NASCAR Recap: Harvick Wins at Dover and Advances to Contender Round

It will take a strong performance on Sunday to find his way into the final 12 contenders in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship at a track that he has never won a Cup race. Talk about excellent timing… Johnson was still shaking his head at how things turn out.

When the smoke cleared six time champion Jimmie Johnson – a four-time race victor this season in the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet – was out of the Chase after a rear-end failure on Lap 102 of the 400-lap race. Following repairs, he returned to the track on lap 139 and finished 41st, 36 laps down. He missed the cutoff line for the Chase by 12 points. “The closer”, as Harvick has been dubbed by television personalities, came through on the absolute largest of stages on Sunday afternoon. There will be many storylines for this race such as Hurricane Joaquin, which is headed towards the East coast as we speak. Feel like we got pretty good speed we’ve we’ve had Buffalo’s lead over the summer I think we’re gaining a little bit on it. More. Theriault was driving Brad Keselowski Racing’s Ford when he made contact with teammate Tyler Reddick’s truck on Lap 14 then hit the wall on a part of the track not protected by a SAFER barrier. And do you just almost have unreal confidence in the fact that the two of you, and as a team, will be able to pull together and ride this thing out? Johnson’s vehicle slammed into Harvick’s on a restart, causing a flat tire that sent Harvick spinning and crashing.

“Obviously we weren’t in a great position coming into today”, he said, “but this is what it’s all about – these big-time moments”.

“I just can’t say enough about my team, first of all”, Busch said. We all know the score. “When you don’t succeed it’s not near as much fun, but it just makes them extra special”.

Harvick, the 2014 champion, has been incredibly fast recently at Dover.

The rain washed out Friday’s racing at Dover worldwide Speedway. I was at Pocono and saw him win there.

It was only three weeks ago when a confident Harvick said about the JGR drivers, “We’re going to pound them into the ground”.

“So many things could’ve gone wrong”.

“His sponsor is AARP now and I just turned 50 and I got my membership in the mail so it’d be nice”, Kuster said.

“It was a bummer deal”, he said of the incident in New Hampshire, “but it puts us in a position now where we have to fight through this round and it’s no different than any other year”. An easy title favorite, he finished 42nd in the Chase opener at Chicagoland and 21st at New Hampshire. The other drivers failing to advance in the Chase were Jimmie Johnson, Clint Bowyer and Paul Menard. He won, then won it all the next week when his second straight checkered flag gave him the highest finish among four championship drivers to earn the crown. But his results across the board have been better with top-10 finishes in 23 of 29 races, including 10 second-place runs.

For example, a comeback season for Kyle Busch is down to one or done. Dover also presented him with 90 miniature Monster trophies for his entire No. 24 team and his family.“I dont know how were going to get all those home, ” he said. Dale Earnhardt Jr. locked in a spot in the Contender round after finishing third, beating fourth place’s McMurray in a nail biter of a finish. Earnhardt overcame a loose left rear wheel on his No. 88 Chevy late in the race. I worry about a pit call. I just liked him racing.