FedEx 400 Race Review
Jun 2, 2013; Dover, DE, USA; Sprint Cup Series driver Kasey Kahne (5) wrecks into the wall during the FedEx 400 Benefiting Autism Speaks at Dover International Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
The restart sees Hamlin get back to the lead while behind them Montoya gets a great start and gets up to third but then moves up the track and almost makes contact with Keselowksi forcing the 2 car up into the wall. Edwards takes advantage of this and goes round the fight and into third. The battle continues though between the 42 and 2 cars and is causing a traffic jam of cars behind them as 4th to 12th are now stacked up behind them. The fight is brought to an end when Kahne, with no help from anyone, loses control and spins, fortunately everybody gets round him. With the exception Kurt and Jeff Gordon all the leaders come in for tyres and fuel and if the race stays green should be able to make it on fuel. At the restart the top five are Kurt, Gordon, Hamlin, Johnson and Edwards. Kurt is able to get the better of Gordon on the restart to lead for the first time but Johnson wastes no time in moving past everyone and before the restart lap is completed he is back in the lead showing that the new tyres were the way to go. Montoya also gets a great run at the green flag and gets up to second, but encounters resistance from the 78 who give the 42 a good bump to push him out-of-the-way and retake second place. It’s a great run by Kurt who’s tyres are 38 laps older than all the cars around him.
Kurt’s tyres seem to be made of different stuff to everyone else’s as he starts to close the gap on Johnson who’s lead of over a second has now been cut too to under half a second with 50 laps remaining, but if there are no more cautions he will need to pit again. Unfortunately Kurt doesn’t get the lucky break he was hoping for and with 36 laps to go he has to come to pit row and comes back out in 18th one lap down. Meanwhile his brother is back on a charge and he makes short work of Gordon and Montoya to take second and try to hunt down Johnson. He doesn’t have long to wait though as on the next lap Hamlin gets into the wall to bring out the 7th caution and set up an exciting finish. A great stop by some of the teams sees a shake up at the front with Montoya winning the race off pit from Johnson, Clint Bowyer, Stewart and Keselowski. As the cars reach the restart area the 42 and 48 floor it to try to get a jump on each other but it was Johnson that got the better start to take the lead.
Jun 2, 2013; Dover, DE, USA; NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Tony Stewart celebrates in victory lane after winning the FedEx 400 Benefiting Autism Speaks at Dover International Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Matthew O
However over the radio comes the message that Johnson jumped the start and because he didn’t give the place back he has to serve a drive through penalty and give up the lead. Closer inspection does indeed show that Johnson was ahead of the 42 in the restart zone and he can only do that if Montoya hasn’t started to accelerate as they leave that zone. With Johnson out-of-the-way Montoya has a clear lead over the chasing pack but with there is a hard charging Stewart behind him and with 8 laps to go the 42’s lead is only half a second. A lap later and the 14 has caught Montoya and is desperately trying to find a way around him. With fresher tyres Stewart is able to get a run on the high-side and make the move stick to take the lead and with only three laps to go nobody can catch him and Stewart takes his first, much-needed, win of the season.
Another great ending to a race with an unpredictable winner and plenty of talking points both during the race and post race. But there is still a nagging question over how the gen-6 cars run in clean air. We saw countless times during the race that cars out front with clean air could build up a great lead and were very hard to catch. This is an area that NASCAR will need to look at and whether it’s a case of reducing downforce, power or some other fix it is something that in my opinion needs to be addressed. But that can’t take away from how well the car runs in traffic with drivers showing that if the car is good enough qualifying position is no hindrance to a good final position, which in turn provides excitement and unpredictability and that’s not something that we’ve been able to say about the last few years racing.