Tag: Dover

Busch grateful to have a ‘normal day’ at Dover

Kyle Busch picked up his second top-10 finish in three weeks at Dover Motor Speedway in a day his Richard Childress Racing team needed. “A good day for the No. 8 car, a good solid points day, I guess,” Busch said after finishing in fourth place. …

Kyle Busch picked up his second top-10 finish in three weeks at Dover Motor Speedway in a day his Richard Childress Racing team needed.

“A good day for the No. 8 car, a good solid points day, I guess,” Busch said after finishing in fourth place. “That’s a normal day. I’d love to have a lot more normal days; we just can’t seem to get any.”

Busch started from the pole and led the first 34 laps, but he never controlled the race again after losing the top spot to Ryan Blaney, who drove around him under green.

The No. 8 Camaro was a contender in the Wurth 400 and had an average running position of fifth place. The two-time series champion finished seventh in the first stage and sixth in the second stage.

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“[I’m] proud of everybody on this FICO Chevrolet,” Busch said. “The car was pretty decent. I felt like if we came off of pit road there at the end with the clean racetrack the way that it was, and being able to just charge forward [to] try to catch these leaders, that was probably going to be our best bet to try to run them down and race with them. But definitely had a third-place car today.

“Having to come from eighth to fourth on that final run right there was really, really tough, but that’s all we had.”

Sunday was Busch’s best finish on a non-superspeedway. A third-place result at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the second race of the season, is his best effort of the season. The 34 laps he led at Dover are the most he’s led in a race this season.

Larson ‘couldn’t really do anything’ to get past Hamlin at Dover

Kyle Larson “couldn’t really do anything” with Denny Hamlin as the two separated themselves from the field in a battle to win at Dover Motor Speedway. Larson and the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports team wound up second, only able to get within a few car …

Kyle Larson “couldn’t really do anything” with Denny Hamlin as the two separated themselves from the field in a battle to win at Dover Motor Speedway.

Larson and the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports team wound up second, only able to get within a few car lengths of the Joe Gibbs Racing driver. Hamlin prevailed after driving away on the final restart with 62 laps to go and moved around to take away any charge Larson tried to mount in the final laps.

It was the second-to-last restart in the Wurth 400 that changed Larson’s luck. He led the field to the restart with 72 laps to go, doing so on the outside of Hamlin. As the two battled side-by-side down the backstretch, Hamlin was ahead when the caution flew for a crash off Turn 2.

Hamlin assumed the race lead, which he never surrounded. Larson was scored in second place and cited losing control of the race as the only difference he could have needed to beat Hamlin.

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“I went late in the zone and Martin [Truex Jr.] was trying to time it behind me and he hit me right when I wanted to go and it just screwed up,” Larson said of the penultimate restart. “I got a lot of wheel spin, and he [Hamlin] was kind of able to out-race me into [Turn] 1. His car was really good on the short runs. I could pace it and get closer to him at the end of the runs, but it’s so easy to air-block. Not that he was doing anything dirty or anything like that. It’s so easy as the leader, especially at a place like this, to shut off the air on the guys behind you.

“I knew when I got within three car lengths, he was going to start moving around. I just couldn’t really do anything. I was trying all sorts of different angles and speeds and all that. Nothing could generate enough speed to get close enough, I guess, to do anything. So that was a bummer.”

Larson led 39 laps Sunday and won the second stage. He leads the series with six stage wins.

“A great day for our HendrickCars.com Chevy team,” Larson said. “We started 21st, drove up to fifth in the first stage, and then got a stage win — another stage win, so that was good. Good points day. But we would have loved to get a win.

“[We’re] always fast here at Dover. Just needed to be a little bit better on the restarts. I’ve lost a lot of races on restarts here, so just keep trying to get better.”

Hamlin holds off Larson to win at Dover

Denny Hamlin held off Kyle Larson for his third NASCAR Cup Series victory Sunday at Dover Motor Speedway. Hamlin controlled the Wurth 400 off the final restart with 62 laps to go. However, Larson was able to erase Hamlin’s 1.5s lead that the Joe …

Denny Hamlin held off Kyle Larson for his third NASCAR Cup Series victory Sunday at Dover Motor Speedway.

