The Good, Bad & Ugly of The Autism Speaks 400 at Dover

May 31, 2015; Dover, DE, USA; A detailed view of the pedestrian bridge in turn two prior to the FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks at Dover International Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Matthew O

The Bad:

Again while listening to Tony Stewart’s scanner chatter I heard the crew chief instruct his driver to be extremely careful leaving his pit box cause a large “fault” as it was described by Jonhston had appeared on the out end of his pit stall.  That “fault” ended up being more like a nasty pothole along the whole edge of the pit box. Johnston was worried his driver might cut a tire running over the concrete that was pulling up. Personally I would be more worried by a crew member being struck by a piece of the disintegrating surface as the cars leaving or entering either of the adjacent pit stalls ran over it.  After the race on Sunday, Jeff Gluck of USA Today tweeted out this picture of the pit box in question:

This is not the first time Dover has had issues with the surface. A piece of the speedway near turn four was repaired the night before the race. And who can forget the delay experienced in the May 2014 race when driver Jamie McMurray struck a piece of kicked up concrete from the track and sent it flying into the bridge across the track? The concrete caused significant damage to McMurray’s car and damaged windows on the bridge.  It might be time to give Dover a resurface, before someone is badly injured by disintegrating track debris.