FYI WIRZ: NASCAR's Top Drivers Talk the Monster Mile at Dover

The top five Chase drivers in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series this week—Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon, and Kurt Busch—talk the 1.0-mile oval with 24-degree banking at Dover International Speedway.       

The AAA 400 on the Monster Mile in Dover, Delaware commences this Sunday at 1:00 p.m. on ESPN.  

Clint Bowyer was docked 150 points for rules violation on the No. 33 Chevrolet during his team’s win at Loudon, dropping him from second place to last.   

This fast series includes comments by three of NASCAR’s most popular drivers—Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Kasey Kahne.  

FYI WIRZ is the swift presentation of pertinent motorsports topics compiled, condensed, and often written by Dwight Drum @ Racetake.com. Quotes provided by NASCAR and Sprint Cup team media.

Denny Hamlin (No. 11 Toyota)

“We all know how Dover is for me,” Hamlin said. “We’ve just got to minimize a bad day again at Dover. That’s our goal. You’ve got to set a number that you’re satisfied with, and try to reach that goal at Dover.

“We’ve been up front a lot during the season and that’s what it’s going to take to win the championship—a low average finish and making sure you have everything in line and prepared in case something does happen. Even if you have a bad race or two, if you consistently run in the top two to three positions every week and put yourself out there to possibly win a lot of races, I think you’ll be a contender.”

Kevin Harvick (No. 29 Chevrolet)

"Dover is a cool race track,” Harvick said. “It's fast. But there can be a wreck off of Turn 2 that will swallow up 10 or 15 cars. We've been on both sides of that fence. It's one of those race tracks that lets you know how fast you're going, not only when you're going around the race track, but if you happen to hit something. It's a fun race track but it can eat you up pretty fast."

Kyle Busch (No. 18 Toyota)

“I like going to Dover,” Busch said. “It’s a hard place to get around. It’s a little bit treacherous and kind of tricky, sometimes, especially the way the rubber is there and the way Goodyear brings tires in. You can’t have a mistake on pit road, on the last pit stop during a green flag stop or something. There are so many different ways to lose these races that you have to keep your head on.”

Jeff Gordon (No. 24 Chevrolet)

“Right now, I'm only focused on making sure that we are a part of that factor when we get down to Homestead,” Gordon said. “There's a lot of tracks that I think we are really good at and there's a couple that we have to get better at.  I think that we'll just have to wait and see.

Kurt Busch (No.2 Dodge)

“We’ve had some strong Cup runs at Dover,” Busch said. “It just seems like we haven’t been able to put together a whole race. We’ve led laps and been in contention for the win several times, but just haven’t been able to pull it off.”

“We’ve struggled at times and certainly had our ups and downs through the years of racing at Dover, but I can surely say that most of my memories have been so favorable of the place. We need to be able to come out of there with a solid run and a strong finish.” 

Tony Stewart (No. 14 Chevrolet)

"Dover is a track that is kind of a two-phase deal,” Stewart said. “It is easy to get your car too tight in the center trying to get it to drive up off the corner nice and it seems like if you get it to rotate through the corner then it is way loose off. That’s the two things that you really battle there.

“It is the sacrifice of which one do you want to be a little bit off to accomplish having a balanced car.

“It is one-tenth of the equation. There’s not going to be emphasis on one track versus another.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No. 88 Chevrolet)

"The team is coming off a good run, and we want to build on that,” Earnhardt said. “It's been a while since we've had a good run at Dover, but it's a tough track. Dover is a rough track and that concrete is bumpy."

Kasey Kahne (No. 9 Ford)

“Dover’s one of those places that if you unload and you’re off, you can get better, but you’ll never get to where you want to be,” Kahne said.

“On a race weekend here, your package needs to be close when you start practice or you’ll never really get there for some reason. The key is having a car that can still handle well 30-40 laps into a run and staying out of trouble. Dover is an easy place to get in trouble and once you’re in trouble, it's a place that can end your day in a hurry. It’s definitely one of the more mentally and physically demanding tracks that we go to.”

Photo credit: Dwight Drum @ Racetake.com