NASCAR will host the Sunday afternoon race at Dover Motor Speedway (2 p.m. ET on FS1).
This will be the only race on a one-mile banked concrete oval, giving multiple past champions a chance to break their winning streaks.
Three things to note about today’s race:
more: Dover starting lineup
more: Sunday race details
1. Back on track
Last season, Kyle Busch won two of his first 10 races for Richard Childress Racing. He added a third win before entering mid-season.
This season has been the opposite experience for the two-time Cup Series champion. Busch finished in the top 10 in only three races: Atlanta, Circuit of the Americas and Texas. He has finished 20th or worse in five other races, dropping to 17th in points.
“I feel like the last couple of weeks, the discussions at RCR, myself and Randall (Barnett) and all of us were like, ‘Okay, let’s do some kind of reset here,'” Busch said after the win. Pole.
“I feel like Dover and Kansas are definitely weeks for us to definitely work on and focus on getting ourselves right. It looks like we’re on track so far.”
All three Team Penske drivers have yet to win at Dover Motor Speedway.
Busch got a top start in last season’s Cup race at Dover after rain washed out qualifying. He led 25 laps, but was penalized for speeding on pit road. He finished in 21st place.
Sunday will be another chance for Busch, who has won at Dover three times. He will start from pole position at the track where he has led 1,341 laps in his career.
A strong run could help Busch and Richard Childress Racing get their season back on track. Busch is aiming for his 64th career win and his 20th consecutive victory.
“We had already gone through the Daytona 500 and hadn’t checked the box (for a win), so the next checkbox to check at the top of the list is win this year to continue that streak. “That’s what we do,” Bush said. “From there, of course, you’ll never settle for just one thing, you’ll never be satisfied. You want more.”
2. Newcomer debut
Erik Jones will not be participating in Sunday’s Dover race in the No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota Camry. He is recovering from a compression fracture in his back. Instead, Truck Series driver Corey Heim will take over and make his Cup debut.
Heim is a simulation and reserve driver for Legacy MC. He’s the first driver called if Jones or John Hunter Nemechek can’t suit up for some reason.
Although Heim is familiar with the team, he had never actually been in a Cup car until Saturday’s practice session. Heim also had little national series experience at Dover, considering engine failure had ended his two Xfinity starts early.
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little nervous, because I’ve never sat in one of these cars before, but my job was to drive this 43 until Eric came back. It’s about doing what’s best for the group,” Heim said Saturday.
Erik Jones suffered a lower vertebra compression fracture at Talladega last week and will miss Sunday’s Dover race.
Heim completed the first lap of Dover during Saturday’s practice session. He was 31st fastest in practice, but 32nd in qualifying.
The next step is to complete the race and gain more knowledge for the future.
“I don’t know if I’ll feel like I’ve got it figured out by the end of the week, but any advice would be very important,” Heim said. “I have been trying to reach out to as many people as possible to gather all the information and get a good idea.
“In this 20-minute practice, it’s pretty tough to get your head around a completely different kind of race car in that time frame, but my job is to do the best for this 43 group and move forward from there. only. “
3. Comfort level
Jimmie Johnson faced a steep learning curve with the next generation of cars. He failed to finish all three races he started last season, and his best finish in two races this season is 28th.
The seven-time champion has spent his career driving right-rear tire drops and has had considerable success in the process. That’s no longer possible considering the next generation car will force Johnson to drop the right front tire.
Johnson had to change his approach, and other Cup drivers have done so during the 2022 season. The race at Texas Motor Speedway two weeks ago was a step in the right direction, but a late start meant he was a little behind.
“I think we’re making progress,” Johnson said Saturday. “I think I really learned a lot by doing all the laps in Texas, not just about driving the car, but also thinking about what we need to improve on and where we are as a company right now.”
Dover could be the perfect race for Martin Truex Jr. and his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates to break their recent top-10 drought.
Dover is Johnson’s next opportunity to get more comfortable behind the wheel of a next-generation car and gain more experience at the track where he has won 11 times. Completing all the laps will only prepare you better for the races in Kansas and Charlotte in May.
More importantly, the extra time in the next-gen car will benefit the Legacy MC overall.
“In the off-season, we focus on 1.5-mile and a half races and improving performance that we hope to improve, and that running a third car in at least nine events at basically every 1.5-mile track will help. We thought, ‘We’re going to evolve as an organization,”’ Johnson said.
