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Tag: Dover International Speedway

  • Buescher says being in the Chase has ‘been a good experience’

    Buescher says being in the Chase has ‘been a good experience’

    Asked how the experience of being in the Chase has been, Chris Buescher said it has “been a good experience.”

    Speaking to the media this morning at Dover International Speedway, the driver of the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford spoke about the experience of being in the Chase.

    “It’s been a good experience,” Buescher said. “We’ve learned a lot through it. We look at Dover as the last race of this round and we really don’t have anything to lose. Chicago and Loudon weren’t the races that we wanted to have and we come into Dover, one of my favorite race tracks.

    “This should be a place where we can really have a good run and see if we can advance to that next round. It’s gonna be tough at this point, but this is probably our best race track out of this round, so I’m excited to get going.”

    Buescher earned his way into the Chase with a win in the rain-shortened Pennsylvania 400 during the summer at Pocono Raceway. He also earned a fifth-place finish in the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway in August.

    During that same stretch of races, however, he’s finished 30th, 35th, 17th, 24th, 28th and 30th. He currently sits 16th in the Chase standings and 30 points out of the 12th place cutoff with this weekend being the first elimination race.

    In his first Cup start at the Monster Mile, he finished 18th four laps down. This time around, he’ll need to finish 11th or better to have a chance of advancing to the Round of 12.

    Despite the odds, Buescher said it’s a little nice to go into a race just worrying about getting the best finish possible.

    “It’s the racing that you’re able to do at the beginning of the year before you’re too worried about the points leading up to the Chase,” he added. “We’ve been in a lot of points racing situations over the last two years and to be able to have a handful where we can go out and like we said, we don’t really have anything to lose here today. All we have to do is gain, so, to me, it’s gonna make it to where we’re able to go out here and not worry about it, take some chances, try and utilize some risk and see if we can pull something off.”

  • Rain Washes Away Dover Sprint Cup Qualifying; Keselowski On Pole

    Rain Washes Away Dover Sprint Cup Qualifying; Keselowski On Pole

    A persistent rain forced NASCAR to cancel qualifying for the Sprint Cup Series race at Dover International Speedway on Friday. As per the NASCAR rulebook, the field will line up based on points with points leader Brad Keselowski leading the field to the green flag on Sunday.

    Dover has been one of the better tracks for Keselowski on the Sprint Cup circuit, with an average finish of 12.8 and a win in his 2012 championship winning season. Keselowski enters Sunday with a 35 point cushion on making the next Chase round.

    “It’s great… because we obviously have been having a great season, maybe not with what we had done on track today, but with what we had done throughout the course of the year and scoring a lot of points and winning races,” Keselowski said. “So it’s certainly still something to be very proud of, to be this far into the season and being [in] the points lead, so these are the perks you get when you’re in that position. We’ll take it.”

    Starting next to Keselowski will be Martin Truex Jr. Truex has long considered Dover, the site of his very first Sprint Cup win, a home race. The New Jersey driver has nothing to lose on Sunday, thanks to his win at Chicago a couple of weeks ago guaranteeing him advancement to the second Chase round. Kevin Harvick, who starts seventh, is the only other Chaser who is locked in.

    Kyle Busch starts third and Matt Kenseth starts fourth. Joey Logano rounds out the top five starters.

    The drivers on the Chase bubble will all start right next to each other, with Kyle Larson (+5) in 12th, Jamie McMurray (-5) in 13th, Austin Dillon (-5) in 14th, Tony Stewart (-11) in 15th, and Chris Buescher (-30) in 16th. Keselowski seemed to be happy about not having to start in the middle of that; “That should be compelling to watch. I won’t get to see it, but you will”.

    It’s the third straight Sprint Cup race at Dover where qualifying has been rained out; the last time qualifying was completed at Dover was in the spring 2015 race.

     

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  • Bowman, Busch Quickest In Dover XFINITY Practices

    Bowman, Busch Quickest In Dover XFINITY Practices

    The two XFINITY practices on Friday in preparation for Saturday’s race at Dover International Speedway fought against the weather and although one session ended up going off without any issues, the second session was cut short due to rain.

