Chevy Advance–Dover | ARP Racing News

Würth 400Dover Motor Speedway Dover, Delaware April 30, 2023

DEFENDING AT DOVERChevrolet will look to extend its recent and historic success at Dover Motor Speedway this weekend with the one-mile concrete oval holding the next stop on the NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) and NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) circuit. Coming off a weekend sweep at Talladega Superspeedway, the Bowtie brand will make its return to the Delaware venue not only as the series’ most recent winner this season, but also as the defending winner in both series at the track.

TAMING THE MONSTERAt the track nicknamed “The Monster Mile”, Chevrolet holds the all-time win record in two of NASCAR’s top series – collecting wins in 43 of the 104 NASCAR Cup Series races and 33 of the 76 NASCAR Xfinity Series races.

JOHNSON RULES AT DOVERNo other driver has found success at Dover Motor Speedway like career Chevrolet driver Jimmie Johnson. The seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion recorded a series-best 11 wins at “The Monster Mile” in his 19-year illustrious career. Johnson’s first two wins at the Delaware oval came in his rookie campaign – sweeping both NCS races in 2002. His most recent came in June 2017, ultimately marking his final win before retiring from full-time NCS competition in 2020.

DOUBLE-DIGIT UPDATEChevrolet has been on the fast-track to success this season with Kyle Busch’s Talladega triumph marking the manufacturer’s seventh win in 10 NASCAR Cup Series races this season. As the series’ season hits double-digits, a look at the Bowtie brand’s season highlights:

Chevrolet’s series-leading seven NCS wins this season have been recorded by drivers from three different Chevrolet teams: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (JTG Daugherty Racing), Kyle Busch (Richard Childress Racing), William Byron and Kyle Larson (Hendrick Motorsports). Stenhouse Jr.’s Daytona 500 victory marked Chevrolet’s first of four-straight victories to open the season – marking the first time since 2001 that a manufacturer has swept the first four races in a single season in NASCAR’s premier series.
In the six NCS, NXS and NCTS tripleheader race weekends this season, Chevrolet has recorded a weekend sweep on two occasions.
Busch led Chevrolet to four top-10 finishes at Talladega – recorded by four drivers from four different Chevrolet teams. This marks the third time this season that four different Chevrolet teams have been represented in the top-10 of a single event, also occurring at Daytona International Speedway and Circuit of The Americas.
Chevrolet drivers have swept the podium in three NCS races this season, taking it one step further at Auto Club Speedway with a one-two-three-four finish. Chevrolet – the defending NCS Manufacturer’s Champion – has maintained the lead of the series’ manufacturer points standings throughout the season’s first 10 races. Four different Chevrolet teams have contributed to the manufacturer points standings thus far including: Hendrick Motorsports, Richard Childress Racing, JTG Daugherty Racing and Spire Motorsports.

KAULIG RACING’S ALL-STAR NXS CAR SHINES IN 2023At the beginning of the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series season, Kaulig Racing transitioned its No. 10 Camaro SS team to an “All-Star” car with a variety of drivers from the Bowtie brigade sharing the driving duties. The roster for the team’s third entry has featured Kaulig Racing’s NASCAR Cup Series regulars Justin Haley and AJ Allmendinger, Richard Childress Racing teammates Austin Dillon and Kyle Busch, and series’ newcoming Derek Kraus. The team’s elite driver lineup has powered the No. 10 Camaro SS to a top-10 finish in the first eight NXS races of the season, including a win by Allmendinger at Circuit of The Americas in March – his first time returning to the series since moving to full-time NCS competition. Kraus has been tapped as the team’s driver for the series’ past three races with Richmond Raceway marking his first career start in the series. The 21-year-old Wisconsin native drove the No. 10 Camaro SS to a 10th-place finish in his series’ debut, with the young driver following up the impressive run with an eighth-place finish at Martinsville Speedway one week later.

BURTON ADDS WIN, PLAYOFF BERTHJeb Burton became the third different Chevrolet driver to claim a win and a playoff berth in the NASCAR Xfinity Series this season after driving his No. 27 Camaro SS through a double overtime finish to take the checkered flag at Talladega Superspeedway. The victory marked Burton’s second career victory in the series and the first for Jordan Anderson Racing Bommarito Autosport since the organization began competing in the series in 2021.

