NASCAR at Dover 2015: Race Schedule, Live Stream Info and Drivers to Watch
NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series hits now-or-never mode Sunday at Dover International Speedway for the AAA 400, the final event in the Chase for the Sprint Cup's first round.
Call it October Madness. The NCAA-esque bracket will axe the four drivers at the bottom of the standings after Sunday's race. Considering said positions in the standings feature names such as Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick going into Sunday, it's the most important event of the year.
Jeff Gordon stole the checkered flag at this event last year and sits 10th. Jimmie Johnson, the most dominant driver at Dover, sits fifth.
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In other words, the standings are all over the place. Here's everything to know about Sunday's Challenger Round finale and some of the top drivers to watch.
Viewing Details
Where: Dover International Speedway
When: Sunday, Oct. 4, at 2:30 p.m. ET
Watch: NBC Sports Network
Live Stream: NBC Live Extra
Tickets: ScoreBig.com
Sprint Cup Standings
| 1 | Matt Kenseth | 2,099 |
| 2 | Denny Hamlin | 2,093 |
| 3 | Carl Edwards | 2,089 |
| 4 | Joey Logano | 2,089 |
| 5 | Jimmie Johnson | 2,083 |
| 6 | Ryan Newman | 2,074 |
| 7 | Kurt Busch | 2,073 |
| 8 | Brad Keselowski | 2,072 |
| 9 | Martin Truex Jr. | 2,071 |
| 10 | Jeff Gordon | 2,068 |
| 11 | Jamie McMurray | 2,058 |
| 12 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | 2,057 |
| 13 | Kyle Busch | 2,056 |
| 14 | Paul Menard | 2,056 |
| 15 | Kevin Harvick | 2,034 |
| 16 | Clint Bowyer | 2,018 |
Drivers to Watch
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
One of the names not mentioned above?
Try Dale Earnhardt Jr., who fizzled out last season. After a rather strong campaign, he's sitting just 12th in the standings and rather close to the drivers tied for 13th.
Earnhardt finished 12th in Chicago after starting 19th, then regressed in New Hampshire, starting 11th but finishing 25th. After the rough outing, he took to Twitter to talk about the performance:
It's encouraging, but it's also important to point out that Earnhardt finished 17th in this event last season before three outings of 20th place or worse.
Time has by no means run out for Earnhardt, but if Busch or Paul Menard finishes above him this weekend, well, then it will have.
Look for Junior to do whatever it takes Sunday. With so much at stake, he's one of the top drivers to watch.
Matt Kenseth
Matt Kenseth sits in first place after winning in New Hampshire last weekend. He's on fire as of late, winning four races dating back to the beginning of August and even posting a fifth-place finish in Chicago between wins. This weekend, he'll start on the pole after rain canceled qualifying.
While it's a nice way to start the weekend, one he could take off if he wanted to thanks to the automatic bid, Kenseth didn't sound like one to take it easy. He sounded like he would have liked to have the time on the track when he spoke with ESPN.com's John Oreovicz.
"I think we all would like to get on the track and get some practice, because we all have things we want to work on to try to make our cars faster," Kenseth said. "But one of the advantages of leading the points is you get a good starting spot and a good pit stall."
Regardless, Kenseth gets to run out of a good position, and the race as a whole stands as practice for a driver already assured a spot in the next round.
Kenseth has a massive target on his back given the circumstances, so it will be interesting to see if he can gain even more momentum heading into the second round of the bracket.
Kevin Harvick
Perhaps the most surprising nugget of all when it comes to the Chase?
Harvick sits in 15th place, a full 65 points out of first. It's win or nothing for the defending champion after a season in which he sat atop the leaderboard for a long time. Finishing 42nd in Chicago followed by a 21st slot in New Hampshire has the Stewart-Haas Racing driver in this predicament.
For Harvick, it sounds like he couldn't be happier about the locale of this weekend's event, though, given his performance at Dover the past few times out.
"I feel like we should have won two out of the last three races at [Dover]," Harvick said, per ESPN.com's Bob Pockrass. "Performance-wise, it's been a track that we should have won at."
Harvick found himself in a similar do-or-die situation last year and won in Phoenix. This year's situation is worse, but if there's one driver to count on with his back against the wall, it would be Harvick.
With nothing to lose and everything to gain, expect a wild day from Harvick.
Stats and info courtesy of ESPN.com unless otherwise specified.
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