Miles the Monster is hungry and ready for action at Dover Motor Speedway for the Wurth 400.
Outside the stadium is a giant replica of Miles the Monster – 46 feet high – complete with a race car in his hand – a real full sized Cup Series car!
After a crash at Talladega last week that put him into the wall, Erik Jones has a compression fracture in his spine and is out of the car. This week Corey Heim will be driving the number 43 car. While unable to drive, Jones is at the track to help Heim with the track. Heim is the 48th person to drive the iconic number 43 car.
Denny Hamlin is having issues in his car with reaching the pedals.
Thirty-seven teams brought cars to the track including Legacy Motor Club’s co-owner Jimmie Johnson who has eleven wins at Dover.
On a chilly Delaware morning, the drivers are divided into two groups for a 20 minute practice session before making a qualifying run.
William Byron topped the pylon in Group A practice with the fastest single lap and long runs.
The tires are showing some excessive tire wear with cording after a 20 minute practice session. However, crews expect tire wear to improve for the race.
Zane Smith gets hard into the wall with a flat tire. He drives the car back to the pits but has significant damage to the rear of the car. While he has a win in the Truck Series at Dover, this is the Smith’s first time in a Cup car at Dover.
Kaz Grala spins out and hits the wall head on hard. His rear tires came off the ground when he hit the wall. He is talking with the team on the radio. Grala climbed out of the car and hops over the wall. Out of the infield care center, Kaz Grala said that it happened so quickly that he didn’t have time to react.
Ryan Blaney tops the leaderboard in Group B.
The first car on the track to make a qualifying run from Group A is AJ Allmendinger who posted a time of 22.250 seconds around the one mile track. The drivers get two laps to make their best time.
The top five drivers from each group will move on to a second round of qualifying to set the pole.
Denny Hamlin, AJ Allmendinger, Noah Gragson, William Byron, and Kyle Busch will all move on to round two of qualifying.
Jimmie Johnson is the first driver in Group B to make a qualifying run and posted a time of 22.424 seconds.
Kaz Grala and Zane Smith will not make a qualifying run after crashes during practice.
Christopher Bell spins out on his qualifying run and taps the wall. He slides sideways down the track before getting it straight and driving down pit road. The car is repairable and will not need to move to a backup car.
Ryan Blaney, Michael McDowell, Alex Bowman, Chase Briscoe, and Tyler Reddick will all be moving on to round two of qualifying from Group B.
While qualifying is normally very important, three of the past four race winners at Dover came from outside the top 15.
Kyle Busch is the first top 10 driver in round two to make his qualifying run and posted a time of 22.196 seconds.
With a time of 22.196 seconds, Kyle Busch puts his number eight car on the pole with Ryan Blaney alongside on the front row.
The starting lineup for the Wurth 400:
Kyle Busch
Ryan Blaney
William Byron
Tyler Reddick
Noah Gragson
Denny Hamlin
Chase Briscoe
Michael McDowell
Alex Bowman
AJ Allmendinger
Austin Cindric
Josh Berry
Joey Logano
Daniel Hemric
Martin Truex Jr
Bubba Wallace
Ricky Stenhouse Jr
Chris Buescher
Ty Gibbs
Carson Hocevar
Kyle Larson
Ross Chastain
Austin Dillon
Brad Keselowski
Corey LaJoie
Harrison Burton
Jimmie Johnson
Ryan Preece
Chase Elliott
Todd Gilliland
Daniel Suarez
Corey Heim
Christopher Bell
John Hunter Nemechek
Kaz Grala
Justin Haley
Zane Smith
Stage one is 120 laps, stage two is 130 laps, and stage three is 150 laps for a total of 400 laps around the one mile concrete track. Drivers can run around 100 laps on a single load of fuel. They will have to make a pit stop during each of the stages.
