Although it was a valiant effort, Kyle Busch did not extend his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series three-race winning streak Sunday at Talladega, finishing 13th in a typically frantic day of restrictor-plate competition.
However, the former champ has every reason to believe he can make it four wins out of five as the series heads to Dover International Speedway this weekend.
Busch won the last race on Dover’s “Monster Mile” and only one other driver (Jimmie Johnson, 17) has more top-five finishes at the track than Busch (12).
Interesting, Busch has six DNFs at Dover – twice his number of wins, yet still has those impressive top-fives (12) and top-10 (16) finishes. Busch has finished either first or second in the last three fall races here and won the Busch Pole Award for this spring race last year.
His 13th-place finish at Talladega on Sunday was only the second double-digit result for him in 10 races so far this season. It halted a seven-race streak of top-three finishes for Busch, who insists he’s absolutely optimistic about his chances in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota this weekend.
“It’s definitely a fast racetrack,’’ Busch said. “It’s a fun racetrack, too. It makes it interesting when you get to traffic, when you have to pass guys, when you’re kind of falling down into the hole and jumping back up out of the hole to the straightaways.
“It’s a good place to race. It’s a competitive racetrack and, when the rubber gets laid down, it definitely changes the whole atmosphere and the whole way you run around that place.”
NXS: Dover Is Set For A Monster Of A Dash 4 Cash Finale
The 2018 version of the highly successful NASCAR Xfinity Series Dash 4 Cash program is reaching its crescendo this weekend at the famous Dover International Speedway in the OneMain Financial 200 on Saturday, May 5.
Four drivers qualified at Talladega for a chance to compete for the $100,000 bonus one last time this season – JR Motorsport’s Justin Allgaier and Elliott Sadler, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Brandon Jones and RSS Racing’s Ryan Sieg. Sieg was named as the fourth qualifier after Spencer Gallagher was disqualified due to a penalty announced after Talladega.
Elliott Sadler has been the most successful at banking the big checks this season, as he has brought home the last two Xfinity Dash 4 Cash bonuses (Richmond and Talladega). Joe Gibbs Racing’s Ryan Preece is only other driver to score the big Dash 4 Cash bonus this season when he won at Bristol a few weeks back.
Sadler’s been at the top of his game lately, in nine starts this season he has posted seven top fives (series-most) and nine top 10s (series-most). He has made 20 starts at Dover and has finished in the top 10 in 10 of his last 12 starts.
No stranger to winning the Dash 4 Cash is Justin Allgaier, who took home the big checks twice last season (Phoenix and Richmond) and this year is looking to make it two seasons in a row with at least one $100,00 bonus.
“Qualifying for the Dash 4 Cash is super important. Hats off to Xfinity and Comcast for all they do for the series,” said Allgaier.
Justin Allgaier jumped from fifth to third in the points following his comeback run at Talladega on the final restart after running out of gas in the closing laps. He has now posted five top fives and six top 10s this season. In 14 series starts at the Monster Mile, he has posted four top fives and seven top 10s; including a runner-up finish last fall.
Brandon Jones wrestled a runner-up finish from his competition in Talladega to qualify for this weekend’s Dash 4 Cash, his series career-best. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver is eighth in the championship standings and in nine starts he has posted five top 10s. He has four starts at Dover with a best finish of 17th in 2016.
RSS Racing’s Ryan Sieg finished sixth at Talladega to qualify for the Dash 4 Cash this weekend at Dover. Sieg is 15th in the series standings after posting one top 10 and an average finish of 19.7. Sieg has made eight series starts at Dover posting best finish of 13th in 2014; he finished 16th in this race last season.
All four Dash 4 Cash qualifiers this weekend are solid competitors this season and currently in the top 10 in series championship standings. Amongst the four Dash 4 Cash qualifiers this weekend, Elliott Sadler (11.8) has the best average finish, followed by Justin Allgaier (12.7), Ryan Sieg (16.1) and Brandon Jones (27.5).
NCWTS: Trucks Set For A Monster Return At Dover
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is finally back after a four-week long break at Dover International Speedway for the JEGS 200 on Friday, May 4.
It’s been seven years since the series has come back to action after a long early season hiatus, like this one, to Dover. The last time was in 2011 when Kyle Busch raced to the finish for the win.
Johnny Sauter won his first race at Dover last season in the No. 21 Allegiant Airlines Chevrolet, where he led the last 33 laps of the race. Aside from his one win at the track, he has four top fives and six top 10s. Of the 32 drivers who started the race last spring, only 18 of them finished due to crashes and various mechanical issues.
This is Sauter’s 16th year in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and at the finish of last season, he had the most season wins of his career with four. This season, he has already taken home one victory at the series opener at Daytona International Speedway. He started in the second position and led 35 laps.
Sauter’s season has been a very good one so far – starting with his victory at Daytona, he then finished third at Atlanta Motor Speedway and second at Las Vegas. He finished 19th in the race at Martinsville.
If Sauter can take home the victory at Dover for the second year in a row, he’ll have two reasons to rejoice as he celebrated his 40th birthday on Tuesday, May 1.
Sauter is currently the driver standings with 181-points, followed by Grant Enfinger in the No. 98 CURB Records Ford with 152-points, and Brett Moffitt placing third in the standings in No. 16 AISIN Group Toyota with 150-points.
Of the three, Enfinger is the only one without a win this season as Moffitt took home the victory in Atlanta where he started in the 10th position and led only two laps.
WDUN will carry live MRN Radio coverage of the NASCAR race weekend from Dover International Speedway,
beginning with Saturday's NASCAR Xfinity Series OneMain Financial 200 at 1 pm on 102.9 FM and streaming live
on AccessWDUN.
Coverage continues on Sunday with the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series AAA 400 beginning at 1 pm on 102.9
FM, AM 550 and streaming live on AccessWDUN.
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Next Race: AAA 400 Drive for Autism
The Place: Dover International Speedway
The Date: Sunday, May 6
The Time: 2 p.m. ET
TV: FS1, 12:30 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 400 miles (400 laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 120),
Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 240), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 500)
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Next Race: OneMain Financial 200
The Place: Dover International Speedway
The Date: Saturday, May 5
The Time: 1:30 p.m. ET
TV: FS1, 1 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 200 miles (200 laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 45),
Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 90), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 200)
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
Next Race: JEGS 200
The Place: Dover International Speedway
The Date: Friday, May 4
The Time: 5 p.m. ET
TV: FS1, 4:30 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 200 miles (200 laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 45),
Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 90), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 200)
