Lots of clouds in Dover and a bi of a breeze. Jeff ‘Big Daddy’ Gordon is talking to Chase Elliott (9). It’s great to see him at the track and counseling a young Hendrick driver. Ryan ‘Son’ Blaney (12) appears to be letting his hair grow. Looks good. A choir performed the National Anthem. Nice. The stages for the race will be 120-120-160. After the pre-race ceremonies Big Daddy headed off, stopping to chat with Blaney on the way.
The 48 is having trouble with the right front wheel and has hit the pits on the pace lap. The wheel was wobbling. Jimmie headed to the garage. The wheel basically stopped turning and was just wiggling around.
Postman says a NASCAR official told him its a broken ball joint.
Kyle ‘KyBu’ Busch (18) and Kevin ‘KHarv’ Harvick (4) will start on the front row after qualifying was rained out.
On lap 11 of 400 the 48 is back onto the track 10 laps down.
‘Happy’ Harvick takes over the lead on lap 16 of 400.
Green flag pit stops are underway on lap 70 of 400.
The 48 was penalized on the green flag pit stop for pitting outside the box. He then did a drive through and was called back in to stop in the pit box.
KHarv cruises to the stage one win.
Joey Logano (22) will start in the lead with Happy alongside on lap 129 of 400.
Harvick quicks runs off from Logano.
Green flag pit stops underway on lap 190.
The sun has come out in Dover.
Harvick has mercifully put an end to stage two. It was dragging on so long I thought he was snoozing to the end. He’s had no competition so far so this has been an excruciating exercise in watching cars circle the track. When the most exciting thing the radio guys have to talk about concerns two drivers trying to avoid going a lap down, we can’t really call it a race.
The play-offs desperately need to change. Watching drivers too afraid of making a mistake cautiously make their way through 9 races is horribly boring without hope of getting better. That’s a format issue. The drivers are doing what’s best for their team with respect to the format.
Harvick and Bowyer come out of the pits as they went into the pits, first and second.
Restarting on lap 248 of 400 and away goes Harvick.
Green flag pit stops underway on lap 317 of 400.
On lap 321 of 400 KHarv is back in the pits due to a loose wheel. MRN is now saying the valve stem was knocked off.
KyBu got hit with a speeding penalty.
Aric ‘Afterburner’ Almirola inherits the lead. Harvick is one lap down.
What luck for Kevin Harvick caution is out for debris on lap 338 or 400 and he’s in the lucky dog position, so he gets back on the lead lap. It’s like NASCAR wanted him back on the lead lap and contending for the win.
Hmmm, lots of pit stops. That’s a surprise after only 20 laps since the green flag stops.
Everybody but Brad ‘It’ Keselowski (2) took four tires, so he’s off pit road first.
Martin Truex Jr (78) has to drop to the back of the field for a too fast entering pit road penalty.
Jimmie Johnson also got a pit road speeding penalty.
Restarting on lap 348 of 400 with ‘It’ and ‘Afterburner’ up front. What a sad state of affairs.
Harvick will start 13th. There are 20 cars that will take the wave-around.
Bunny was talking about how Dover used to be her favorite race. Wow the stands are a bit sparse. Not as bad as yesterday, but lots of empty seats.
‘It’ got a jump, but ends up getting passed by Afterburner on lap 348. Kurt ‘KuBu’ Busch (41) had to muscle his way past ‘It’. He did it and is now chasing his teammate who had a chance to get away while he had to deal with It.
On lap 382 of 499 Clint ‘Drunk Daddy’ Bowyer is wiggling the car as he slowly heads to the pits from 8th position. It initially looks like he could have a flat tire. MRN is saying the crew was pointing at the right rear tire, possibly a loose wheel, though one of the other MRN guys said it might have been a trackbar issue.
Caution on lap 392 of 400 for Clint ‘Drunk Daddy’ Bowyer (14) hitting the wall. His car is smoking a lot as the car hits the inside wall.
Winston Kelly of MRN said they had a right rear tire issue and thought they might have a trackbar issue, but hadn’t completely diagnosed it, hoping to nurse it to the end of the race.
Both Afterburner and KuBu did pit stops.
Chase Elliott (9) stayed on the track during that pit sequence as did ‘It’, Truex, and Denny Hamlin (11). Alex Bowman (88) got off pit road before Afterburner.
Restarting on lap 396 of 400 with Chase up front.
Wreck on lap 396 brings out the caution . Afterburner and It collide and collect Afterburner, Truex and Ryan ‘Son’ Blaney (12). Red flag is out. Afterburner hit the wall and bounced off into It sending them both around.
Bowyer says something broke and he hit the wall. He says Ryan Newman took the right side of him. He thought he was still mad from last week. He said something in the left front broke the last time. The first time was a loose wheel he thought. Clint’s really disappointed.
Caution is back out
Chase will lead with ‘Demented’ Denny Hamlin (11) on the outside. Joey Logano (22) is starting third.
Overtime.
Restarting on lap 402 of 404 with Chase Elliott (9) and Denny Hamlin (11) up front.
Chase takes the white flag.
Chase Elliott wins! Mr Hendrick and Big Daddy are in Chase’s pit as he takes the checkered flag.
Chase gave Mr H a big hug, then Darrell ‘Bubba’ Wallace(43) came over to congratulate him.
Toward the end of the race they were showing last year’s confrontation between Denny and Chase at Dover after Denny took him out.
Chase said he wished his parents were there.
Chase is now at the top of the play-off leaderboard.
With their bonus points KHarv, KyBu and Truex are next in line.
It is such a flipping relief to see a checkered flag interview NOT conducted by Rutledge Wood. He’s awful. It looked much more professional with Marty Snider doing the interview.
Jimmie Johnson (48) walks up to congratulate Chase just after the victory lane interview. Ryan Blaney (12) comes over also to congratulate him and throws a little Gatorade on him.
Denny said he’s glad to see that he and chase can finish 1,2 here and not have any controversy.
That race wasn’t worth watching util lap 392 of 400. That’s a sad reality.
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