Live on Type Delay: Camping World RV Sales 400

Saturday night's Craftsman Truck Series race at Las Vegas was not only the highly competitive event which trademarks that series, but was a good illustration of how fast things can change in a championship points chase. Johnny Benson was leading in the points standings by 70 or so points. A cut tire just before the halfway point of the race retired the # 23 team from the competition, while they were leadint the race, and Mike Skinner took the checkers in a hard fought battle with Matt Crafton. Meanwhile Ron Hornaday needed to finish fifth to take the points lead, He finished sixth and now trails Benson by one point. Note that the points chase in the truck series is the entire season--there is no Chase format in the CTS.

Jeff Gordon starts on the pole in today's race at Dover, and is 99 points out of the lead. This in itself has us anticipating a great race. Most of the race will be about catching the leader.

Gordon takes the lead, and Denny Hamlin quickly moves into second, taking that spot from Mark Martin, who got trapped while going to the inside. A wreck involving Kurt Busch, who started in fourth, and David Gilliland, brings out the caution on lap 2. Things are already happening. There could have been much more carnage on the Monster Mile, as the cars were still close together after the start.

Lap 6 restart, and Gordon and Hamlin get a gap on the rest of the field. Greg Biffle is in third and is challenging Hamlin before the end of the lap. Biffle overdrives turn three and loses some ground, and now has to protect his position from Mark Martin, who started second on the grid.

Martin is serious about taking that third spot, and there is some heavy racing between third and sixth. On lap 12, Carpentier spins and makes contact with Edwards, but the damage seems minimal. Most of the cars from fifth place on back pit, and the front five stay out.

Restart on lap 18, and Earnhardt takes sixth from Clint Bowyer, but Jamie McMurray is moving up as well. After a few laps, Bowyer has moved back to tenth. On lap 29 there is a great battle for third, between Denny Hamlin, Mark Martin, and Matt Kenseth. Jamie McMurray has moved up all the way to second, and passes Jeff Gordon on the back stretch.

David Reutimann and Kyle Busch are now making the battle for third a five car affair. McMurray has gained a big lead over Jeff Gordon, and is about to meet up with the rear of the field, where there have already been some near misses among the cars trying to get out of being at the rear of the field.

Lap 49 and Bowyer takes the tenth spot from Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Stewart has moved up from his starting spot of 33rd to 21st place. He is the furthest back of the Chase drivers. It is now lap 54, and many of the cars are looking as if they need tires. We can expect the dreaded Dover green flag pit stops within 20 laps.

The top five on lap 61 are McMurray, Gordon, Martin, Kenseth, and Kyle Busch. Busch takes fourth on lap 63. On lap 64, Joe Nemecheck pops a tire and brings out a much needed caution. Needless to say, everybody pits. Kenseth gains four positions in the pits and exits pit road first. Jimmie Johnson gets caught up in pit road traffic and loses some spots. He was running in sixth before the caution. Mark Martin is second, Jeff Gordon third, McMurray fourth and Edwards fifth. Hamlin exited pit road fourth, but had to serve a pit road speeding penalty.

Restart on lap 70, and Gordon immediately takes second from Martin. Earnhardt, Jr is falling back and is back to 20th. By lap 85, McMurray has made it up to second. Mark Martin takes third from Gordon, and Edwards moves into fourth. Jeff Gordon maintains fifth. McMurray still seems to have the fastest car in the field.

McMurray and Martin aren't the only party crashers in the top ten, they are joined by David Reutimann. In seventh and eighth place, we are seeing another great race between Johnson and Biffle. It looks like Biffle is catching Johnson. Remember, the 16 car is not one of the two cars Jack Roush wants to win the championship. He is doing well for being the Roush black sheep and the Chase dark horse. He completes the pass during the commercial.

Matt Kenseth is having trouble getting around Robby Gordon, who is at the end of the lead lap, and McMurray has caught up to him. But, he too has trouble in the lapped traffic, and Martin takes second. There is some intense racing between second, third, and fourth, as Carl Edwards is also in the mix. McMurray retakes second.

On lap 128, things have settled down a bit, with Kenseth still leading, McMurray in second, Martin in third, Edwards in fourth, and Gordon in fifth. Biffle is in sixth. Two weeks in a row, and Kyle Busch has another problem with a blown engine this time. Meanwhile Jr cuts a tire while trying to stay on the lead lap. This is a well timed caution, as green flag pit stops were expected to begin.