    Session one featured Kyle Busch putting down a lap at 157.729 mph, the fastest of the session by a wide margin. Busch was over three-tenths of a second faster than teammate Erik Jones in second. Busch enters this weekend looking for his ninth win of the XFINITY Series season and the 16th of the season for Joe Gibbs Racing. Jones enters this weekend three points out of the advancing field in the XFINITY Series Chase and needs to have a good run on Saturday to continue racing for a championship.

    Alex Bowman was third fastest followed by Austin Dillon who was fourth. Joey Logano looks to bring the Team Penske No. 22 Ford to victory lane for the first time this season and started the weekend off by running fifth in practice.

    In the second practice session, Bowman was the fastest on the board when rain came roughly halfway through the session. Bowman has had quite an adventure since the last time he raced at Dover; this spring he ran his first NASCAR race of the year and opened some eyes by finishing third. Since then, he’s had great runs for JR Motorsports in the XFINITY Series and has had some good runs subbing for Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the Sprint Cup Series.

    Busch was second in this session and Logano followed close behind in third. Points leader Elliott Sadler was fourth and Justin Allgaier was fifth.

    Outside of rain in the second session, there were no major incidents during either session.

     

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  • Larson Fastest In Opening Sprint Cup Practice At Dover

    Larson Fastest In Opening Sprint Cup Practice At Dover

    In the opening Sprint Cup Series practice session on Friday morning, Kyle Larson ended up being the fastest at the Dover International Speedway.

    Larson’s lap at 165.578 mph was his final lap in the practice session as the No. 42 team was preparing for qualifying. Larson enters Dover as the last driver in a Chase advance spot, only five points ahead of teammate Jamie McMurray. Dover just happens to be one of Larson’s best racetracks; the young California driver has four top 10s in his five starts at Dover, including a close second to Matt Kenseth in the spring race earlier this season.

    The Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas of Carl Edwards and Kenseth were second and third respectively. Ryan Newman was the best non-Chaser in fourth while 10-time Dover winner Jimmie Johnson was fifth.

    The Chase drivers who stand to be eliminated from Round 1 of NASCAR’s playoffs didn’t fare very well. Austin Dillon was the highlight in ninth followed by McMurray in 16th. Tony Stewart was 24th and Chris Buescher, who sits 30 points out and needs a win to advance to the next round, struggled in 31st.

    Four drivers ran 10 consecutive laps in this session. Defending Sprint Cup champion Kyle Busch was the fastest, with an average speed of 159.336 mph. Kevin Harvick, the defending race winner, was second and Dillon was third. Trevor Bayne, 27th on the overall chart, was the slowest of the four in fourth place. Busch was 28th on the speed chart, as the No. 18 team focused on race trim instead of qualifying trim.

    The practice started with a 15-minute delay due to rain. Rain is a major part of the forecast this weekend, with the Weather Channel reporting an 80 percent chance of rain on Saturday and a 60 percent chance of rain on Sunday.

     

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  • NASCAR Racing Schedule for Dover and Las Vegas

    NASCAR Racing Schedule for Dover and Las Vegas

    The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and XFINITY Series head to Dover International Speedway this weekend while the Camping World Truck Series travels to Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Please check below for the complete schedule of events.

    All times are Eastern.

    Friday, Sept. 30:

    On Track at Dover:
    10-11:25 a.m.: Sprint Cup Series First Practice – NBCSN/NBC Sports App
    11:30 a.m.-12:25 p.m.: XFINITY Series First Practice – NBCSN/NBC Sports App
    1:30-2:55 p.m.: XFINITY Series Final Practice – NBCSN/NBC Sports App
    3:40 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying – NBCSN/NBC Sports App

    Garage Cam: (Watch live)
    1 p.m.: XFINITY Series

    Press Conferences: ( Watch live )
    8:30 a.m.: Chris Buescher
    8:45 a.m.: Chase Elliott
    9 a.m.: Jamie McMurray
    9:15 a.m.: Jimmie Johnson
    9:45 a.m.: Erik Jones
    12:30 p.m.: Martin Truex Jr.
    12:45 p.m.: Regan Smith
    4:40 p.m..: Post-Sprint Cup Series Qualifying (time approx.)

