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NASCAR Notebook: Dover Downs is known for dangerous pit road
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Published: September 19, 2008
■ Dover Downs International Speedway has the most dangerous pit road on the tour. And that's not just for over-the-wall crewmen who risk having their feet chopped off by drivers cutting in too sharply. NASCAR's eagle-eyed stop-watch officials invariably catch a good number of pit-road speeders here, and that stop-and-go penalty can be a killer.
This high-banked, blindingly white concrete oval might look deceptively straightforward. But Ben Leslie, Ford's field boss and a former crew chief, said, "Dover is pretty tricky.
"The biggest thing is not to overdrive the corner … and to work with your driver on the car being loose-in," Leslie said. "Dover is a tough track just from the standpoint of survival. The race was shortened, but 400 laps still make it a game of survival. The race is still long (four hours), so there are a lot of scenarios that play out in pit strategy and pit sequence, if you get caught on pit road with cautions.
"So there's a reasonable amount luck that goes with Dover."
■ Denny Hamlin, erratic as most of the Chase drivers except for Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards, said he's still scratching his head over Jimmie Johnson's sudden return to form and his dominant runs at Los Angeles and Loudon and a his second straight win at Richmond.
"Jimmie wasn't even an issue until two or three months ago, and then he did a lot of testing and picked up his program," Hamlin said. "That could happen for any of the other guys that are in. Greg is starting to run strong. And I feel we're coming into our own, with a couple of top-10 finishes on a variety of tracks, big and small.
"I think we've gotten our package better, and each week we're getting a little more confidence."
■ One of the big story lines this weekend will be whether Kyle Busch can gather it back up after that Loudon disaster (34th place) or whether Loudon was simply the start of a collapse.
Busch has looked strong before during the regular season, only to fail in the Chase. And if he's looking for a "stopper," this could be the place. He won here in the spring.
"Dover is fun," Busch said. "I always run the triple in the spring. And I'm running the Nationwide race this time, too. There are a lot of characteristics that make it fun: the concrete, the high banks."
■ Now that Jay Frye has re-signed as general manager with Toyota's Team Red Bull, his next chore is figuring out if he'll be running a three-car team or a two-car team next season. The answer focuses on A.J. Allmendinger and Scott Speed.
Allmendinger, in his second season on the tour, has improved considerably since Jimmy Elledge took over as crew chief. But has he improved enough to keep his ride? And if the team keeps Allmendinger, how does Speed fit into a full-time Cup ride? Speed, as fast as he's made the transition from Formula One to ARCA and NASCAR Trucks, appears a very good bet to make it in Cup … even though most open-wheel racers lately have struggled.
■ Bobby Hutchens, the veteran engineering manager for Richard Childress, is now in command of Dale Earnhardt Inc., and one of the first items on his to-do list is to improve the image of DEI -- among fans, media and rivals on the track.
Bring on Martin Truex Jr., a Dover winner last year and now the lead driver for DEI. Yesterday he kicked off the Martin Truex Jr. Foundation Golf Tournament in his New Jersey hometown of Mayetta, about 75 miles from Dover Downs as the seagulls fly.
Among the charities: the Ocean of Love, which helps children fighting cancer; the local Head Start program; a treatment center for dyslexic children; and the New Jersey Pajama Program, which helps abused children.
"I'm a terrible golfer … but that's OK," Truex said. "It's not about playing golf, it's about raising money for kids."
■ Goodyear has been testing this week at Daytona for next year's season-opening 500, with Ford's David Ragan and Chevrolet's Paul Menard.
"It's data and driver feel," Ragan said. "We run 15 to 20 laps and see how the car reacts the first five or six laps versus the last six or seven laps: see where the temperatures go, how the lap times change, and obviously how they wear."
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