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Nascar

Lots of quality candidates in the running for AAA 400 win at Dover

By Larry McReynolds FoxSports
Published | Updated

As much as I have been saying we've been to every type of track with this low-downforce package except a road course yet, I have to admit that's not entirely true.

When I stop and think about it, Dover is really not a type of track we have been to yet. The Monster Mile is a unique, high-banked, one-mile concrete track.

Sure we've been to some high-banked tracks and we've been to some one-mile tracks. But until this weekend we have not been to a high-banked track that has a one-mile concrete surface. I think the tire that Goodyear brings this weekend will put a lot of rubber down and that will be a difference maker on Sunday.

We all know that when we go to the Monster Mile everyone in the garage is going to have their eye on Jimmie Johnson in that No. 48 car -- and rightly so. The man has won 10 times there. He's won three of the last five plus as a rookie in 2002 he swept both events at Dover.

In this past fall's Dover race, with his back against the wall, Kevin Harvick came out on top. I look for him to run well there, too. A harder question to answer is: where doesn't the No. 4 car run well at?

And quite honestly after his great run last Saturday night, I think a lot of us will be watching Tony Stewart. He got his last win back in the spring of 2013 right here at Dover -- although he will have to come from the back after suffering the misfortunate of being involved in a wreck of no one's wrongdoing Friday in practice, when a faulty part took out both Stewart and Danica Patrick, his Stewart-Haas Racing teammate.

The other thing we know as pretty much a certainty this year is if you are going to win a race anywhere on the circuit, you are going to have to beat one of those Toyotas. What's really interesting about Toyota and Dover is actually the lack of success there. Toyota has only won twice at Dover. Both wins came from Kyle Busch, but probably the most unbelievable statistic is Toyota hasn't won at Dover since the spring of 2010.

So I think all eyes will be on the No. 48 and the Toyota camp. Within that camp is the man who dominated last Saturday night but failed to win at Kansas. Of course I am talking about Martin Truex Jr. in the No. 78 Toyota -- and, oh, by the way, Dover is the spot where Martin got his very first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win in 2007.