Hamlin controlled the Wurth 400 off the final restart with 62 laps to go. However, Larson was able to erase Hamlin’s 1.5s lead that the Joe Gibbs Racing driver held with 35 laps to go to get within a few car lengths at the finish.

 

The victory was Hamlin’s second at Dover. Hamlin is now tied with William Byron with a series-leading three victories.

“Just a great team,” Hamlin said. “This whole Mavis Tires and Brakes team just did a great job; all the guys on the [pit] wall right here were the ones who made it happen, so thank you to them, Chris Gabehart, [Chris] Lambert and the whole team for giving me great cars.

“Man, I love winning.”

Hamlin led a race-high 136 of 400 laps. Larson won the second stage.

The pair finished 4s ahead of Martin Truex Jr., who finished third. Truex won the first stage and led 69 laps.

Kyle Busch finished fourth after starting from the pole. He led the first 34 laps but never regained the top spot after losing the lead to Ryan Blaney in the first stage.

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Chase Elliott completed the top five finishers. Noah Gragson finished sixth, Blaney, seventh, Alex Bowman, eighth, Daniel Hemric, ninth and Ty Gibbs, 10th.

The final restart was set up by the race’s final caution that flew with 72 laps to go — a three-car crash off Turn 2, itself occurring on a restart. Bubba Wallace, William Byron and Christopher Bell were collected, and the incident ended the race for each driver.

Corey Heim finished 25th in his Cup Series debut with Legacy Motor Club. Heim finished three laps down in the No. 43 Toyota.

Sunday’s race had five caution flags, with 12 lead changes among nine drivers.

Hamlin moved into a tie with Lee Petty for 12th on the all-time wins list at 54.

“It’s just fantastic,” Hamlin said. “I couldn’t hold Lee Petty’s helmet, but I’ve been blessed with a great race team. This whole FedEx, Mavis, Sport Clips, everyone that supports this No. 11 car, they’re the ones who make it happen. I’m just the lucky one who gets to drive it.”

RESULTS

Preece fumes over car fire he calls ‘completely unnecessary’

Ryan Preece was clearly unhappy about the fire that broke out inside his car and ended his race early at Dover Motor Speedway. Preece’s No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse developed smoke inside the cockpit before the race was 30 laps …

Ryan Preece was clearly unhappy about the fire that broke out inside his car and ended his race early at Dover Motor Speedway.

Preece’s No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse developed smoke inside the cockpit before the race was 30 laps old. The team initially thought it was rubber buildup that was burning in the rocker — an issue that Preece’s teammate, Chase Briscoe, dealt with Saturday.

The team worked over the car under the lap 39 caution before Preece returned to the race. But he had to pit again because the smoke was so bad. It still wasn’t good enough to fix the issue, and the car eventually went to the garage, where the team determined their race was over.

“I felt like I was on fire, and I went the first 70 laps just trying to push through and then it got so bad that I couldn’t put my hands on the wheel,” Preece said. “I was worried that an oil line or something would melt, and then the whole car gets engulfed in fire and I don’t want to be trapped in there having that happen, so I pulled off. Whatever happened, it was completely unnecessary, and we can’t afford days like this.”

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Preece didn’t go into specifics as to what caught on fire. The early speculation from the team was that it was rubber, and before going to the garage, it was thought to be the foam inside the door.

“I’m not going to be the one to say what happened, but it wasn’t necessary,” Preece said. “It could have been prevented.”

Preece was the first driver to exit the Wurth 400. He will finish 37th.

R. Truex grabs ‘hometown’ Xfinity win at Dover once again

The hometown favorite, Ryan Truex prevailed in a thrilling double-overtime finish in the BetRivers 200 NASCAR Xfinity Series race Saturday at Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway, leading only the two final laps to earn back-to-back victories at the one-mile …

The hometown favorite, Ryan Truex prevailed in a thrilling double-overtime finish in the BetRivers 200 NASCAR Xfinity Series race Saturday at Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway, leading only the two final laps to earn back-to-back victories at the one-mile track.

