nov. 30.