Burton delivered Chevrolet it’s series-leading sixth victory in nine NXS races this season. The Bowtie brand has held the top position in the series’ manufacturer points standings all season long, with the manufacturer now sitting at a 33-point lead over its competitors. Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Hill drove his No. 21 Camaro SS to a pole win and top-10 finishes in both stages at Talladega. Despite getting collected in a late-race accident that resulted in an 18th-place finish, Hill was able to reclaim the lead in the NXS driver points standings.

BOWTIE BULLETS:·       Active Chevrolet drivers with a NASCAR Cup Series win at Dover Motor Speedway: Kyle Busch – 3 (2017, 2010, 2008)Chase Elliott – 2 (2022, 2018)Alex Bowman – 1 (2021)Kyle Larson – 1 (2019)

·       In 104 NASCAR Cup Series races at Dover Motor Speedway, Chevrolet leads all manufacturers with 43 victories – two of which came in the past two NCS races held at the track (Chase Elliott – 2022; Alex Bowman – 2021).

·       Hendrick Motorsports leads the NASCAR Cup Series in wins by an organization at Dover Motor Speedway with 22 among seven different drivers, most recently by Chase Elliott (2022).

·       Career Chevrolet driver Jimmie Johnson is the NASCAR Cup Series’ all-time win leader at Dover Motor Speedway with 11 wins. In addition, Johnson has recorded 18 top-fives, 27 top-10s and 3,113 laps led at the Delaware oval, making it the winningest track of his career.

·       Only three drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series are repeat winners this season, all coming from Team Chevy (William Byron – Las Vegas & Phoenix; Kyle Larson – Richmond & Martinsville; Kyle Busch – Auto Club and Talladega).

·       In 10 points-paying NASCAR Cup Series race this season, Chevrolet continues to lead the series in wins (seven), top-fives (23), top-10s (43), stage wins (11) and laps led (1,190).

·       Chevrolet’s series-leading seven NASCAR Cup Series wins this season have been recorded by drivers from three different Chevrolet teams: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (JTG Daugherty Racing), Kyle Busch (Richard Childress Racing), William Byron and Kyle Larson (Hendrick Motorsports).

·       Chevrolet drivers have recorded 11 of the 20 NASCAR Cup Series stage wins this season: William Byron (five; series-leading), Ross Chastain (three), Kyle Larson (two) and Chase Elliott (one).

·       Chevrolet continues to sit atop the manufacturer points standings in all three NASCAR national series, leading by 40 points in the NASCAR Cup Series, 33 points in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and four points in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.

·       With its 41 NASCAR Cup Series Manufacturer’s Championships, 33 NASCAR Cup Series Driver’s Championships, and 840 all-time NASCAR Cup Series wins, Chevrolet continues to hold the title of winningest brand in NASCAR Cup Series history.

Tune In: NASCAR Cup Series – Würth 400; 2 p.m. ET on Sunday, April 30(FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90) NASCAR Xfinity Series – A-GAME 200; 1:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, April 29(FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90)

QUOTABLE QUOTES:ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 1 JOCKEY CAMARO ZL1What is it like racing at Dover, especially with this version of the car?“It’s awesome to drive off of the cliff in Turn 1 and then down the hill and across the bumps in Turn 3. I love going to Dover and racing anything there. Dover was one of the tracks I was a little worried about with this car last year, but I got there and everyone had their ducks in a row and we weren’t doing anything crazy with tires and wrecking.”
What was your first laps at Dover like since it is such an intense track?“I remember when I made my first Truck Series start at Dover in 2012. My first lap was a large pucker factor moment. I had to try and breathe through the process. Early on I was not breathing making laps. I’ve learned how to cope with it and how to prepare for it and breathe properly now.”

AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 GET BIOETHANOL CAMARO ZL1What’s the sensation of speed at Dover like?“Racing at Dover Speedway is like a rollercoaster ride with no tracks. There’s none like it, a lot of pace there, you’re driving down into the corner coming off of a four-story banking to the bottom of the track and you just try to catch your breath and get back on the gas, to drive off the corner and do that for 400 laps. Once you get into the race you get into a rhythm, and you start to feel comfortable. The first couple of laps are always hard on you.”
What is the most challenging part about Dover Motor Speedway?“It’s a hard concrete track and we have to try and make sure our shock package is good and hopefully, the Get Bioethanol Chevrolet handles well. Maybe the line will move around, but it’s usually right around the bottom. As the rubber lays down it gets harder to do more with the car. Dover is a Monster, but my No. 3 Chevrolet team is up for the challenge.”

KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1Larson on his confidence coming to Dover Motor Speedway: “I look forward to racing at Dover (Motor Speedway) this weekend. The past two years there with the No. 5 team we have been fast with two top-10 finishes. I feel like I’ve had a super competitive race car at almost every track this season and expect nothing less at Dover. It would be great to get a win there with Hendrick Motorsports.”
CLIFF DANIELS, CREW CHIEF, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1Daniels on preparing for Dover: “Kyle (Larson) has a really good knack for driving at Dover (Motor Speedway). He has a great feel for that place. Really, it’s going to be on us to get him a car that he is comfortable with so he can move around when the track takes rubber and drive the way he wants to drive. Admittedly, we did miss that a little bit last year. We were competitive but not quite as strong as we wanted to be. We do have the data points from last year and we’ve learned a lot of things since that hopefully we can apply and put a good foot forward.”

KYLE BUSCH, NO. 8 LENOVO CAMARO ZL1You have had a lot of success at Dover. How does that track fit your driving style so well?“I’ve always enjoyed Dover. I feel like it’s a big Bristol so I think going there is kind of fun. It’s really a unique track with the elevation change from the straightaways to the corners, the drop down and the jump back out of the hole that you have going from straightaway to corner and back to straightaway. It’s definitely gotten more character over the years being rougher into Turn 3. That’s the tricky part of the track is trying to figure out Turn 3 and how you get through the bumps over there.”
How demanding is qualifying at Dover?“Qualifying at Dover is sometimes demanding just because the speeds there are so high. You’re in the corner longer than the straightaways so that track is definitely a challenge. A couple of years ago when we went to the higher downforce package it was wide-open qualifying which was crazy. These cars are a little bit different but still super-fast considering the size of the track at Dover. Qualifying is also important because of pit selection. Pit road there is really, really tight and you definitely want to have a good stall, somewhere with an opening, preferably, to get in okay and get out clean.”
Why is the pit road at Dover so challenging?“The biggest challenge of the pit road at Dover is because it’s so narrow and also the speeds are low there too, so if you have a green flag stop you tend to go a couple laps down so you don’t want to have a green flag stop.”

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 Elliott on racing at Dover: “I think just it being concrete, it’s a very, very fine line but has a lot of speed. You might not be going as fast as you do on some other tracks, but it always feels like you’re going pretty fast there. So, that makes it fun from a driver’s standpoint. After a while, you know, you get kind of used to going at a fast pace until you hit something and you’re reminded how fast you’re going. But Dover, that sensation of speed is always very real and that’s exciting for us to do something little different.”
Elliott on his success at Dover: “It was good to get another win there last year. For whatever reason, that track has suited what I look for in the car. We ran well there on the Xfinity side too. I’m not sure I know exactly what that is, but it has lent itself to some good results over the last six, seven years. Hopefully we can continue that.”

AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 16 NUTRIEN AG SOLUTIONS CAMARO ZL1 “Last year, I felt like we had a really good car in Dover. It’s a place that I really enjoy driving at and I’ve always had fun there. Hopefully we can get some momentum and erase what has happened the last few weeks and start over. We’re definitely making gains on the race cars so I think this can be a really good race track for us. Looking to put together a solid weekend and start building from there.”

WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 RAPTORTOUGH.COM CAMARO ZL1Byron on the challenges of Dover: “Dover (Motor Speedway) is just a tough place in general. We’ve always had really fast cars there, even with the Next Gen cars, but this track has a bit of a survival technique to it. The track is hard on the car, hard on a driver, and one mistake can result in the end of your day or put you behind by quite a bit. That’s what happened last year unfortunately. We were able to overcome a wreck in practice, but then a caution during green-flag pit stops late in the race put us in a hole we couldn’t get out of. If we show up with the speed we usually have, though, and the speed we have shown this year, we should be in good shape. It will just be about maintaining that track position the whole race.”
RUDY FUGLE, CREW CHIEF, NO. 24 RAPTORTOUGH.COM CAMARO ZL1Fugle on what makes Dover so difficult: “First, Dover (Motor Speedway) is always tough on equipment. There’s vertical load on the tires, the car, the suspension, etc. As we found out on lap one of practice last year, that vertical load can put you on the shock tops real quick if you don’t have it pinpointed perfect, which can put you in the wall really quick. It’s a treacherous race track when it comes to that. Once you get into the race, the drivers are working really hard. Any time you have that many g-forces on your body, it feels like it’s trying to be thrown outside the car every corner. That takes a toll on the drivers. Lastly, it’s one of the tracks that changes a lot as the race goes on.”