Everybody on the lead lap pits. Kenseth stays in first, Edwards is second, Mark Martin is third. Earnhardt, Jr is still having problems, and is now a lap down. The 88 car is not holding the turns well at all. Jeff Gordon is fourth, and Greg Biffle is fifth. Another caution on 157 as the 84 car and the 9 car make contact. That's AJ Allmendinger and Kasey Kahne. None of the lead cars pit at this time.

Robby Gordon and Jamie McMurray bring out a caution almost immediately after the restart. It looks as if Gordon lost the handle on his car, and McMurray, who was having a great day up to this point, was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

During the pit stops, it seems that Hamlin may be having mechanical problems as well. If it isn't one thing, it's another. The 11 team is looking at a possible oil leak from the rear-end gear housing

Matt Kenseth still leads. Edwards is second, Martin third, Jeff Gordon fourth, and Biffle is fifth. Kenseth gets away from the lapped car of Paul Menard at the restart, but Edwards is momentarily held up. Edwards and Martin also get around Menard, but Gordon is being held up, as Kenseth pulls further into the lead. Hornish wrecks for nearly half a lap, and the caution comes out on lap 172.

Bad news for McMurray--he has had to take his car to the garage. That was a good car, but luck did not smile on him today.

Now the 18 car has stopped completely, and Kyle Busch is out of the race.

Hamlin is the only other Chase driver to pit. Stewart has moved up to 11th. The top five remain the same as it was before the seventh caution, except Greg Biffle is in fourth, and Clint Bowyer has moved into fifth. Kevin Harvick is now in sixth, Jimmie Johnson in seventh, and Jeff Burton is in eighth. Stewart has entered the top ten, and is moving on ninth place Ryan Newman. Jeff Gordon is trapped in a three wide melee, and wisely falls back to avoid a possible catastrophy. Hornish has another incident and there is another caution. We may see some takers to pit road this time, and, the race being just over the halfway point, pit strategies should begin to come into play.

Nearly all the cars on the lead lap pit when pit road opens. Three Roush cars, Edwards, Kenseth, and Biffle lead the field off of pit road in that order. Jimmie Johnson stayed out during the pit stops, and is scored in the lead. Ryan Newman has moved into the second spot. Dave Blaney also stayed out and fills out the top three. Allmendinger is fourth and Montoya restarts fifth.

On MRN, they are reporting that the 18 team may be able to patch up the engine to allow the car to finish the race.

Jeff Gordon takes fifth from Montoya on lap 196 and is about to pass Allmendinger. He does, and now Montoya is challenging for fifth, and he also passes Allmendinger. Meanwhile, Edwards and the former leaders are making their way up from 12th spot.

At this point there is not reason for the 18 car to return to the track, even if they can get the motor running, as the best they could do would be a 42nd place finish. This isn't the driver's fault, for two weeks in a row, mechanical problems have taken that team out.

Jeff Gordon has moved up to third. and Carl Edwards to fourth. Edwards takes third with 164 laps to go. Kenseth is fifth. Johnson has to pit on lap 239. Now Carl Edwards leads, Jeff Gordon is second, but Kenseth takes that spot from him. Biffle takes third, and Gordon stays in fourth. Kevin Harvick is the next chaser back in eighth spot. Hamlin's rear end troubles are getting worse, he loses a rear tire, and has to take his car to the garage. Meanwhile Harvick, Bowyer, Stewart, and Burton have moved into the top ten, while Edwards leads, Biffle is second, and Kenseth is third. It's looking like as good a day for Roush as it is a bad day for two of the Gibbs teams.

Lap 269 is where the green flag stops start for much of the field. Harvick and Bowyer each lead a lap before they pit. The leaders are now Johnson, Carl Edwards is second, Kenseth is third, Biffle fourth, and Ryan Newnan is fifth. Gordon's car is coming around, and he takes fifth from Newman, as Martin follows Gordon and takes fifth. Blaney, Reutiman and Harvick fill out the top ten as we get a debris caution with 109 laps to go.

You know the 48 team is loving this, as this caution will put all the teams on the same pit sequence. The top four cars all pit. Johnson, Edwards, Biffle, and Kenseth leave pit road in that order. Those are the same positions in which they will restart on lap 298. Biffle and Edwards are both battling Johnson for the lead on lap 299 and Biffle takes the lead on lap 302. Mark Martin is still playing the part of the party crasher and has moved into fifth.

