{"id":5131,"date":"2011-05-12T08:17:30","date_gmt":"2011-05-12T13:17:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/?p=9076"},"modified":"2011-05-10T22:19:43","modified_gmt":"2011-05-11T03:19:43","slug":"drivers-dover-international-speedway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/2011\/05\/drivers-dover-international-speedway\/","title":{"rendered":"Drivers on DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY"},"content":{"rendered":"

DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY:<\/strong><\/p>\n

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE\u2019S CHEVROLET \u2013 2ND IN STANDINGS:<\/strong> \u201cDover is a fun race track. I think it’s a track that really suits my style, and the stats show that. There’s a certain rhythm there. You have to be comfortable with typically the race car at least into the corner; then you have to figure out somehow to make it turn the center, fight forward grip up off the corner to run a good lap there. The rubber, I understand we’re going back to the same tire as we had there in the fall. That tire laid a lot of rubber down and caused a lot of handling issues for teams. We did a good job of working around that. So I’m excited going back. I think it will be a strong race for the Lowe’s team.\u201d<\/p>\n

DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 AMP ENERGY SUGAR-FREE\/NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET \u2013 4TH IN STANDINGS<\/strong>: \u201cConcrete has joints in it like a wooden deck, and much like a wooden deck when you don\u2019t treat it well the boards sort of flare up on the ends, and that\u2019s what the joints on the concrete track do. The track gets bumps in those joints, and they\u2019re consistent bumps like when you\u2019re going down the interstate, and it makes the car sort of chatter around on top of those bumps and joints. And, concrete as you run on it gets chalky; it\u2019s difficult to keep smooth or clean. Every time we go out there (Dover) for the first time, the first few minutes in practice everyone is throwing up a bunch of dirt and dust. There is a crossover on the back straightaway of Dover where they bring a lot of dirt in, driving across it into the racetrack. That sort of circulates around the racetrack until it sort of dissipates and goes wherever it goes. It\u2019s harder than asphalt to drive on, for me.\u201d
\n
\nKEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET, 5TH IN STANDINGS: \u201cDover is just one of those places as a driver that feels really fast. With this style of car it seems like the forward drive up off the corner is probably the most important thing but you still have to make your car turn in the center of the corner so as a driver the car has to be comfortable to be really aggressive. With Dover and Charlotte, you need to know where you have to be when you come back for the Chase. So these are important weeks for us to put the notebooks where they need to be and have a good understanding of the things that we need to do when it counts.\u201d<\/p>\n

RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 HAAS AUTOMATION CHEVROLET \u2013 6TH IN STANDINGS: \u201cDover is another one of my favorite race tracks. This little swing here we have here, Richmond, Darlington, Dover, Charlotte; it’s been kind of similar in the last few years. It’s a string of races that I really enjoy. Dover is a very demanding racetrack. The way the altitude, the elevation changes I should say going into the corners, coming off, as another parameter, that makes it more exciting from our standpoints as drivers. It’s a challenge. And a challenge, just like at Darlington, if you don’t like a challenge, you don’t like Darlington or Dover. I like them both.\u201d<\/p>\n

TONY STEWART, NO. 14 MOBIL 1\/OFFICE DEPOT CHEVROLET 7TH IN STANDINGS: \u201cDover is really similar to Bristol, it is just bigger. The same variables that you fight at Bristol, you fight at Dover. The guys that normally have a good car at Bristol are normally pretty good at Dover at the same time.” I don\u2019t know if we really consider Dover a short track. But I don\u2019t know. We\u2019re trying to figure out what we\u2019ve got to do to be better and not just there, but everywhere. We\u2019ll look at Dover I\u2019m sure, also. But that\u2019s probably a (crew chief) Darian (Grubb) question more than I\u2019m going to know.\u201d<\/p>\n