JUSTIN HALEY, NO. 31 LEAFFILTER GUTTER PROTECTION CAMARO ZL1“We had a great run at Dover last season and led a lot of laps. We almost got ourselves a top 10 there as well. It’s a track I really enjoy racing at, so it will be a unique birthday weekend for me. Hopefully Kaulig Racing will be just as fast there as we were last year.”

NOAH GRAGSON, NO. 42 SUNSEEKER RESORTS CAMARO ZL1“We have had some good runs at Dover in the Xfinity Series and we can lean on Erik (Jones) and Dave (Elenz) for their experience at Dover last season in this NextGen car. I was really proud of the No. 42 team’s performance at Talladega, unfortunately we weren’t able to close it out. We have a lot of points to make up, so we need to build on the momentum we had last week.”

ERIK JONES, NO. 43 ALLEGIANT CAMARO ZL1 “Dover is a cool place; I like going there. It’s been a fun track, and it’s fast. I think for qualifying Dover is one of the higher intensity tracks of the season, because of the speed you have to carry there. It is definitely a cool track, and I am looking forward to competing in the Allegiant Chevy this weekend. With the next Gen cars, I think Dover is one of the places where it performs very similarly. We still moved around a lot and ran some similar lanes if you run the bottom, so it was more similar in my opinion and probably more similar than most guys thought. I don’t expect to see anything out of the ordinary, and I am hoping to build off our success in Talladega.”

BLAKE HARRIS, CREW CHIEF, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1Harris on preparing for Dover with Josh Berry: “Everyone on the No. 48 team is wishing Alex (Bowman) a speedy recovery and we hope to have him back as soon as he is healthy. With Josh (Berry) this weekend, we are fortunate enough to have had him in the No. 9 car recently, so we kind of know what driver comfort items we needed so we were able to get him in here and get him fit. We also got a simulator session in with him so as far as preparation for this weekend goes, I feel like we are in as good of shape as we can be considering the time crunch we are in to get the car to Dover (Motor Speedway). Josh has a 1.5 average finish at Dover in Xfinity and finished second in an ARCA (Menards Series East) car there, so I don’t think we could go to a track that is better suited for a plug-and-play guy. Our approach this weekend is just to take it one step at a time, no mistakes, and get Josh comfortable enough to get the No. 48 in contention.”

DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 FREEWAY INSURANCE CAMARO ZL1Why do you like Dover? “Actually, Dover is one of my favorite tracks that we go to. It’s so much fun and the feeling you get inside the car is pretty incredible. It’s also been one of my best tracks, statistically. My expectations are really high for this weekend because I have run so well in the past there.”
Is there momentum after Talladega?“Yes, we had a very fast car. We have had fast cars in most of the races this year. Our program is getting better and better. Our pit stops have been fantastic lately as well. We still have a lot of learning to do and things we can improve, but I think we will start getting the type of finishes we expect and deserve here soon.”

Chevrolet NASCAR Cup Series Statistics
Manufacturers Championships:Total (1949-2022): 41First title for Chevrolet: 1958Highest number of consecutive titles: 13 (2003-15) Years Won: 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2021, 2022 Drivers Championships:Total (1949-2021): 33First Chevrolet champion: Buck Baker (1957)Highest number of consecutive titles: 7 (2005-11)Most Recent: Kyle Larson (2021) Years Won: 1957, 1960, 1961, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2020, 2021 Event Victories:Record for total race wins in single season: 26 (2007) 2023 STATISTICS: Wins: 7Poles: 3Laps Led: 1,190Top-five finishes: 23Top-10 finishes: 43Stage wins: 11· Ross Chastain – 3 (Daytona), (Auto Club x2)· William Byron – 5 (Las Vegas x2), (Phoenix), (COTA), (Richmond)· Kyle Larson – 2 (Phoenix), (Bristol Dirt)· Chase Elliott – 1 (Talladega) CHEVROLET IN NASCAR CUMULATIVE STATISTICS:Total Chevrolet race wins: 840 (1949 to date)Poles won to date: 737Laps led to date: 246,734Top-five finishes to date: 4,244Top-10 finishes to date: 8,755 Total NASCAR Cup Wins by Corporation, 1949 to Date: General Motors: 1,174 Chevrolet: 840 Pontiac: 154 Oldsmobile: 115 Buick: 65 Ford: 821 Ford: 721 Mercury: 96 Lincoln: 4 Fiat Chrysler Automobiles: 467 Dodge: 217 Plymouth: 191 Chrysler: 59 Toyota: 172

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