Gander Outdoors 400 Tag

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DOVER, Del. – What looked like a Stewart-Haas Racing victory parade for much of Sunday afternoon ended in a wild overtime scramble, with Chase Elliott taking the checkered flag in the Gander Outdoors 400 at Dover International Speedway. On considerably older tires, Elliott pulled ahead cleared runner-up Denny Hamlin through Turns 1 and 2 after a restart on Lap 403 and powered his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet across the finish line .265 second ahead of Hamlin’s Toyota. With the victory—his second of the seasonRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Both Clint Bowyer and Aric Almirola had a shot at the win Sunday at Dover, but by the time the checkered flag flew, the two drivers were left with nothing but heartbreak. All four Stewart-Haas Racing cars were strong throughout the day, with Kevin Harvick dominating and the remainder right behind him, but when Harvick had to make an extra trip down pit road late in the race, it looked as if Almirola was in the catbird seat to finally be able to break through forRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer It was the “Kevin Harvick Show” for the first 320 laps, but an unscheduled pit stop changed his entire day and he never regained the lead back. Instead of celebrating his eighth win of the season, it was a salvageable rally for the spring winner, as he ended up sixth in Sunday’s Gander Outdoors 400 at Dover International Speedway after leading 286 of 404 laps. Before making his race-changing stop, Harvick cruised his way towards two stage wins, and had pulled away from his Stewart-Haas RacingRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor The Monster Mile. Bristol on steroids. No matter the nickname, Dover International Speedway lives up to the hype as being one of the most physically demanding racetracks on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series circuit and plays host to Sunday’s Gander Outdoors 400, which kicks off the second round of the playoffs. One of the only two concrete tracks currently in use by NASCAR’s top division, drivers have likened a lap around the one-mile oval to riding a rollercoaster, as they drop off the straightaways intoRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Despite doing a test run at Charlotte Motor Speedway Tuesday, Leavine Family Racing announced Wednesday that Kasey Kahne isn’t cleared to compete in Sunday’s Gander Outdoors 400 at Dover International Speedway in Delaware. Like the past four races, Regan Smith will continue to fill in behind the wheel of the No. 95 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 as Kahne is still recovering from extreme heat exhaustion diagnosed after the Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington Sept. 2. Kahne did a two-hour private medical test session at the 1.5-mile oval,Read More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service LONG POND, Pa. – A post-qualifying inspection failure? No problem. A starting position deep in the field for Sunday’s Gander Outdoors 400 at Pocono Raceway? Just another challenge for Kyle Busch to overcome. Holding off a determined charge from Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Daniel Suarez in two late restarts—the first after a brutal wreck that sidelined Bubba Wallace—Kyle Busch powered his No. 18 Toyota to his sixth Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory of the season, tying fourth-place finisher Kevin Harvick for the series lead.Read More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Pole sitter Daniel Suarez had a career afternoon during Sunday’s Gander Outdoors 400 at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania, finishing a career-best second behind Kyle Busch after leading 29 of 160 laps. Suarez’s runner-up effort marked the best finish by a Mexican driver in the premier series, and his second top-five this season. “It was good. Definitely helps a lot to have this kind of performance from my race team because as you know, we’ve been struggling lately – the last couple months orRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Over the last few seasons, brake failures have become commonplace at Pocono with speeds topping 200 mph entering Turn 1 on the 2.5-mile track. On Sunday, Darrell Wallace, Jr. became the latest to have a brake failure coming off of the longest straightaway in NASCAR, leading to a massive hit into the outside SAFER barrier. “I’m okay. That was a huge hit,” said Wallace. “Babe, I’m fine, Mom, everybody back at home, I’m okay.  Hardest one of my career.  I was just telling them here thereRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service LONG POND, Pa. – Thanks to a double disqualification of two of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series’ so-called “Big Three,” Daniel Suarez earned the first Busch Pole Award of his career. In the final round of Friday’s knockout qualifying at Pocono Raceway, Suarez navigated the 2.5-mile track in 50,851 seconds (176.988 mph) to claim the top starting position when the cars of Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch failed post-qualifying inspection. Both Harvick and Busch had posted faster laps than Suarez, but Harvick’s No. 4Read More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Seven weeks after their first trip to the “Tricky Triangle,” the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series makes their second visit of the season to Pocono Raceway for Sunday’s running of the Gander Outdoors 400. With only three turns, instead of the four turns at all other ovals on the circuit, Pocono is definitely one of the most unique tracks on the schedule. The three turns all have differing banking with Turn 1 and its 14-degree banking modeled after the now-defunct Trenton Speedway, Turn 2 and itsRead More