    Saturday, Oct. 1:

    On Track at Dover:
    10:30-11:25 a.m.: Sprint Cup Series Second Practice – CNBC/NBC Sports App
    11:45 a.m.: XFINITY Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying – CNBC/NBC Sports App
    1:30-2:20 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series Final Practice – NBCSN/NBC Sports App
    3 p.m.: XFINITY Series Drive Sober 200 (200 laps, 200 miles) – NBCSN/NBC Sports App

    Garage Cam: (Watch live)
    10 a.m.: NASCAR  Sprint Cup Series

    Press Conferences: ( Watch live )
    5 p.m..: Post-XFINITY Series Race (time approx.)

    On Track at Las Vegas:
    11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.: Camping World Truck Series First Practice
    1-2 p.m.: Camping World Truck Series Final Practice
    6:10 p.m.: Camping World Truck Series Keystone Light Pole Qualifying – FS2
    8:30 p.m.: Camping World Truck Series DC Solar 350 (146 laps, 219 miles) – FS1

    Sunday, Oct. 2:

    On Track at Dover:
    2 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series Citizen Soldier 400 (400 laps, 400 miles) – NBCSN/NBC Sports App

    Press Conferences: (Watch live)
    5:30 p.m.: Post-Sprint Cup Series Race (time approx.)

     

     

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: AAA 400 at Dover

    Surprising and Not Surprising: AAA 400 at Dover

    The Sprint Cup Series race at the “Monster Mile” ended with what you’d expect from a track with that nickname- a bunch of torn up race cars, a thrilling race, and a great finish. Here was what was surprising and not surprising from the 47th Annual AAA 400 Drive For Autism at Dover International Speedway.

    Surprising

    With all of the talk this season about the young generation, Matt Kenseth has kind of seemed lost in the shuffle. After losing a heartbreaker in the Daytona 500 and struggling with mechanical failures/accidents most of the season, some feel the 44-year-old is “washed up.” There have even been questions lobbed at the 2003 Sprint Cup champion on retirement from the series the past couple of months.

    On Sunday, Kenseth showed he still had it by staying ahead of an incredible duel for second between Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott with 20 laps remaining, then hanging on by holding off Larson for the final 10 laps.

    It was Kenseth’s 37th career Sprint Cup victory and his third at Dover. As it was his first win of the season, Kenseth has significantly helped his chances of competing in the Chase come September.

    “It all worked out for us, kind of the opposite as I feel like it’s been going the last couple months,” Kenseth said in the post-race press conference. “We’ve had really fast racecars. We’ve been in position to win a lot. This wasn’t our fastest car by any means. But we were able to be there at the end of the race and pull it off.”

    Not Surprising

    Larson and Elliott, both hailed as future superstars, had a great battle for second place in the last 40 laps before Larson was able to clear Elliott for the final time with just 10 laps to go. With both probably being around the sport for many years to come, it probably won’t be the last battle between them that we will see.

    “It was fun racing with (Chase). We’ve had a lot of good battles through the XFINITY Series and even K&N,” Larson said. “Hopefully, we’re battling up front for many years to come.”

    “Had a lot of fun racing with those guys at the end there,” Elliott said. “Like I say, hate to not get the job done and be so close, but we’ll keep digging at it and try to get a little better.”

    One has to wonder, though, if Larson had been able to get to Kenseth in the last few laps, would he have spun him for the win?

    “I respect Matt Kenseth a lot,” Said Larson, who was all of 11-years-old when Kenseth won his only Sprint Cup Series championship. “He’s definitely, in my eyes, the cleanest racer out there. He always races me with respect. I try to do the same to him.”

    Surprising

    A huge 18 car wreck occurred on lap 355 during a restart. Jimmie Johnson, who had just led his 3,000th lap at the Monster Mile, was restarting in the lead on the outside line when a stuck transmission jammed up much of his line.

