NASCAR at Dover 2015: Winners and Losers from the FedEx 400
The 13th race of the NASCAR season is in the books, and the winner is a very familiar one both for NASCAR fans and for Dover International Speedway: Mr. Jimmie Johnson.
Johnson once again hung in there all race and took the victory at the end thanks to a combination of brilliant strategy and aggressive driving. Meanwhile, other drivers who were still looking for a victory to get into the Chase, such as Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Larson, Kasey Kahne and Jeff Gordon, came home empty-handed.
As the summer is on the horizon, the chase for the final seven spots in the Chase is shaping up to be a great one.
But before we look ahead, let's look back at the winners and losers from the FedEx 400.
Winner: Kyle Larson
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Kyle Larson was expected to do great things this season after his Rookie of the Year campaign in 2014, but he's had a bit of a sophomore slump in 2015.
Coming into this week, the 22-year-old only had three top 10s and had finished 20th or worse in six races. However, he ended up finishing in third place at Dover to notch his first top-five finish of the season and move up to 20th in the standings.
Larson is still looking for the first Sprint Cup win of his career and his first Chase berth. If he keeps driving the way he did on Sunday, those will both come sooner rather than later.
Loser: Another Martin Truex Jr. Close Call
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Most drivers would be absolutely thrilled with a second-place spot in the points race and 12 top-10 finishes, but it's safe to say that at this point in the season, Martin Truex Jr. just wants to get to Victory Lane.
Truex finished sixth at Dover, but once again he led the most laps of the race, 131. He had a chance to get an edge on the green-white checkered finish, but Kasey Kahne got in his way on the restart and so Truex had to back off in order to keep from crashing everyone.
The Furniture Row driver has now led a total of 357 laps in his last three races, but he hasn't finished higher than fourth in any of those races. That's enough to frustrate anyone, but particularly the No. 78, who is trying to bounce back after a disappointing 2014 campaign. While he is certainly driving better than he was last year, it won't mean much without a trip to the Chase.
Winner: Jimmie Johnson's Pit Strategy
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Another Dover race, another Jimmie Johnson win. This was No. 48's 10th win at Dover in his career, and his third in the last four races on the track. It also happened to be Johnson's fourth victory of the season. This new rules package is treating him just fine.
This particular victory was once again helped by a bold call by his crew chief Chad Knaus. Johnson didn't lead all day until the final 23 laps, when Knaus made the call to stay out while all the other leaders except for Kevin Harvick went in for fresh tires. The gamble paid off—Johnson had much better restarts than Harvick and was able to keep the lead despite three restarts at the end.
Last year, Johnson didn't get his first victory until Week 12. This year, he has four in 13 races. There's a long way to go, but another championship is certainly in sight.
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Loser: Carl Edwards on Pit Road
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There was an expectation that Carl Edwards and his team would loosen up a bit after he won in Charlotte last week. However, it looks like the No. 19 team might have loosened up a little bit too much.
Edwards ran well on the track on Sunday at Dover, but two pit-road snafus really doomed him. First, his tire changer Matt Ver Meer was removing a wedge wrench when Edwards took off after an early pit stop, dragging Ver Meer with him a bit and causing Edwards to have to circle back around on pit road.
Edwards was in the top 10 before the incident, but he fell to 21st afterwards. Later in the race, when Edwards had climbed back into contention, he got caught speeding and was given a penalty that ended up sending him to the back of the pack and ending his hopes for a second straight win. Edwards ended up finishing 19th on the day.
Winner: Chevrolets
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In the battle of NASCAR cars, Chevy continues to dominate this season.
This week, eight of the cars in the top 10 were Chevrolets, including the top four: Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Larson and Kasey Kahne.
The only two cars in the top 10 that weren't from the Chevy factory were Aric Almirola's Ford in fifth place and Clint Bowyer's Toyota in ninth. Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski, who are usually the fastest Fords on the track with Team Penske, finished in 11th and 12th place, respectively.
Chevrolet has eight of the 13 wins in Sprint Cup this season, although six of those belong to Johnson and Harvick. The other two Chevrolet winners in 2015 have been Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kurt Busch.
So far, the Manufacturers' War in NASCAR this year is a one-sided affair.
Loser: Kyle Busch
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In lap 376, after spending 90 percent of the day in the top five, Kyle Busch crashed into Brian Scott and his No. 18 car had to be carted off.
Of course, the biggest concern when this happened was Kyle Busch's health—the younger Busch brother is just in his third week back in a Sprint Cup car after breaking his right leg and left foot in an XFinity race at Daytona.
Thankfully, Busch ended up walking to the infield care center without a hint of a limp and was cleared physically, but that was of little consolation to the driver.
"This is a shame, this isn't what we need. We weren't going to win today, but it doesn't help when you finish 40th," he said on Fox Sports 1 after the race.
Thanks to a NASCAR waiver, Busch can still be eligible for the Chase if he gets a victory and finishes in the top 30 in points. But a 36th-place finish doesn't help that quest at all.
Winner: Hendrick Motorsports
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This was not expected to be a good day for Hendrick Motorsports. In fact, Dustin Long of NBC's NASCARTalk was worried about the organization coming into Dover after a lackluster showing at Charlotte and struggles in qualifying this week:
"It’s not been a fun couple of weeks for the organization. The team failed to have a car advance to the final round of qualifying last week for the first time since Sonoma in June 2014. The team followed that by having only one of its cars finish in the top 10 in the Coca-Cola 600. After Jimmie Johnson was the fastest in practice Friday at Dover, Hendrick again failed to have a car advance to the final round of qualifying. The team didn’t adjust well to the changing track conditions Friday. A key question will be how each of the four teams handle the changing track conditions Sunday. If they don’t handle it well, Hendrick’s three-race winning streak at Dover could end.
"
Well, really, we should know better by now than to worry about this elite organization. All four Hendrick drivers finished in the top 15.
Of course Johnson got the victory, but Kasey Kahne also had one of his best races of the season, finishing in fourth place for his second top-five of the year. Jeff Gordon finished in 10th after struggling all day, and Earnhardt Jr. salvaged a 15th-place victory after being penalized for speeding on pit road late in the race.
While qualifying is an issue and Kahne and Gordon are still searching for their first victories of the season, Hendrick Motorsports as a whole is doing just fine.
Loser: Trevor Bayne
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Sunday was yet another incredibly disappointing day for Trevor Bayne, who was run into by Michael Annett and crashed on Lap 174 at Dover. Annett and Justin Allgaier collided in the wreck as well. Bayne had to go to the garage, and though he got back on the track, he was only able to complete 221 laps and finished in last place on the day.
To make matters worse, Bayne climbed out of his wrecked car before safety personnel reached him, and was called to the NASCAR hauler after the race, likely for a penalty.
This has not been the season that 24-year-old Trevor Bayne was hoping for when he took over a full-time ride at Roush Fenway Racing at the beginning of the season. The 2011 Daytona 500 winner only has two top-20s on the season.
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