CLINT BOWYER, NO. 33 BB&T CHEVROLET \u2013 9TH IN STANDINGS: \u201cDover is actually a good track for me. I love Dover and run well there. We\u2019ve practiced, qualified and raced well, yet don\u2019t always finish well. That\u2019s what we need to work on, is getting that strong finish. We\u2019re hit or miss on race day. There will be runs when we\u2019re lightning fast, but there are other runs that we\u2019re going a lap down. It\u2019s always one of those tracks that we come back in the fall and have a good finish after learning from the spring event. We need to be able to capitalize on that and get a good run here in the spring race. The toughest part is getting your car to do what you want it to do. I have won two Nationwide Series races there so I\u2019ve had success. I love that race track, but the hardest thing is getting these Sprint Cup cars to do what you want them to do. They don\u2019t want to do that sometimes (laughs). Dover is a bigger Bristol and I would definitely say that Bristol is a physical test. Dover is just a bigger, faster, meaner Bristol.\u201d<\/p>\n

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET \u2013 13TH IN STANDINGS: \u201cI think Dover is a cool race track. It\u2019s a cool place to go. That\u2019s the place that probably reminds me more about open-wheeled racing. It\u2019s just the grip level on these cars around that place is incredible. It\u2019s like you go through the corners and it\u2019s oh my god we do have a lot of grip here. And it\u2019s always fun. When the car is right it\u2019s a lot of fun and when it\u2019s not it\u2019s a handful. So it\u2019s exciting. You\u2019ve really got to step it up in qualifying and it just makes it fun. I really like Dover. It has probably been one of the easiest tracks for me because it actually has a lot of grip. So you can actually feel like you are driving the car like what I was used to in open-wheel. This is the closest feeling I get comparison wise. It\u2019s a track that typically has long green flag runs so you work on the handling throughout the day and prepare for a lot of cautions in the end. A good spot in the pits helps, staying out of the fence and making a final charge at the end is the way to survive at Dover.\u201d<\/p>\n

MARK MARTIN, NO. 5 GODADDY.COM CHEVROLET \u2013 14TH IN STANDINGS: \u201cWell, I love it (Dover). I loved it the first time I went there, and I remember the track record being set at that first race 144 miles an hour (chuckling). I think that’s 25:40 or something like that, I think it was 25:40 was the lap time. And since then, we have seen lap times down into the 21-second bracket. A lot of things have changed there, but one thing that’s stayed the same is it’s a wonderful place to race. Wonderful racetrack, one of my favorite places to go. It’s the only concrete track that I really love. And I loved it even more when it was asphalt, but I still love it. It’s one of my top-of-the-list favorites.\u201d<\/p>\n

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVROLET \u2013 17TH IN STANDINGS: \u201cThat annual visit to DuPont headquarters is a real source of motivation before the weekend\u2019s race (at Dover). We\u2019ve had a great partnership for 19 years, and the businesses and employees really support this team. They get excited for our visit, and their excitement is contagious.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what triggers it (tempers and aggression early in the season). It just seems like some years the moon is just right. I don\u2019t know. There is no doubt there is a tremendous amount of pressure and I think you just have to look at everybody\u2019s success level, where they are at and there are some that might be a little more comfortable with things and some that aren\u2019t real happy with things. Maybe there are sponsorship contracts that are up or maybe they\u2019ve been with a team and they felt like they should have had more success at this point and haven\u2019t so when that opportunity comes up and something gets in the way of that being a successful run it\u2019s easy to get frustrated because of all that\u2019s built up to it. But in my opinion this is a very high stress level sport, intense, and I think the competition has only gotten tougher so it goes back to talking about the points system because the competition is tougher and we see how close the cars are and how hard it is to make big gains then that means its only harder to make up positions in the points as you get further in the season. Not to mention the new point system might add a little bit to it. Those to me are all the ingredients of heightening the stress and frustration levels.<\/p>\n