Kyle Busch brings the field down for the green flag start of the race on a warm Sunday afternoon with Ryan Blaney alongside. Busch quickly gets out in front from the outside lane with Blaney in second.
Lap three, Kyle Busch has a third of a second lead on Ryan Blaney; Tyler Reddick, William Byron, and Denny Hamlin round out the top five.
Lap five, leader Kyle Busch approaches a half second lead on Ryan Blaney.
The track is laying down plenty of rubber, which is very good for the drivers and tire wear.
Lap seven, Kyle Busch has a lead of over half a second on Ryan Blaney; Tyler Reddick, William Byron, and Denny Hamlin round out the top five.
Lap 10, Kyle Busch holds his half second lead on Ryan Blaney with Tyler Reddick, William Byron, and Denny Hamlin rounding out the top five.
Lap 14, Kyle Busch has led every lap so far. Drivers up front have shown little movement so far; but drivers back in the field have been moving around.
Lap 20, Ryan Preece is smoking; there is smoke coming out of the cockpit. During the Xfinity Series race on Saturday, two of the cars caught on fire.
Lap 24, Kyle Busch’s lead on Ryan Blaney is down to a third of a second as he begins to laps slower traffic.
Lap 28, the top five are Kyle Busch, Ryan Blaney, Tyler Reddick, William Byron, and Denny Hamlin.
Lap 30, Kyle Busch’s lead on Ryan Blaney is down to under a quarter of a second.
Lap 34, Ryan Blaney passes Kyle Busch for the lead.
The caution flag comes out on lap 39 for a crash involving Todd Gilliland who spins out the car and ends up against the inside wall. Gilliland is stuck in a bad spot and the safety workers are having difficulty in getting the car hooked up and off of the track. There is not a lot of damage to the car if he can get it to pit road.
The teams are happy to have a caution to check on tire wear and make adjustments but are even happier that they were not the cause of the caution.
Drivers come down pit road for service. Corey Heim makes contact with Tyler Reddick coming into his pit stall and got spun around. Drivers were four wide coming off of pit road with Ryan Blaney beating them out. Christopher Bell had to back up for a loose wheel.
Kyle Busch also had a lug nut issue on pit road and dropped four spots.
Todd Gilliland’s car has been taken to the garage.
Michael McDowell was caught speeding on pit road.
The smoke in Ryan Preece’s car has gone away.
Ryan Blaney brings the field down for the gren flag restart on lap 48 and holds on to the lead.
Lap 49, the top five are Ryan Blaney, William Byron, Tyler Reddick, Kyle Busch, and Noah Gragson.
Denny Hamlin got loose on the track but saved the car and the track stays green.
Lap 53, Ryan Blaney has a third of a second lead on William Byron; Tyler Reddick, Kyle Busch, and Chase Briscoe round out the top five.
Lap 57, the smoke has returned in Ryan Preece’s car.
Lap 58, Ryan Blaney has a lead of over half a second on William Byron; Tyler Reddick, Kyle Busch, and Noah Gragson round out the top five.
Lap 61, Ryan Preece brings his car down pit road with smoke and fire issues in the door foam. Preece takes his car to the garage but will be allowed to work on the issue and return to the race.
Lap 69, Ryan Blaney has pulled out to a lead of nearly a second on William Byron; Tyler Reddick, Kyle Busch, and Martin Truex Jr round out the top five.
Lap 74, Ryan Blaney has a half second lead on William Byron; Tyler Reddick, Kyle Busch, and Martin Truex Jr round out the top five.
Lap 76, Martin Truex Jr passes Kyle Busch for fourth. Last year Truex’s younger brother Ryan won the Xfinity race on Saturday and Martin won on Sunday for the Truex sweep. The Truex family is looking for a repeat after Ryan Truex repeated his win on Saturday.
Lap 80 William Byron passes Ryan Blaney for the lead; Tyler Reddick, Martin Truex Jr, and Kyle Busch round out the top five.