The New Jersey native and defending race winner started alongside 20-year old Carson Kvapil on the front row for the final overtime restart then pulled away to take the lead and ultimately the white flag – signaling one lap to go. An accident elsewhere on track officially ended the race under caution.

 

“I can’t believe it. Our car was just good at the end when it mattered. I was so loose all day,” said Truex, 32, the younger brother of NASCAR Cup Series driver Martin Truex Jr.

“Shout out to Carson. What an amazing run for, what, his second race. I felt a little bad running him up the hill, but you’ve got to take these things when you can.

“I think I held my breath the last two laps. Love these fans. Love this track.”

While Truex hoisted and will certainly savor the Dover trophy, it was also a great day for Kvapil driving the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet. The son of former NASCAR driver Travis Kvapil, finished fourth in his only other series start – at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway earlier this year – giving him a very promising pair of top five results in as many Xfinity Series races he’s competed in.

“This is pretty incredible,” Kvapil said. “Definitely felt like we had a fast car going into the day, but to be competing for the win on a green-white-checkered is pretty amazing. We’ve been in this situation before just not quite at this level.”

For much of the final laps, the outcome looked like it was going to be decided between former Richard Childress Racing teammates, Austin Hill and Sheldon Creed. Hill, driver of the No. 21 RCR Chevrolet and Creed, who now drives the No. 18 JGR Toyota restarted door-to-door on the front row on a restart with 11 laps remaining. As that pair raced aggressively side-by-side for the lead, Kvapil put his Chevy down low, three-wide and drove past the pair to take the lead with eight laps remaining.

On the final restart of regulation — with five laps remaining — Hill and Kvapil restarted alongside one another on the front row, but Hill spun out in tight-quarter action between them in Turn 1, necessitating overtime. Kvapil was able to fend off the field on that first restart, only to have another caution come out. On the second restart, he and Truex started alongside each other, but Truex was able to get around Kvapil at the start and pace the field for the final two laps.

The race was briefly halted under red flag conditions for a light rain with 34 laps remaining. Stewart-Haas Racing’s Cole Custer – who led a race best 95 of the 208 laps – was leading at the time and then decided to pit for tires and fuel during yellow flag laps just before the cars restarted. He had to restart at the tail end of the field, but the reigning series champion rallied back to a fifth-place finish – able to advance on three ensuing caution periods plus the double overtime.

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JR Motorsports’ Sam Mayer finished third, with Creed fourth followed by Custer. Kaulig Racing’s A.J. Allmendinger was sixth, followed by JGR’s Chandler Smith, Kyle Weatherman Racing’s Kyle Weatherman, Our Motorsports’ Anthony Alfredo and Jordan Anderson Racing’s Parker Retzlaff.

The ninth-place finish was especially big for Alfredo, earning him the final Dash 4 Cash $100,000 prize – besting Riley Herbst, Jesse Love and Ryan Sieg – in the last of the four-race incentive program sponsored by Xfinity.

“Really coming into this race, that was our motivation. It wasn’t something to just be a part of… I mean this was huge,” Alfredo said. “You don’t understand how small our budget is compared to these bigger teams. People overlook it because we’ve been running so well. The last three weeks we’ve been running top 10, and everyone asks, ‘Who’s your alliance with?’

“… Coming into this race we knew if we could pull it off, we could invest in our team to be that much better.”

JR Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier, a two-time Dover winner, won the opening stage of the race and ran up front – his 39 laps in the lead second only to Custer. He also pit in the waning laps and managed to rally back to a 17th-place finish.

Smith now leads Custer by a single point in the Xfinity Series championship standings as the series heads into an off-week. It resumes racing at the historic Darlington (S.C.) Raceway in the Royal Purple Bag Project 200 on May 11 (1:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). NASCAR Cup Series regular Kyle Larson is the defending race winner.