    “I got a great start in second gear,” Johnson said. “As I went to put it in third (gear) and came across the shifting gate it never went into third. It actually got locked in the neutral area of the transmission. I had plenty of time. Martin (Truex Jr.) was plenty patient with me and I was trying to get third and I couldn’t. I tried for fourth and third and fourth and I finally got hit. Just a freak deal with something with the transmission. I’ve never had that happen to me in my career.”

    Johnson wasn’t the only big-name collected in the accident. Truex Jr., Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kevin Harvick, and Denny Hamlin all got collected in the multi-car melee. It set up the stage for the finish, as many cars that did not finish as a result of the accident were able to go out and continue laps down and off the pace. The leaders had to find ways around them in the final 20 or so laps.

    Not Surprising

    It was expected that without Adam Stevens this week the No. 18 Toyota would struggle a bit on the track, and that was the case. The race started off with driver Kyle Busch fading away from his third place starting position and he was never able to recover from this.

    Busch struggled in the 11th-15th range for much of the day before getting caught up in the 18 car wreck with just 56 laps remaining in the race. Busch ended the day in the garage at 30th as a result.

    “We either missed something today or we had something break – just something wasn’t right,” Busch said post-race. “Got really, really, really evil there about lap 230 or lap 250, something like that and I was having a real hard time holding onto it and even making laps. Just trying to check everything out and see if there was anything that was broke, but obviously, now there’s a lot of things broke and hard to decipher what we can figure out and learn about what we might have had happen there today.”

    Surprising

    Tony Stewart has had good results for a driver who had major back surgery only a few months ago. But his three-race streak of top 20 finishes ended on Sunday when a strange thing happened on lap 342.

    “Something broke on the rear-end; on the rear-end side of it, not the chassis side,” The three-time Sprint Cup champion said. “So, when it did that, somehow it punctured the oil tank. So that’s the oil you smell. You can see coming down pit road just going back and forth, left and right. We just broke a track bar.

    “The track bar broke and the back of the car flops back and forth. I don’t know what more there is to say about that. It just broke. I mean there wasn’t any…we had been fighting, the car was acting weird for the last 80 to 100 laps. I’m sure it was already starting to break and it finally just broke the rest of the way.”

    Not Surprising

    Once again, Martin Truex Jr. was so close to another Sprint Cup victory. But also once again, Lady Luck was not on his side.

    Truex led 47 laps before getting caught up in the 18 car pile-up. Truex finished ninth but couldn’t compete for the victory with the damage to his car.

    At the beginning of the race we were a fifth, sixth-place car and just kept working on it, kept working on it and when we needed to be the best car, I think we were,” Truex said, after leading with as little as 52 laps remaining. “Just one of those deals, wrong place, wrong time. Frustrating, but we got a top-10 out of it so not too bad. The guys on pit road did a great job fixing it. Just hate that it happened. I wanted to be fourth on that restart, but I didn’t want to be fourth that bad. I should have been third so maybe I should have not let the 19 beat us off pit road. I don’t know how you can see those things coming. All in all good day, just bad finish.”

    It’s the third time this season the driver of the No. 78 Toyota led 30 or more laps and couldn’t win the race. In his career statistics, the New Jersey driver has led an absolutely staggering 958 laps per Sprint Cup victory in his career, the most of any driver who holds multiple wins in history by a long shot.

     

  • Matt The Monster: Crafton Wins At Dover

    Matt The Monster: Crafton Wins At Dover

    Matt Crafton won his first race of the 2016 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series on Friday in the JACOB Companies 200 at Dover International Speedway.

    It was Crafton’s 12th career victory in the Camping World Truck Series and his first win at Dover. Daniel Suarez ended up second after competing for the win in the later stages. Fellow Kyle Busch Motorsports driver Christopher Bell finished third, Johnny Sauter ended the day fourth, and Cole Custer was able to recover from a penalty for jumping a restart while leading to round out the top five in fifth.