Lap 81, William Byron has a lead of over half a second on Ryan Blaney. There are 34 cars on the lead lap.
Todd Gilliland has returned to the track, six laps down.
Lap 94, William Byron leads the race with Ryan Blaney in second; Tyler Reddick, Martin Truex Jr, and Kyle Busch round out the top five.
Lap 97, leader William Byron has encountered heavy traffic and is lapping slower cars. There are 32 cars on the lead lap.
Lap 101, Martin Truex Jr passes Ryan Blaney for third; William Byron has a one second lead.
Lap 102, the top five are William Byron, Tyler Reddick, Martin Truex Jr, Ryan Blaney, and Kyle Busch.
Lap 103, William Byron has pulled out to a lead of over a second and a half on Tyler Reddick.
Lap 109, William Byron has a lead of over a second on Tyler Reddick; Martin Truex Jr, Ryan Blaney, and Denny Hamlin round out the top five.
Austin Dillon had to make an unscheduled pit stop for a flat tire and is now two laps down.
After all of the foam has burned off in Ryan Preece’s car, the crew is letting the car cool off before they load it into the hauler. Ryan Preece is the first driver out of the race.
Lap 115, Martin Truex Jr passes William Byron for the lead; Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney, and Kyle Larson round out the top five.
There are 26 cars on the lead lap.
Kyle Busch has dropped to seventh with some handling issues.
Lap 118, Brad Keselowski brings out the caution flag with just two laps remaining in stage one – the stage will end under caution. He gets loose and spins out with a flat tire.
Martin Truex Jr wins stage one for his fifth Dover stage win.
The top 10 at the end of stage one:
Martin Truex Jr
William Byron
Tyler Reddick
Ryan Blaney
Kyle Larson
Denny Hamlin
Kyle Busch
Alex Bowman
Chase Elliott
Ricky Stenhouse Jr
Drivers come down pit road for a new load of fuel.
Martin Truex Jr brings the field down for the green flag start of stage two with William Byron alongside on lap 130. Truex gets out in front for the lead.
The top five are Martin Truex Jr, William Byron, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney, and Denny Hamlin.
Lap 132, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson battle for fifth.
Lap 135, Marting Truex Jr has a near half second lead on William Byron. Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson continues their battle for fifth place.
Lap 138, the top five are Martin Truex Jr, William Byron, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney, and Kyle Larson.
Chase Elliott and Kyle Busch both slap the wall but the track stays green.
Lap 150, Martin Truex has increased hos lead to a second on William Byron; Tyler Reddick Ryan Blaney, and Kyle Larson round out the top five.
There are 27 cars on the lead lap. The last car on the lead lap is Daniel Suarez who will take the test to become an American citizen on Monday. He said that he is more nervous about he test then he is the race.
Lap 159, Martin Truex Jr has a second and a half lead on William Byron; Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney, and Kyle Larson round out the top five.
Kyle Larson is attempting the double Indy 500/Coke 600 this year. While Larson is in Indy for 500 prelims – practice and qualifying – Kevin Harvick will be practicing the number five car for the All Star Race in North Wilkesboro.
Lap 173, Martin Truex Jr has a two second lead on William Byron; Tyler Reddick, Kyle Larson, and Ryan Blaney round out the top five.
In 26th place Corey Heim is still on the lead lap in his first Cup Series race. Heim is substituting for Erik Jones after Jones injured his back in a crash last week at Talladega.
Kyle Busch reports tht his car is running terrible!
Lap 180, Kyle Larson passes Tyler Reddick for third.
Lap 181, drivers begin making green flag pit stops with AJ Allmendinger, Christopher Bell, and Austin Cindric coming down pit road.
Lap 182, William Byron gives up second to make his pit stop but the car falls off the jack and he has a 24 second stop. As a result, Byron is one lap down.
Lap 183, leaders come down pit road for service with Kyle Larson beating Martin Truex Jr off of pit road.