RESULTS

Busch’s season gets a boost with Dover pole

Kyle Busch is back on the NASCAR Cup Series pole at Dover Motor Speedway after topping the final round of qualifying Saturday afternoon. Busch earned the top spot at 162.191mph (22.196s). It’s the first pole for Busch and the No. 8 Richard Childress …

Kyle Busch is back on the NASCAR Cup Series pole at Dover Motor Speedway after topping the final round of qualifying Saturday afternoon.

Busch earned the top spot at 162.191mph (22.196s). It’s the first pole for Busch and the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing team this season and their first since St. Louis last season. Busch went on to win that race.

However, Busch did lead the field to the green flag Dover last season. But qualifying had been washed out, and Busch was on the pole via the NASCAR rule book.

“We started out really good; the first month was strong,” Busch said of his season to date. “We had some really good races there and just had other issues. But you’re right, the last month or so has definitely been a struggle with speed. Talladega (Superspeedway) is a crapshoot anyways. But it’s pretty funny, we were standing here talking about sitting on the pole last year here, too, with the rain out and we started first, and then my overexcitement of coming down pit road the first time, speeding on pit road, sent us to the back and didn’t quite have the race we wanted. So, I don’t want to make that same mistake this year.”

Busch is 17th in points entering Dover Motor Speedway with three top-10 finishes. He is a three-time winner at Dover.

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“The FICO Camaro guys here did a great job,” Busch said. “RCR, ECR, thank you. Lucas Oil and everybody for all the hard work. We’re wanting to tread the right way and putting in the effort, putting in the hours, all the extra work, and trying to figure out exactly what’s going on and why.

“This is our first test of it. We felt like Dover and Kansas would be a really good test of some stuff and, hey, what do you know, it works. Let’s go.”

Ryan Blaney joins Busch on the front row. Blaney, who was fastest in practice, qualified second at 161.951mph.

William Byron qualified third at 161.486mph, and Tyler Reddick qualified fourth at 161.23mph. Noah Gragson qualified fifth at 160.714mph. It is a career-best qualifying effort for Gragson.

Denny Hamlin qualified sixth at 160.371mph, Chase Briscoe qualified seventh at 159.688mph, and Michael McDowell qualified eighth at 159.088mph. Alex Bowman qualified ninth at 159.039mph, and AJ Allmendinger completed the top 10 at 158.186mph.

Martin Truex Jr., the defending winner at Dover, qualified 15th. Truex’s lap was 161.515mph.

Corey Heim qualified 32nd for his Cup Series debut. Heim’s lap in the Legacy Motor Club No. 43 Toyota was 159.327mph.

Christopher Bell qualified 33rd after spinning in Turn 4 after the car bottomed out. During the spin, Bell tagged the wall with the rear, but his Joe Gibbs Racing team will replace the diffuser and focus on racing their primary car.

Kaz Grala and Zane Smith did not make a qualifying attempt. Both drivers crashed during practice, and their teams are working on preparing for Sunday’s race.

RESULTS

Heim embracing opportunity as Jones substitute at Dover

Corey Heim sat in a NASCAR Cup Series car for the first time Saturday when he took the No. 43 Toyota Camry on track for practice at Dover Motor Speedway. Heim is unexpectedly making his debut as he substitutes for Erik Jones, who was injured last …

Corey Heim sat in a NASCAR Cup Series car for the first time Saturday when he took the No. 43 Toyota Camry on track for practice at Dover Motor Speedway.

Heim is unexpectedly making his debut as he substitutes for Erik Jones, who was injured last weekend at Talladega Superspeedway. Heim is the reserve driver for Legacy Motor Club and 23XI Racing, and Jones is on a week-by-week basis as to when he returns from a compression fracture of a lower vertebra.

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“There is just a long list of men and women at Legacy Motor Club that have helped me get prepared for this race,” Heim said. “I would be lying to you if I wasn’t a little nervous about it because I’ve never sat in one of these cars before, but my job is to do the best I can for this 43 group until Erik comes back.”