    KBM driver and last week’s winner at Kansas William Byron inherited the pole after the scheduled qualifying session was rained out earlier in the day. Byron led the first 80 laps before John Wes Townley stayed out and led three laps under caution. Tyler Reddick took the lead after Townley pitted with one more caution lap to go and led for 39 laps before Crafton was able to get around with just 78 total laps to go. Crafton was able to hold off a charge by Suarez in the final dozen laps to win.

    “I just wanted to manage just enough and I could gap (Suarez) just enough and could run hard enough to push the right front tire off,” Crafton said. “I think everybody was a little bit tight and then you’d get to somebody and you’d be really tight. Then (the lead car)’d drive away. There were a couple times (the crew) said he was seven back and within a lap-and-a-half he was three back and I thought ‘I better go now.’”

    It was a frustrating end for Suarez, who has eight top five finishes in 17 starts for KBM in the Truck Series but no victories. The Monterrey, Mexico driver said after the race in the media center that “We’re here to win races” and to expect him to close in on that first win sometime soon. It was later announced that his No. 51 Toyota was found to be too high in the left rear in post-race inspection; possible penalties could be given out on Wednesday.

    There were six caution flags for 29 laps in the 200 lap race. The first was for a single car accident when Austin Wayne Self spun out in turn two on lap 44. The second was when Brandon Brown lost control of his Chevrolet just a few minutes later on lap 57. Ben Rhodes tangled with fellow rookie Rico Abreu in a turn four incident on the Brown caution’s restart. CJ Faison spun in turn four on lap 81. On lap 133, Townley tagged the wall and wrecked in turn four. Finally, there was a debris caution on lap 169 to set up the finish.

    Full Results:

    1st Matt Crafton

    2nd Daniel Suarez

    3rd Christopher Bell

    4th Johnny Sauter

    5th Cole Custer

    6th Spencer Gallagher

    7th Tyler Reddick

    8th Ryan Truex

    9th Daniel Hemric

    10th Kaz Grala

    11th William Bryon

    12th Matt Tifft

    13th Ben Kennedy

    14th Timothy Peters

    15th John Hunter Nemechek

    16th Nick Drake

    17th Austin Hill

    18th Jordan Anderson

    19th Cameron Hayley

    20th Brandon Jones

    21st Tyler Young

    22nd Rico Abreu

    23rd Travis Kvapil

    24th Tommy Joe Martins

    25th CJ Faison

    26th Bobby Pierce

    27th Parker Kligerman

    28th Ben Rhodes

    29th John Wes Townley

    30th Jennifer Jo Cobb

    31st Brandon Brown

    32nd Austin Wayne Self

    Camping World Truck Series Chase Grid

    With Crafton’s first victory of the season, he has now joined the grid (Ordered by points):

    Matt Crafton-1 win

    William Byron-1 win

    John Hunter Nemechek-1 win

    Johnny Sauter- 1 win

  • Monsoon Mile: Qualifying Rained Out For The Sprint Cup Series At Dover

    Monsoon Mile: Qualifying Rained Out For The Sprint Cup Series At Dover

    Kevin Harvick will start Sunday’s Sprint Cup race on the pole after qualifying was rained out at Dover International Speedway on Friday.

    The field for Sunday’s race, as per the NASCAR rule book, was determined by the most recent practice session. Harvick was the fastest on Friday’s lone Sprint Cup practice session and will thus start on pole. Fellow Chevrolet driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. will begin the race opposite Harvick on the front row. Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. rounded out the top five.

    Harvick returns to Dover for the first time since his dominating victory last fall. Going into the day all but needing to win to advance to the next round of the Chase, Harvick responded by leading 355 laps in route to a dominant first win at the “Monster Mile”. He also enters this race as the Sprint Cup Series points leader, with nine top 10s in the first 11 races this season.

    Dale Earnhardt Jr. comes into Sunday riding a streak of eight straight top twenties at Dover but only one win 15 years ago. Earnhardt Jr. currently sits ninth in Sprint Cup Series points, ridding off the strength of three second place finishes.

