Dover Live Race Updates
Thanks for joining BTF today for our live race thread. Head over to Twitter to join us for the final 49 laps. Be sure to check with BTF after the race for race results and updated Chase standings.
Race Off Of Pit Road: 48, 20, 19, 78 and 42. Johnson and Kenneth take two tires.
CAUTION (342) – Stewart has a tract bar issue and begins to smoke, Chris Buescher spins in the wake of Stewart.
RUNNING ORDER – 78, 19, 42, 4 and 22.
LAP 331 – Truex finally around Larson for the lead. Logano thinks he is having an electrical issue.
LAP 324 – Larson holding off Truex for now. Final pit stops will come with about 30 to go assuming it stays green till then.
LAP 319 – 2.4 seconds back to 3rd place as Truex continues to close on Larson, .122 back now.
LAP 312 – Larson leads but Truex is chasing him down, .288 back.
LAP 301 – Larson back to the lead with less than 100 laps to go!
Green Flag!
CAUTION (299) – Debris on the track.
LAP 297 – Larson leads Logano by 1.2 seconds.
Green Flag!
Race Off Of Pit Road: 42, 22, 78, 19 and 4.
CAUTION (288) – Debris on the track.
LAP 285 – Logano is catching the leaders. Kes makes contact with Dillon and there is heavy damage to both of those cars.
LAP 280 – Larson to the lead and Hamlin onto pit road for fuel.
LAP 271 – Kes and Larson battling. Larson can get to the side of him but he can’t pass him. Harvick is up to 6th.
LAP 262 – Johnson is back up to 12th, Kyle Busch has fallen to 14th.
LAP 255 – Larson is catching Keselowski.
RUNNING ORDER – 2, 42, 11, 18 and 22.
LAP 244 – Keselowski’s lead is holding around .6 seconds
LAP 241 – Johnson is up four spots since the green flag.
LAP 237 – Keselowski to the lead, Larson in second.
Green Flag!
LAP 228 – Jimmie Johnson pitted and will restart in 23rd.
CAUTION – Annett into the inside wall.
LAP 224 – Hamlin leads Kes and Larson.
Green Flag!
Race Off Of Pit Road: 2, 88, 18, 22, 42
CAUTION (212) – Johnson spins, Harvick appears to be okay. Sorenson had an issue here.
RUNNING ORDER: 42, 22, 20, 2 and 16.
LAP 210 – Chase Elliott up to 12th.
LAP 204 – McMurray is backing up while his teammate has a 2.1 second lead.
LAP 200 – Rookies are decent today, Elliott (14th) and Blaney (15th).
LAP 195 – Kenseth is fast early in this run, so is Hamlin back in the pack.
LAP 191 – Larson leads the field by .82 seconds. Logano has gotten around Biffle for second.
Green Flag!
Mid-Race Report – 42, 16, 22, 78 and 1 are in front of the field. Larson could be someone to watch as this race goes on. Other notable drivers: Edwards (6th), Johnson (11th), Harvick (12th) and Hamlin (24th).
CAUTION (183) – Austin Dillon into the wall.
LAP 182 – Larson to the lead!
LAP 180– Biffle leads, Larson to second.
Green Flag!
Race Off Pit Road: 78, 22, 42, 1 and 31.
CAUTION (172) – Debris on the track
LAP 170 – Jimmie Johnson is cruising on his four new tires.
LAP 164 – Larson is really moving since the green flag.
LAP 152 – Truex Jr. leads on old tires.
Green Flag!
CAUTION – No. 7 machine into the wall
LAP 140 – Edwards is almost one second ahead of Kenneth, Harvick in third, 1.6 back.
LAP 138 – Tony Stewart up to 18th.
LAP 134 – Almirola and Stewart make contact, Almirola to pit road with a tire rub.
LAP 128 – Harvick back to fourth, Edwards leads.
Green Flag
Race Off Pit Road: 19, 20, 4, 2 and 78.
CAUTION (118) – Matt DiBenedetto into the wall.
LAP 115 – Traffic slows down Harvick but once he clears it he opens the lead up once again.
LAP 110 – Edwards has closed back to with half a second. 10 laps until green flag stops.
LAP 104 – Bayne, Mears and Larson the next three set to go down a lap.
LAP 100 – Joey Logano is into the top-10, up 12 spots from the green flag.