Heim would be in the car next weekend at Kansas Speedway if needed. The 21-year-old Heim is a full-time competitor in the Craftsman Truck Series for TRICON Garage.

“Working with Legacy Motor Club since the start of the year has given me a little bit of a head start, I guess, for this week,” Heim said. “You never expect something like this to happen, but at least being able to talk to Dave (Elenz, crew chief) and the other two teams at Legacy Motor Club and being able to start those relationships at the beginning of the year and kick-start this week a little bit better for me. It’s been a pleasure for sure — just getting the virtual seat time in a Cup car has helped me for sure, and being able to tune on the simulator side of things this year.

“I didn’t really get to dive too deep into things this week, but I think the three or four days that I got in preparation and leaning on all of the drivers at Legacy Motor Club to be as ready as I can is the biggest thing for me. I will definitely learn a lot in the next couple of hours, but I think the last three or four days have been really beneficial for me versus over not getting a heads-up. That would have been a lot tougher, for sure.”

Jones has been involved with the team all week and is present at Dover. The advice Jones has been giving has already been “crucial” to Heim, who only had 20 minutes of practice in the car. Jones has also talked to Heim about setting realistic expectations about completing all of the laps in the Wurth 400.

“I think for us, we are just going to try to take it one step at a time,” Heim said. “We’ve got the 20-minute practice and then qualifying. We are going to take it stage by stage there. It is certainly not going to be easy, but it is a longer race than I’ve been accustomed to with the Trucks and the Xfinity stuff, and I also have the Xfinity race (Saturday afternoon) as well to kind of lean on as well. I’ve got the time this weekend to sort of figure it out.

“I don’t know if I will feel that I’ve got it figured out by the end of the weekend, but any advice is super important. I’ve been reaching out to as many people as I possibly can to try to gather all of the information and try to have a decent idea. With these 20-minute practices, it is pretty brutal to wrap your head around a completely different kind of race car within that time frame, but my job is just to do the best I can for this 43 group and move forward from there.”

Heim was 31st fastest in practice but said he had fun and learned his limit quickly. The longer he ran, however, the more Heim felt he was getting warmed up to the Cup Series car.

Blaney leads Dover Cup practice

Ryan Blaney was fastest in NASCAR Cup Series practice Saturday at Dover Motor Speedway as the only drive to hit 159mph during the session. Blaney’s top speed was 159.468mph (22.575s). Tyler Reddick was second fastest at 158.983mph and William Byron …

Ryan Blaney was fastest in NASCAR Cup Series practice Saturday at Dover Motor Speedway as the only drive to hit 159mph during the session. Blaney’s top speed was 159.468mph (22.575s).

Tyler Reddick was second fastest at 158.983mph and William Byron was third fastest at 158.954mph. Chase Briscoe was fourth fastest at 158.479mph, and Jimmie Johnson, in a third Legacy Motor Club entry, completed the top five at 158.444mph.

Michael McDowell was sixth fastest at 158.282mph, and Ross Chastain was seventh fastest at 158.200mph. Chase Elliott was eighth fastest at 158.165mph, AJ Allmendinger was ninth fastest at 158.054mph, and Chris Buescher completed the top 10 at 158.047mph.

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Defending race winner Martin Truex Jr. was 25th fastest. Truex’s best lap was 156.952mph.

Corey Heim was 31st fastest in the No. 43 for Erik Jones, who is sidelined with a compression fracture. Heim’s lap was 156.216mph.

In the best 10 consecutive lap average, it was William Byron over Denny Hamlin, Ty Gibbs, Martin Truex Jr., and Christopher Bell. Chase Elliott, Carson Hocevar, Josh Berry, Ryan Blaney, and Zane Smith were the rest of the top 10 in the category.

Kaz Grala took a hard frontal impact into the Turn 4 wall as practice was winding down. Grala’s Rick Ware Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse appeared to get loose, shooting him hard to the outside wall and then back down the racetrack. Grala climbed out under his own power.