PAUL MENARD, NO. 27 CERTAIN TEED\/MENARDS CHEVROLET \u2013 18TH IN STANDINGS: \u201cI feel pretty confident about Dover. We ran good there last fall. Charlotte will hopefully be a good track for us and Kansas and Pocono. We should be okay. Short tracks have been our struggle and that\u2019s what we\u2019re working hard on. I\u2019ve always liked Dover. It\u2019s a really fun track to drive and to race on. We had a good run last fall so we\u2019ve got some good notes to base it off. It\u2019s a wide track, really. It\u2019s really fast but the groove opens up and gets really narrow on the straightaways. Things happen very fast there. The backstretch gets really bottled-up and the track gets blocked easily if there\u2019s a wreck; just trying to stay out of trouble. The concrete has a lot different feel to it than asphalt does. And trying to get over all the seams in the race track and get your shock package right (is important).\u201d<\/p>\n

JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 BASS PRO SHOPS\/TRACKER BOATS CHEVROLET \u2013 21ST IN STANDINGS: \u201cI am looking forward to racing at Dover, this is a really fun track to race, but things can happen real quick when the track narrows off the corners. It is a demanding race for both drivers and equipment. I have run well there in the past and look to build on our momentum from our top-10 finish last week. Our guys have been working really hard on this Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet to get us back in the winner\u2019s circle. I want to try to win every weekend, but to win at Dover would be real cool, I would love to have one of those Monster Mile trophies in my collection!\u201d<\/p>\n

JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 CATERPILLAR CHEVROLET \u2013 22ND IN STANDINGS: \u201cDover is a track that\u2019s been good to us. We typically don\u2019t qualify well there but we race really well there. Qualifying poorly doesn\u2019t really hurt you all that much because it\u2019s a long race and it\u2019s a track you can make passes on. We\u2019re excited about going. It\u2019s a really hard race track. It\u2019s very, very difficult. It\u2019s a high-speed Bristol, if there is such a thing. It\u2019ll get your attention. I know we\u2019ve gotten ourselves in a deep hole but there\u2019s a lot of racing left to go and a lot of things are going to be happening between now and then (before the Chase). I\u2019ve said all along that we\u2019re not giving up on being able to make the top 10. I just don\u2019t think we\u2019re in the position to just say we definitely can\u2019t make it and the only way we\u2019re going to get in is win races. I don\u2019t believe we\u2019re in that situation. We certainly want to win races because that gives us the most points and it puts us in the best shot to make the Chase. So we\u2019ve got a lot of motivation to win races that help us in a lot of ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

REGAN SMITH, NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW CHEVROLET \u2013 27TH IN STANDINGS: “Since Saturday night in Darlington it’s been a whirlwind, but a wonderful whirlwind. Winning that race was a tribute to the ownership, management and to all the guys who headed west to work at Furniture Row Racing in Denver. Their commitment, dedication and work ethic sure paid off when our Furniture Row Chevrolet crossed the finish line first. It’s been fun since Darlington and we don’t want it to end. We have put ourselves in a possible Chase berth but we need to get in the top 20. So that’s why every race is so critical for us, starting with Dover this weekend. As was the case with Darlington, I also really like the Dover Monster Mile. We’ll be ready and fighting for every point that’s out there.”<\/p>\n

DAVE BLANEY, NO. 36 GOLDEN CORRAL CHEVROLET \u2013 31ST IN STANDINGS: \u201cDover is one of my favorite places. I like the shape of it and the way it races. I\u2019ve had some good runs at Dover in the past. Our team needs to keep the momentum going since we made it into the top-35. We need to have some more good finishes and not make any mistakes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY: JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE\u2019S CHEVROLET \u2013 2ND IN STANDINGS: \u201cDover is a fun race track. I think it’s a track that really suits my style, and the stats show that. There’s a certain rhythm there. You have to be comfortable with typically the race car at least into the corner; then […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[15775],"class_list":["post-5131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nascar","tag-nascar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5131\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}