LAP 94 – Harvick has opened his lead back up now. The gap is now 1.9 seconds between Harvick and Edwards.
RUNNING ORDER: 4, 19, 20, 41 and 78.
LAP 88 – Edwards is reeling in Harvick now, .48 seconds back.
LAP 80 – Carl Edwards has leveled out with Harvick. Gap between the two remaining right around 1.9 seconds.
LAP 74 – Kyle Larson slid into the top-20 but has since fallen back to 22nd.
LAP 69 – Isn’t Kurt Busch’s setup always similar to Harvick’s?
LAP 66 – 29 cars on the lead lap. DiBenedetto, Scott and Menard will be in trouble in about 15 laps or so.
RUNNING ORDER: 4, 19, 20, 11, 41, 78, 88, 2, 18 and 31.
LAP 55 – Harvick extends his lead to 1.772 seconds.
LAP 49 – Harvick already back to the lead and has .775 on Edwards.
Green Flag!
LAP 45– Danica Patrick is the only name of note a lap down. Tony Stewart is in 23rd.
Race Off Pit Road: 19, 4, 11, 20 and 88.
LAP 40 – Competition caution is out.
LAP 35 – Harvick leads Edwards by 5.4 seconds.
LAP 27 – Brian Scott (-11) and Kasey Kahne (-6) not going in the right direction.
RUNNING ORDER: 4, 19, 88, 11 and 78.
LAP 19– Tony Stewart up 12 spots since the green flag.
LAP 14 – Four cars are already down at least one lap.
LAP 9 – Jamie McMurray moved AJ Allmendinger out of the way who is now sliding back in the pack.
LAP 1 -Kevin Harvick leads the first lap, Earnhardt Jr. falls to third.
Green Flag!
Gentleman start your engines! 400 laps, 400 miles, one monster of a track.
Follow along with the Beyond The Flag crew for live news, opinions and analysis from Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race (AAA 400 Drive For Autism) from Dover International Speedway.
When the green flag waves for the 2016 AAA 400 Drive for Autism it will be the 12th race of the NASCAR season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. NASCAR is coming off of a weekend where Kyle Busch grabbed headlines for all of the right reasons when he won for the third time this season. Later in the week Busch grabbed headlines for all of the wrong reasons when the No. 18 team was hit with a P3 penalty from NASCAR for violating the lug nut rule in Kansas. On Sunday Busch will be without his crew chief and one of this tire changers.
NASCAR has also had to deal with some weather this weekend. Rain washed away qualifying on Friday which put Kevin Harvick on the pole and Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the outside of row two.
Below is some information that you will find useful before the start of the race.
TV Schedule
- 11:30 AM ET – AAA 400 Drive For Autism pre-race coverage on FS1.
- 1:00 PM ET – AAA 400 Drive For Autism race coverage on FS1.
- 1:02 PM ET – National Anthem
- 1:07 PM ET – Command To Start Engines
- 1:15 PM ET (approx.) – Green Flag and live race coverage on FS1.
Predictions and Insights
- Dover Qualifying Results
- Power Rankings Heading Into Dover
- Five Drivers Most Likely To Win At Dover
- Five Storylines Worth Watching In Dover
- Four Big Predictions For Sunday Afternoon At Dover
- WATCH: Danica Patrick Wrecks In Dover Practice, McMurray Hurt
- What It’s Like To Experience Dover
- Dover Is Exactly How NASCAR Should Be
The Weather
- Green Flag Temperature – approx. 57 degrees
- Chance of Rain – 3% chance of rain between 1:00 PM and 5:00 PM (Eastern Time)
Staff Predictions
- Christopher Olmstead – Jimmie Johnson
- Alex Herbst – Carl Edwards
- Mike Hutton – Kevin Harvick
- Brian Thornsburg – Martin Truex Jr.
- Martin Feigen – Brad Keselowski
- Matthew Lovisa – Carl Edwards
- Michael Guadalupe – Jimmie Johnson
- Spencer Frady – Denny Hamlin
Pre-Race Coverage
Pre-race coverage for the AAA 400 Drive For Autism will begin around 12:30 PM ET. While you’re waiting, check out all of the Dover coverage from Beyond The Flag (the above links) and comment below and let us know who you think is going to win this weekend.