With around 65 laps to go, things pick up as everybody is trying to move up in position. there is some hard racing as everybody wants to move up to the lead at once. Martin has taken second, Edwards still leads.

With 49 laps to go, Montoya cuts a tire and hits the wall, bring out the caution, which everybody seemed to need. This will be the "money stop," as there will be no need for scheduled pit stops. unless somebody decides to take a gamble. Edwards comes out first, Mark Martin second, Greg Biffle third, Matt Kenseth fourth, and Jimmie Johnson fifth. Edwards only took two tires, while everyone else took four. Kevin Harvick is sixth, Jeff Gordon seventh, and Ryan Newman is eighth. Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer fill up the top ten.

Kenseth gets second before the lap is finished Fun watching Biffle and Martin race each other for third. These two drivers are having as much fun racing each other as we are watching them.

Between Edwards and Kenseth, Kenseth seems to have the stronger car. This may be the difference between two and four fresh tires. Kenseth doesn't seem to have enough horsepower to complete the pass, and stays in second.

With 35 laps to go, Stewart begins making his move toward the front. He may have been just conserving his car to this point. That is probably a good idea, as his team mates have both had car problems. Hamlin is 37 laps down, and Busch is out of the race.

29 laps to go and Kenseth is right on Carl's bumper. We are getting a great race for the lead, and Kenseth is being more aggressive than we are used to from him. Biffle is making it a three way race for the lead now. Kenseth makes a move to the inside, but is chopped off by Edwards, while Biffle moves to the ouside and does some serious racing for the lead. Now Kenseth takes the lead, but that race is not over with. Biffle moves to the inside of turn one with 21 laps to go, but Kenseth holds him off. Edwards has used up his tires, and is falling back, but we are still seeing some exciting wheel to wheel racing. Edwards isn't out of it yet, either.

Right now it looks like we are into a race for the lead that will last for the remainder of the race. This is the kind of racing we love in the finishing laps. Biffle and Kenseth are nearly door panel to door panel with 14 laps to go, and they approach lapped traffic .Biffle makes a move to the inside in turn three, and Kenseth holds him off again. Still, Da Biff stays right with Kenseth, and Edwards is re-entering the fray. He is now on Biffles rear bumper. Wow! Now the lapped traffic is just in front of the three leaders, and Biffle is still door to door with Kenseth. Biffle almost gets into Kenseth, and Edwards tries to take the lead. Team mates mean nothing here, Kenseth is trying hard to keep the lead. Biffle finally completes the pass in turn three with 8 laps to go. We have completely forgotten about the rest of the field.

Da Biff looks like he may make it two in a row, if the tire rub on the right front doesn't cause something worse, he will. Another race, another exciting shoot-out at the end. We love this sport.

Final thoughts:

It was a bad day for the Gibbs teams. Stewart finished the best of the three in eleventh, after being unable to break into the top ten by passing Michael Waltrip. There are some fans on the forums who actually believe Waltrip is running a Ford engine that he stole from the Roush-Yates engine shop. That is a joke, folks.

It was a lot of fun watching the three top Roush drivers race each other hard for the lead. It also would have been fun if Carl Edwards had wrecked all three of them. I like Matt Kenseth, and I definitely have nothing against Greg Biffle, Jamie McMurray or David Ragan. However I can't stand Jack Roush, and I like Carl Edwards even less, so it would have been interesting to see Roush's reaction if Carl had become impatient and screwed up.

All three of the RCR teams finished in the top ten. That organization is doing what they need to do to stay in contention, with all three of their contenders on a consistant streak of top ten finishes.

Johnson finished fifth, and Gordon seventh, but it wasn't a good day for Earnhardt, Jr. The 88 team may be a victim of trying too hard.

What was really great about this finish is that it has been too long since we have seen Biffle show us what he can really do. We have had faith in Da Biff, and have been following his career since he was in the Truck Series. He is an exciting racer to watch, especially when he is wheel to wheel with another driver of his caliber.

Dover was the site of my first experience at a Cup race. The track has changed since then, but it holds a sentimental spot in my heart because it was my first Cup race. Today's race was one of the best of the season, and my love for Dover has gone up a notch.