    Practice was also marked by a massive wreck between Danica Patrick, Tony Stewart, and Jamie McMurray. Something broke on Patrick’s car while exiting turn 4 and she spun down the front stretch while the rear of her Chevrolet caught on fire. Stewart slammed the outside wall before getting caught in Patrick’s leaked oil and smacked the inside wall hard. Meanwhile McMurray also hit the wall hard but was able to avoid the oil. All three hit walls that were not protected by SAFER barriers. All three drivers were checked and released from the media center, but the session was delayed for half an hour for repairs.

    Full starting lineup for the AAA 400 Drive For Autism at Dover International Speedway:
    1st Kevin Harvick
    2nd Dale Earnhardt Jr.
    3rd Kyle Busch
    4th Carl Edwards
    5th Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
    6th Denny Hamlin
    7th Martin Truex Jr.
    8th Ryan Newman
    9th Kurt Busch
    10th Matt Kenseth
    11th Kasey Kahne
    12th Austin Dillon
    13th Chase Elliott
    14th Brad Keselowski
    15th Aric Almirola
    16th Greg Biffle
    17th Brian Scott
    18th Ryan Blaney
    19th Paul Menard
    20th AJ Allmendinger
    21st Jimmie Johnson
    22nd Joey Logano
    23rd Kyle Larson
    24th Jamie McMurray
    25th Trevor Bayne
    26th Casey Mears
    27th David Ragan
    28th Michael McDowell
    29th Matt DiBenedetto
    30th Chris Buescher
    31st Danica Patrick
    32nd Clint Bowyer
    33rd Regan Smith
    34th Tony Stewart
    35th Landon Cassill
    36th Cole Whitt
    37th Michael Annett
    38th Reed Sorenson
    39th Jeffrey Earnhardt
    40th Josh Wise

    Although McMurray, Patrick, and Stewart will be going to back-up cars, they will not go to the back as NASCAR rules dictate a team can go to a back-up car as long as they switch before qualifying.

  • NASCAR Racing Schedule for Dover

    NASCAR Racing Schedule for Dover

    The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, XFINITY Series and the Camping World Truck Series travel to Dover International Speedway this weekend. Please check below for the complete schedule of events.

    All times are Eastern.

    Thursday, May 12:

    On Track:
    2-2:55 p.m.: Camping World Truck Series Practice
    4-4:55 p.m.: Camping World Truck Series Final Practice

    Friday, May, 13:

    On Track:
    10-10:55 a.m.: XFINITY Series Practice – FS1
    11 a.m.-12:20 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series Practice – FS1
    12:30-1:55 p.m.: XFINITY Series Final Practice – FS1
    2:15 p.m.: Camping World Truck Series Keystone Light Pole Qualifying – FS1
    3:45 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying – FS1
    5:30 p.m.: Camping World Truck Series JACOB Companies 200 (200 laps, 200 miles) – FS1

    Garage Cam: (Watch live)
    10:30 a.m.: Sprint Cup Series

    Press Conferences: (Watch live)
    8:45 a.m.: Brendan Gaughan
    9:00 a.m.: Joey Logano
    9:15 a.m.: Ty Dillon
    9:30 a.m.: Martin Truex Jr.
    12:45 p.m.: Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
    1:15 p.m.: Jimmie Johnson
    5 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series Post-Qualifying
    7:30 p.m.: Camping World Truck Series Post-Race (time approx)

    Saturday, May 14:

    On Track:
    9:30 -10:25 a.m.: Sprint Cup Series Second Practice – FS1
    10:45 a.m.: XFINITY Series Qualifying – FS1
    12:30-1:25 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series Final Practice – FS2
    2 p.m.: XFINITY Series Ollie’s Bargain Outlet 200 Heat #1 (40 laps, 40 miles) – FOX
    2:50 p.m. (approx): XFINITY Series Ollie’s Bargain Outlet 200 Heat #2 (40 laps, 40 miles) – FOX
    3:30 p.m. (approx): XFINITY Series Ollie’s Bargain Outlet 200 main race (120 laps, 120 miles) – FOX

    Press Conferences: (Watch live)
    4:30 p.m.: XFINITY Post-Race (time approx)

    Sunday, May 15:

    On Track:
    1 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series AAA 400 Drive for Autism (400 laps, 400 miles) – FS1