Lap 184, green flag pit stops continue.
Lap 189, Coey LaJoie is the only driver who has not made a pit stop.
Lap 191, officially there are only six cars on the lead lap until Corey LaJoie makes his pit stop.
Lap 193, drivers with fresh tires are unlapping themselves.
The top five are Corey LaJoie, Kyle Larson, Martin Truex Jr, Tyler Reddick, and Alex Bowman.
Carson Hocevar was caught speeding on pit road and will have to serve a pass through penalty.
Lap 199, there are 13 cars on the lead lap.
Lap 200, there are over 13 seconds between leader Corey LaJoie and Kyle Larson.
Lap 202, Martin Truex Jr is closing the gap on Kyle Larson.
Lap 205, there are now 18 cars on the lead lap.
Lapa 207, Corey LaJoie continues to lead the race as he has yet to make his pit stop, but his times are falling off drastically and Kyle Larson is less than seven seconds behind LaJoie.
Lap 212, there are now 22 cars on the lead lap. Corey LaJoie’s lead is down to under five seconds.
Lap 216, Kyle Larson is now less than three seconds behind Corey LaJoie. The crew told him to drive it until the fuel is out.
Lap 219, Corey LaJoie finally makes his pit stop. Kyle Larson is the new leader with Martin Truex Jr a half second behind.
Lap 224, the top five are Kyle Larson, Alex Bowman, Martin Truex Jr, Denny Hamlin, and Kyle Busch.
Brad Keselowski is slowed on the track after scraping the wall but the race stays green.
Denny Hamlin passes Martin Truex for third.
Chase Elliott passes Kyle Busch for fifth.
Lap 236, Kyle Larson has a half second lead on Alex Bowman; Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex jr, and Chase Elliott round out the top five.
Lap 244, Denny Hamlin and Alex Bowman battle for second. Kyle Larson leads by over half a second.
Lap 246, leader Kyle Larson encounters slower traffic.
There are 32 cars on the lead lap.
Kyle Larson wins stage two for his sixth stage win of the season.
The top 10 at the end of stage two:
Kyle Larson
Alex Bowman
Denn Hamlin
Martin Truex Jr
Chase Elliott
Kyle Busch
Tyler Reddick
Ryan Blaney
Ricky Stenhouse Jr
Bubba Wallace
Kyle Larson leads the field down pit road for service with Denny Hamlin leading the race off of pit road.
Denny Hamlin brings the field down for the green flag start of stage three on lap 259 and holds on to the lead with Kyle Larson in second.
Lap 260, the top five are Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Alex Bowman, Kyle Busch, and Martin Truex Jr.
After a bad pit stop that put him two laps down, William Byron is back on the lead lap.
Lap 265, Denny Hamlin has pulled out to a lead of over two seconds on Kyle Larson, Alex Bowman, Kyle Busch, and Martin Truex Jr round out the top five.
Lap 268, Denny Hamlin increases his lead to nearly three seconds on Kyle Larson.
Lap 278, Denny Hamlin continues to lead the race with Kyle Larson in second; Alex Bowman, Kyle Busch, and Martin Truex Jr round out the top five.
On the restart Martin Truex Jr hit the back of Alex Bowman’s car hard and did some damage to the front end of his car that will cause some handling issues with the car.
Lap 283, Denny Hamlin has pulled out to a lead of over three seconds on Kyle Larson; Alex Bowman, Kle Larson, and Martin Truex Jr round out the top five.
Ryan Preece remains the only driver out of the race.
Lap 289, Kyle Larson has closed the gap to leader Denny Hamlin to under three seconds.
Lap 299, Denny Hamlin’s lead is down to just over two and a half seconds over Kyle Larson; Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr, and Alex Bowman round out the top five.
Lap 306, Denny Hamlin’s lead is now down to under two seconds on Kyle Larson; Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr, and Alex Bowman round out the top five.