Dover can be monsterous, so can this blogger

Last week's race at Loudon turned out to be better than expected, and that is a good thing. We have written this before: It is better to be cynical and pleasently surprised than it is to be optimistic and bitterly disappointed. It seems the teams have the car dialed in for NHMS. The action was non-stop, and there was some great racing all around the track and throughout the field for the entire race. We will find out Sunday if they can say the same about the Monster Mile at Dover.

Dover has been one of those tracks where the inability to complete a pass has been noticable with the new car. Still, the one mile bowl-shaped track has always been able to present exciting racing no matter what car is running in the race. Things happen at Dover. Wierd things.

Earlier this year, Tony Stewart had a very good car and it looked like, after practice and qualifying, that he had the car to beat. We never found out, as, before ten laps were completed, Smoke came out of turn two and ran into a spinning Elliott Sadler.

At this race last year, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Petty had a disagreement on the track, and that carried over to the garage area, when Petty gave Hamlin a sharp slap on the helmet, which got the young Virginian very angry.

We remember the treacherous pit road entrance, the scene of a mishap in nearly every race at Dover. A couple of years ago, Matt Kenseth missed that entrance in the worst way. This track adds the extra challenge of having only 42 pit boxes for 43 cars, which could cause problems if the wrong car has a cut tire or other problems at the wrong time.

Jeff Gordon has the pole position, and his time went pretty much unchallenged, with only Mark Martin and Greg Biffle coming close. We used to be an "Anybody but Gordon" fan, but that has changed to "Anybody but Johnson or Haskell Edwards."

Gordon on the pole should make it a pretty good race from the start.

A few random and strange thoughts:

It was reported that somebody stole a van from the Penske Racing team Wednesday night, and used it to break into Jack Roush's Mooresville shop and steal three engines. What would happen if those engines showed up in Michael Waltrip's garage next spring?

We can't discount any of the Chase drivers from winning the Championship at this point. We expect Kyle Busch to make a comeback, but nobody is going to make it easy for him. Greg Biffle is on a roll, even if Jack Roush doesn't think the driver is responsible for last week's win. He qualified third for Sunday's race. "Concrete" Carl "Eddie" Edwards has a fairly good record at Dover. Hopefully he will remember that he is on probation and not let his on-track temper get the best of him. It would be disasterous for his team if he does something that could be considered rough driving. We are keeping our fingers crossed. (There are some fans who will insist that Carl is not capable of rough driving and would never do anything wrong. We all have blinders when it comes to rooting for our favorite driver, so there is nothing wrong with that. However, if we are keeping track of drivers bumped and run up the track by Edwards, we could tell you he does plenty wrong)

Finally, there are some journalists and bloggers who constantly refer to Tony Stewart as a lame duck driver. Granted, this is his final season with Joe Gibbs, but that does not make him a lame duck--his desire to win has not diminished, and he is not just driving his car around the track until his contract is up. I have a feeling that the next interviewer who asks Smoke about being a lame duck might get hurt. Since Smoke wins championships while he is on probation, and is not currently on probation, punching Tom Bowles or Mike Mulhern in the nose might be a good thing.

A Look at Loudon

Cross-posted at NASCAR Bloggers FT Digest
If Dover can be thought of as Bristol on steroids, then New Hampshire Motor Speedway would be Martinsville on steroids. The frontstretch and the backstretch are identical, and just over 1500 feet long, which leaves little room for the corners on the one mile track. This gives the track a "paper clip" look, much like Martinsville, only bigger.

Needless to say, this doesn't allow much for side by side racing and quality passes. That has been a problem for many race fans watching the race on television, but to the fans in New England, NHMS is the place to go. Every NASCAR race there has been sold out. The fans also turn out for droves in the Whelan Modified Series and Busch North Series, to watch all the racing they can. This is not only the home track for Concord, NH, but for Boston, Portland Maine, Providence Rhode Island, and the two or three race fans in the Soviet Socialist Republic of Vermont. In addition, many race fans from Canada make their way "south of the border," twice a year to watch the races at Concord (aka Loudon, to prevent confusion with Concord, North Carolina, aka Lowe's). In short, New Hampshire Motor Speedway is the home of NASCAR to many in New England and Southeastern Canada.

Those fans received some good news from owner Bruton Smith, this morning. While there have been rumors that Smith, who bought the track last year, would ask NASCAR to ammend the schedule to move a race from NHIS to Las Vegas or Kentucky, on NASCAR Live Smith said, "If I were a fan, I would not be worried. We are not considering that."