    Press Conferences: (Watch live)
    4:30 p.m.: Sprint Cup Post-Race (time approx)

    Additional Info:

    Complete NASCAR TV Schedule

    Special NASCAR Programming:

    “NASCAR: The Rise of American Speed” – Sunday, May 15 at 9 p.m. ET on CMT

  • NASCAR BTS: Dover Seeking NASCAR’s Next Top Chef

    NASCAR BTS: Dover Seeking NASCAR’s Next Top Chef

    If you’ve ever wandered through the garage or camping areas at a NASCAR race, you know that there are some excellent cooks behind the grills and elaborate spreads on race day.

    This week’s NASCAR BTS takes you behind the scenes of a unique contest, sponsored by @MonsterMile , giving fans the opportunity to become NASCAR’s next top chef.

    “The contest is for our fans and followers to create and send in recipes for entrée items,” Lynn Sudik, Social Media Coordinator for Dover International Speedway, said. “We have a couple of parameters. It can be a hot or cold item, but it does have to be an entrée.”

    There are several other parameters that the next NASCAR top chef must meet, including that their recipe must cost less than $3 per serving to make, as well as it must be able to be mass produced.  The latter criteria is because the winning entrée will actually be sold at the concession stands on race weekend.

    The final rules are that all entries must include a list of ingredients, a photograph of the dish, and a brief synopsis of the inspiration for the recipe and how it relates to NASCAR racing at the Monster Mile.

    “People can submit via our dedicated email account which is monstermilecontest@gmail.com and we are accepting recipes until February 10,” Sudik said. “After all of the submissions come in, we will narrow it down to four finalists who will be notified by February 17.”

    “Those finalists will then have their dishes prepared for them at our Daytona 500 Watch Party on February 21. It will be held in Dover Downs Hotel and Casino at Fire and Ice.”

    “We will have the dishes prepared by our chefs in the hotel for a panel of judges who will then decide who the winner is for the contest.”

    Sudik is hoping that anyone who submits a recipe will plan to attend the Daytona 500 Watch Party. And the Speedway is throwing in a special incentive to entice their fans.

    “They will get a free Dover throwback T-shirt if they do, while supplies last of course.  So, there is definitely an incentive for entrants to come to the Watch Party for the big reveal of the winner. But the winner does not have to be present in order for their dish to be chosen.”

    According to Sudik, so far there has been a steady stream of recipes being submitted since the contest began on January 4. In fact, one fan got so excited that he posted the following to the Monster Mile website.

    “I want to be in this contest. My entree is a Red Wine Marinated Black Angus Ribeye with a Mixed Pepper Salsa. This is the same entree I used at the Crew Chef Challenge at Pocono July 30, 2004. And yes, I won the contest. I have also cooked this entree for several teams at the track, including Morgan Shepherd and Carl Long at Dover. So let’s get cooking. I am ready to win.”

    Sudik is hoping that kind of excitement continues all the way through the contest deadline and judging.

    “We’ve got some good recipes that I actually want to try myself,” Sudik said. “So, we’re really excited about it and we think it’s going to produce some really tasty dishes.”

    “We’ve got a wide variety of recipes like sandwiches and burgers but also some chicken dishes. It’s up to your imagination. I don’t want to reveal so much because there are such good recipes coming in.”

    “It will be tough for the judges to decide on a winner.”

    Not only does the winner have the privilege of being the Monster Mile’s top chef, but they also will get an experience of a lifetime come race day.

    “The winner also gets two tickets and two cold passes to the May 15 Sprint Cup race here at the Monster Mile,” Sudik said. “They will also have their meals taken care of that day. We will also have a feature article about the winner on our website, in the spring souvenir program and across our social media platform.”

    So, why is Dover Speedway undertaking the search for NASCAR’s next top chef?

    “We’re always trying to figure out different ways to engage our fans and followers, especially during the off-season when the NASCAR news is a little slower,” Sudik said. “We thought this would be a good opportunity to generate some buzz and really involve our fans in our property.”

    “At the end of the day, it is all about our fans.”