The NASCAR Xfinity Series and Monster Energy Cup Series will be in action this weekend at Dover International Speedway with both races live on the Motor Racing Network.
Sunday’s Drydene 400 (MRN, 1:30 p.m. ET), which will mark the 100th Cup Series race at the one-mile concrete track, is the first race in the Round of 12 for the Monster Energy Cup Series Playoffs. A dozen drivers remain alive in the championship hunt with Dover kicking off the second round that will see the series head to Talladega Superspeedway and Kansas Speedway as well.
Kyle Busch enters the round as the No. 1 seed but with just a five point advantage over Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr. Busch didn’t have the best opening round, which ended with a 37th-place finish last week at Charlotte Motor Speedway’s Roval. He’s hoping to kick things off on a better note on Sunday in Dover. He’s a three-time Dover Cup Series race winner.
“You strive to go out there and win every single time you’re on the racetrack but, if you put yourself in a bad spot or try or push too hard and you get yourself out of whack and crashed or something like that, obviously that’s going to be way worse for yourself,” Busch explained about his playoff approach.
“So you have to be mindful of those situations and you have to pick and choose your battles. If we are in a position to try and win one on Sunday with our Interstate Batteries Toyota, we’ll try and take advantage of it, for sure.”
Dover: Race Winners | Driver Averages
Kevin Harvick finished fourth in the series’ first visit to Dover in May won by Truex Jr. The Stewart-Haas Racing driver has finished in the top 10 the last three Dover starts including winning the spring race a year ago and is optimistic about his chances to put another victory on the board on Sunday.
“When I go to Dover, I think about one thing, and that is, ‘How can I win this race – what do we need to do as a team to focus on what we need to do?,” Harvick said.
“Dover is the racetrack where you feel the sensation of speed more than anything. It’s a place where you drop off into the corner and slam into a lot of banking and then, as you come out of the corner, it’s kind of like jumping out of a hole and up onto the straightaway. It’s a really fun place to race. You feel that sensation of speed and you can be really aggressive.”
The Xfinity Series Playoff’s first round will come to a close in Saturday’s Use Your Melon Drive Sober 200 (MRN, 2:30 p.m. ET). Four of the 12 Playoff drivers will be eliminated and eight will move on to the next round.
Two drivers have already clinched their spots in the Round of 8 –Christopher Bell by winning the Richmond Playoff opener Cole Custer, who clinched his position on points last weekend at Charlotte.
John Hunter Nemechek, Brandon Jones, Ryan Sieg and Justin Haley are the four drivers below the cutline in danger of being eliminated after Saturday’s race.
“Dover is an awesome place to race at because the track is so intense and brutal, mentally and physically,” Nemechek explained. “We had a solid showing there in the Spring and every track that we have gone back to this year we have improved at.
“We made up some ground, points wise, last weekend at the Roval to put us tied with the No. 19 and 11 points behind Michael Annett who is right above the Round of 8 cut off line. We need to unload with some speed of the hauler and focus on gaining as many points as we can so that we can advance.”
The Dover race weekend will also feature the the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East season finale General Tire 125 on Friday.