I love it when the rumor mongers who call themselves "journalists" end up with egg on their faces. As a blogger, not a journalist, I depend on journalists to present the facts, on which I, in turn write my opinion. If the facts aren't straight, we, meaning myself and other bloggers, wind up writing our opinions on what turns out to be nothing. Hence, you can see my skepticism toward many so-called "main stream" journalists.

Much of a driver's success at Loudon depends on qualifying position, pit strategy, and the driver's ability to rise to the challenge of the "Magic Mile." Unlike most of the races on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series circuit, winning at NHMS does not so much mean being able to outrace the other drivers, but to be near perfection at getting the right line through the turns and to have the right amount of throttle control exiting the turns. Since the race is fairly short, there is very little time to fix a bad setup during the race, so the crew chief must have the car at its best before the green flag waves. While this may mean a "boring" race for many fans, it is exciting for most of the drivers. This is a track where skill, more than luck, determines the winner, and the outcome of the race is mostly in the hands of the driver.

Mercifully, for us fans, the race is relatively short--301 miles, or 300 laps around the 1.058 mile speedway. However, we may be surprised Sunday as the Lennox Industrial Tools 301 takes place. The track saw new pavement and progressive banking added last year, and is showing signs of having a second groove, according to some drivers. While Las Vegas, Texas, Atlanta, and Dover were disappointments compared to the anticipation of the races, we have been pleasantly surprised by some great racing at Lowe's, Talladega, Phoenix, and Martinsville this year. We are sincerely hoping that Sunday's race may turn out to be a pleasent surprise as well.

In other news, Greg Biffle has signed a three year contract with Roush Fenway, so the rumor mongers were wrong again about Biffle being the driver for RCR's fourth team or Tony Stewart's replacement at Gibbs.

The Nationwide Series powerhouse, Braun Racing, is mourning the passing of "Mama B," Linda Braun, owner Todd Braun's mother. She was a fixture at every race, so much so, she was considered a team member. She will be missed by all who knew her. The # 32 and # 38 cars of Braun Racing will be racing without sponsorship decals and painted black in memory of Mrs. Braun.

Live on type delay: Dover

Wasn't that the cutest "Shentlemens, sharatart yo ehnshinens" you ever heard? It made me go awwwww! That made me forget all about Darrell Waltrip calling JD Gibbs a liar during the prerace show. "The one thing that says that (Stewart) will be making a move is that he hasn't said he will be at Gibbs next year."

Waltrip may be an expert when it comes to racing, but it should be noted that he resorted to that logic precisely because he has no more of an idea what is going on in contract negotiations than anybody else in the media. All he had to do was listen to Tony say, on the pre race show before Darlington three weeks ago, "We were never planning on leaving Gibbs."

Nor did Waltrip read the article last week in which JD Gibbs asserted that Smoke will be held to his contract through 2009, and that Gibbs Racing would be fielding a fourth team to accomodate rising star Joey Logano, when he is ready. If Waltrip did read the article, then he called Gibbs a liar, and that is the point at which I muted the TV and tuned the radio in to MRN. In Waltrip's defense, however, we must remark that perhaps he doesn't know that Stewart's current contract runs through 2009.

The first seventeen laps of the race were without incident. Then came disaster. Elliott Sadler was trying to "Diamond" the track, which means trying to make the straightest line possible by moving from the outside of the corner to the inside for the exit of the turn. That is fine, as long as there is nobody trying to run the inside. Unfortunately, for Sadler, Junior, Smoke, Bowyer, Riggs, Harvick. Kahne, Labonte, and Hamlin, David Gililand was trying to run the inside of the turn, and as Sadler came down the track, the front of Gililand's car hit the left rear of Sadler's car. Sadler's car spins and is hit by the #20 car, which results in a big pile up behind them.

When the race restarts, after the red flag period, everybody pits. Biffle restarts in the lead. Some of the cars that only received minor damage are back on the track quickly, and Labonte's car is the first one that needed repair to reenter the race, two laps down. He is joined by Earnhardt, Jr. who comes on to the track ten laps down.

There is some great racing going on with Biffle, who had taken two tires during the first pit stop in the lead, and Kyle Busch in second. It may be too early to see the dream race match between the two, but the anticipation is there.Biffle seems to be pulling away from Busch. Further back, there has been some good racing between Kurt Busch and Carl Edwards for third place, as the two battle back and forth. On lap 56, Edwards seals the deal for third place.