“That was so quick, I didn’t feel. Like I had any time to react to it,” Grala said. “It was definitely unexpected. We had been a little free through practice, but our race pace was actually really good, I felt like. I felt like that was maybe our best car of the year, and it was gone out from under me before I could try to save it.

“I’m definitely really disappointed; really unfortunate for our team. We’re obviously not in a good position for backup cars, so we’ll have to see what we have to work with for tomorrow, but far from an ideal situation. But I’m just glad I’m all right, and we’ll do what we can for tomorrow.”

Zane Smith also crashed during practice. The Spire Motorsports driver wasn’t sure if it was a tire issue that caused his Chevrolet to hit the wall and damage the right rear.

There are 37 drivers entered in the Wurth 400.

TV ratings: Kansas, Miami

Formula 1 returned to the United States for the second annual Miami Grand Prix, and averaged 1.96 million viewers for the race window (3:30-5:15pm ET), ABC/ESPN reports. Overall, the ABC live telecast averaged a 0.90 Nielsen rating and 1.646m …

Formula 1 returned to the United States for the second annual Miami Grand Prix, and averaged 1.96 million viewers for the race window (3:30-5:15pm ET), ABC/ESPN reports. Overall, the ABC live telecast averaged a 0.90 Nielsen rating and 1.646m viewers, including the 90-minute pre-race show. It was the second-largest U.S. live F1 TV audience on record, albeit slightly trailing last year’s Miami GP for the top spot all time (1.08/2.066m on ABC).

NASCAR still the way led overall, with the Cup Series race at Kansas averaging a 1.35 rating and 2.352m viewers on FS1. That’s down slightly in rating but higher in audience than last year (1.43/2.337m). However, F1 qualifying beat Cup’s equivalent, with Miami GP qualifying securing 751,000 viewers on ESPN Saturday, vs 501K tuning in for Cup qualifying on FS1.

The Craftsman Truck Series race from Kansas on Saturday night averaged an 0.43 rating and 705,000 viewers, up from last year’s 0.37/660K, while the ARCA Menards Series at race at Kansas averaged 0.25/393K, compared to a 0.26/440K last year. All these races aired on FS1.

F1 continued to lead the way in the 18-49 age demographic, averaging 625,000 viewers to 430K for Cup, 127K for Trucks and 98K for ARCA.

The final numbers for the Cup Series race at Dover that was delayed to Monday by rain were a 0.63 rating and 1.067m viewers on FS1

TV ratings: Barber, Baku and Dover

Rain force postponement of last Sunday’s scheduled NASCAR Cup Series race at Dover to Monday, where the FS1 telecast averaged 1.067 million viewers per numbers from ShowBuzzDaily.com (the rating number was not yet available). While not bad for a …

Rain force postponement of last Sunday’s scheduled NASCAR Cup Series race at Dover to Monday, where the FS1 telecast averaged 1.067 million viewers per numbers from ShowBuzzDaily.com (the rating number was not yet available). While not bad for a Monday, that was down from 1.487m for last year’s Sunday telecast on FS1, which was also hit by rain.

The NTT IndyCar Series race from Barber Motorsports Park on NBC Sunday averaged an 0.57 and 930,000 viewers, nearly unchanged from a 0.59/920K  last year. However, NBC Sports reports that Total Audience Delivery counting streaming was 972,000, making it the most watched Barber race on record.

Formula 1 warmed up for this weekend’s return to ABC with a a strong audience for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, which averaged an 0.53 Nielsen rating and 958,000 viewers on ESPN, up 15% over last year’s race which ran in June. Saturday’s F1 sprint race also did well, drawing 883,000 viewers.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Dover ran as scheduled on Saturday and averaged 0.41/674,000, a big drop from 0.59/926K in 2022.

Monster Energy Supercross was on NBC Saturday afternoon from Nashville and averaged 0.31/494,000.

Coverage of the Camping World Drag Racing Series finals from Charlotte on Sunday averaged 0.28/472,000 on FS1.