NASCAR: Dover AAA 400 Race Recap

Gordon is on a charge and both him and Kenseth get by Kyle and then Gordon is able to get by the 20 to make it a Hendrick 1, 2 and 3 with 100 laps to go. Lap by lap Jr starts eating into Johnson’s lead as Jr is moving all over the track to find the fastest line while Johnson is just sticking to the safer lower line. The different lines are certainly working for Jr as he comes up right behind the 48. Jr keeps putting his nose inside and outside of the 48 but can never quite get the drive out of the turns that he needs to get by, but as green flag stops get underway Johnson gives up the lead for tyres and fuel.

Sep 29, 2013; Dover, DE, USA; NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Jimmie Johnson (48) during the AAA 400 at Dover Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Matthew O

After the stops have cycled through Johnson is back in the lead but this time has Kenseth and Gordon behind as Jr slips back to fourth as he had to brake harder than he would have liked coming onto pit road due to having a car in front of him. But this is turning into a fuel race and most of the drivers have been told that with 80 laps to go they will be short on fuel. That is with the exception of Bowyer who was last to make his green flag stop and should have enough fuel to make it to the end if the race stays green. He is back in tenth but has to temper his speed so as to eke out as many laps as possible.

The gaps between drivers rise and fall during this late stage of the race with Johnson’s lead over Kenseth now out to four seconds, where it was only two seconds before the pit stops but it isn’t clear who might be taking it easy and saving fuel and who might be chancing their arm. The lack of cautions is certainly telling on the rest of the field as there are only 14 cars left on the lead lap and a few laps later it is Bowyer’s turn to be in striking distance of Johnson. If he gets lapped than it might not matter that he can go to the end on fuel if he hasn’t got the pace to take advantage of it. But all worry of a fuel mileage race goes out the window when with only 30 laps to go NASCAR spot more debris on the track and out come the caution flags for the fourth time. It’s decision time for the crew chiefs, do you take fuel only, two tyres or four tyres after all at this stage of the race track position is everything. No issues for the 48 team as Johnson wins the race off ahead of Gordon, Kenseth and Jr. A great call by the 88 team saw that they had a few second gap over fifth place Kyle so they elected to take four tyres and didn’t lose their track position, while the cars ahead only took two tyres

On the restart Johnson again has no issues and is leading as the pack head into turn one. But it is a great start for Jr who puts his four fresher tyres to good use as he moves all the way up to second and is all over the rear bumper of the 48 car. But even on two older tyres Johnson is still running fast lap times and for now is able to keep Jr at bay, but it does look like Jr is merely toying with Johnson and could take the lead whenever he wants. However as the laps tick by it looks increasingly like Jr just doesn’t have the speed to make a move on Johnson and in fact Johnson is ever so slightly pulling away from the 88. It is enough for Johnson to hang on and take a record-breaking eighth win at Dover and close the gap to 8 points on Championship leader Kenseth.

Sep 29, 2013; Dover, DE, USA; NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Jimmie Johnson celebrates in victory lane after winning the AAA 400 at Dover Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Matthew O

This was far from a classic Dover race where it is very strange to see a race there without any cars finding their way into the wall and truth be told it was not the most exciting race we’ve watched this season. It had two of the longest green flag runs we’ve seen so far this year and the race was only ever between a handful of cars, albeit they were all Chase teams. The excitement mainly came from seeing if Jr could get his first win of the season but outside of that there wasn’t much to shout about. The Championship still looks like it is between three drivers, Kenseth, Johnson and Kyle with fourth placed Gordon now 39 points back. The teams go to Kansas next week where the fans will hope that the Chase comes alive and we see some exciting racing that doesn’t rely so heavily on fuel saving.