Of the cars that were involved in the big wreck on lap 17, Tony Stewart's is the last one out, 114 laps down. Hamlin and Sadler are out of the race.

Giving credit to Mike of Trouble in Turn 2, we will fast forward to the final twenty percent of the race, since this is the part of of the race that matters. Besides, we had to run an errand/fall asleep/check on the Indycar race, for a while, so we may have missed something, but it doesn't seem so. Nothing much has happened up to this point. There were some lead changes, but by the time we get to the final green flag pit stops, beginning on lap 317, nothing has changed in the running order of the top six. By the time the pit stops cycle through, Ryan Newman has had to take extra time in the pits to repair brakes, which takes him out of contention, and there are only seven cars on the lead lap.

With 41 laps to go, Kyle Busch has extended his lead over second place Carl Edwards by seven seconds. We are not surprised by that, nor are we surprised that Matt Kenseth is running in fourth place. Kyle Busch, who has been taking care of his car, having finally learned to look at the big picture, much to the disappointment of fans who want to see him wreck someone or be wrecked.

MRN has an interview with Tony Stewart on Kyle Busch:
"I am proud to have him as a team mate...I don't usually stay in the hauler and watch the truck races, but he is a lot of fun to watch...he gets everything he can out of the car and that is what you want in a driver."

One of the reasons folks think Smoke wants to leave JGR is that he doesn't get along with Kyle Busch. If "Jaws" Waltrip heard that interview, he probably thinks Stewart is lying again.

Fourteen laps to go, and Kyle Busch is still first, five seconds ahead of Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle is third, Matt Kenseth is fourth and Jeff Gordon is fifth. Ho hum. That's the way it finishes.

Patience and restraint is the order of the day for today's race. Even the "Wild Thing" decided he didn't have to be so wild to win the race. It didn't make the race exciting, by any means, but it was a race, and it showed that even Kyle Busch can be perfect in hitting his marks and getting around lapped traffic. If you are going to blame the win on the "extra horsepower" of the Toyota engines, you should know that the only other Toyota finishing in the top ten was Dave Blaney in ninth.

I don't know if the reason for the mediocrity of the race was the restrictions on the rear end tracking, or maybe that many of the possible contenders were taken out early in the race. Since NASCAR still allows a half an inch of rear end toe out, I don't think that was really the problem, so we have to believe it may have been a better race if it wasn't for that big crash. The race definitely went downhill from there.

Still, its racing, and we wouldn't have missed it for anything.

The Church returns, and a few pre-race thoughts.

Clance' who is near and dear to our hearts has returned to The Church of The Great Oval after a much-too-long absence, and has jumped right in to her astro-predictions. Please stop by her site and help us extend our warm welcome back.
My readers may have noticed that I have, as late withdrawn from trying to make my own predictions this year. This is only because I am enjoying the parity NASCAR has found with the new car, and have decided to just sit back and watch what happens. Of course, this does not mean that I am a big fan of parity in NASCAR, just that it has made for a different type of event. I still feel that parity rewards mediocraty.
In fact, one of my pet peeves is the hue and cry to restrict the horsepower produced the engines being used by the Toyota teams. What would be wrong with the Chevy, Dodge, and Ford teams working on their own engines to produce the same horsepower that the Toyota teams do? It should also be noted that there is much more to racing than horsepower, and the most powerful car does not always win. It takes talent more than it does the ability to go fast to win a race.
Racing should be about innovation, and it takes away from the racing to limit innovation. Brake technology, tranmission innovations, and even the matierials used in engine components and rear end differentials all find their way to commercial automobile manufacturing, and this is a big reason why the manufacturers continue to support racing. It would not be a good thing for NASCAR to introduce spec engines. Parity should mean evening up rather than evening down.
We can tell you who we want to see do well at Dover, even if it doesn't have anything to do with who we think will win. This is the time of the season Tony Stewart usually begins his streak. Although the #20 team has had some bad luck at Dover, his last finish there was ninth, last Summer, and we know that he does still have the will to win. Bad luck does not stick to Stewart like it does to other drivers, and he can always seem to make something good out of the bad, with the help of his team and Greg Zippadelli.

We will also be watching for Greg Biffle, David Reutimann, Kurt Busch, and Kyle Busch to fill in the top five.

Enjoy the race, and help keep our hopes alive that NASCAR never introduces spec engines to Cup, Nationwide, or Craftsman Truck Series.