Michael McDowell is off the track.
Lap 316, Martin Truex Jr comes down pit road for his green flag pit stop and starts the parade of cars making pit stops.
Kyle Larson passed Denny Hamlin on pit road.
Lap 321, Daniel Hemric has yet to make his pit stop and leads the race. Ricky Stenhouse Jr is up against the wall and brings out the caution flag.
Kyle Busch had to make a second trip down pit road after the crew failed to fill the fuel cell.
Sixteen drivers take the wave around and get back on the lead lap – or gets laps back.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr is out of the race.
Chase Briscoe pitted before pit road was open and will have to restart the race from the back of the field.
Lap 329, Kyle Larson brings the field down for the green flag restart with Denny Hamlin alongside. Hamlin gets out in front from the inside lane.
Bubba Wallace spins out and collects several drivers. William Byron, Zane Smith, and Christopher Bell were also involved. Bell, Wallace, and Byron are all out of the race.
Denny Hamlin brings the field down for the green flag restart with Kyle Larson alongside on lap 339. Hamlin jumps out in front with Kyle Larson and Martin Truex Jr in a battle for second.
The top five are Denny Hamlin,, Kyle Larson, Martin Truex Jr, Chase Elliott, and Noah Gragson.
Drivers are in double wide battles for positon all through the field.
Lap 341, Denny Hamlin has a lead of nearly a second on Kyle Larson.
With 56 laps remaining in the race Denny Hamlin has a lead of over a second on Kyle Larson; Martin Truex Jr, Noah Gragson, and Chase Elliott round out the top five.
Fifty to go! Denny Hamlin has a near second and a half lead on Kyle Larson; Martin Truex Jr, Noah Gragson, and Chase Elliott round out the top fivWith 42 laps remaining in the race, Denny Hamlin has a lead of over a second on Kyle Larson; Martin Truex Jr, Noah Gragson, and Kyle busch round out the top five.
Kyle Busch scrapes the wall but the track stays green.
Forty to go, Kyle Larson is very slowly closing the gap on leader Denny Hamlin. There are 18 cars on the lead lap.
Thirty-five laps to go, Denny Hamlin has increased his lead to nearly a second and a half on Kyle Larson.
Thirty to go, Denny Hamlin has a lead of over a second on Kyle Larson; Martin Truex Jr, Noah Gragson, and Kyle Busch round out the top five.
Just 24 laps to go; Denny Hamlin’s lead is now under one second as he encounters slower traffic.
Just 17 laps remain, Denny Hamlin’s lead is now just half a second over Kyle Larson; Martin Truex Jr, Noah Gragson and Kyle Busch round out the top five.
Just 12 laps to go, Kyle Larson is less than half a second behind leader Denny Hamlin.
Ten to go! Denny Hamlin has just a third of a second lead on Kyle Larson.
Six to go, Kyle Larson is on Denny Hamlin’s bumper.
Denny Hamlin takes the white flag.
Denny Hamlin holds off Kyle Larson to win the race for his 54th career Cup Series win and third win this season.
The unofficial results of the Wurth 400:
Denny Hamlin
Kyle Larson
Martin Truex Jr
Kyle Busch
Chase Elliott
Noah Gragson
Ryan Blaney
Alex Bowman
Daniel Hemric
Ty Gibbs
Tyler Reddick
Ross Chastain
AJ Allmendinger
Josh Berry
Austin Cindric
Joey Logana
Chris Buescher
Daniel Suarez
Chase Briscoe
John Hunter Nemechek
Corey LaJoie
Carson Hocevar
Justin Haley
Zane Smith
Corey Heim
Harrison Burton
Austin Dillon
Jimmie Johnson
Kaz Grala
Brad Keselowski
Todd Gilliland
Bubba Wallace
William Byron
Chrisotpher Bell
Ricky Stenhouse Jr
Michael McDowell
Ryan Preece