It just seems like certain TEAMS own certain race tracks. It’s kind of odd how it works that way. I mean you expect certain drivers to have a particularly good feel for certain surfaces and distances. Jeff Gordon does very well on the short tracks and road courses. Bobby Labonte has 6 of his 21 career wins at Atlanta. You may not be able to count on Michael Waltrip to win too many races, but he’s a darn good bet on super speedways, as well as his former teammate- Dale Earnhardt Jr. Kasey Kahne rules on the intermediates, as does fellow young gun Carl Edwards. Speaking of Edwards, he’s known as the “King of Concrete.”

Dover is a concrete track, a one miler with a short track feel, loads of banking and changing elevations, giving it a roller coaster ride effect. It’s interesting to know then, that while Edwards is ordinarily awesome on concrete tracks (Nashville, for example), Edwards is just well,, ordinary at Dover. His driver rating of just over 98 puts him at #8 among active drivers. His starting position of 14th is not something get all tingly over either. At the same time, this is a track where Roush-Fenway has a solid track record. For tomorrow’s race, Roush driver Greg Biffle is one the pole and Jamie Mc Murray is in the #5 spot. Biffle has the best driver rating here at 113, while another Roush veteran, Matt Kenseth is second with a rating of 111.  Just about the only driver that’s an unknown quantity at Dover is David Ragan- who’s been on a roll lately.

Speaking of drivers on a roll, Kasey Kahne is coming on an all-star win and a trip to Victory Lane at the Coca-Cola 600. Kahnehas a poor track record at Dover, with a driver rating of 86. His starting position of 15th is nothing to write home about.

As far as driver ratings go, the top 5 at Dover are Biffle, Kenseth, Mark Martin, Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch. Something tells me “Rowdy” won’t be that great this week. Just a feeling.

Bringing up Johnson’s name reminds us that “Team Hendrick” is strong here too. You don’t see Jeff Gordon’s name on that top 5 list, but the veteran leads active drivers at Dover with 4 wins (Gordon is joined at the top by Bill Elliott and Mark Martin). Johnson has 3 wins here, and the newest addition to the HMS stable, Dale Jr. has one of his 17 career wins on this track (the MBNA Cal Ripken 400 in 2001).

In fact, I’m going to say that a Hendrick driver is going to pull off the win. A driver ready to bounce back. It’s tempting to go with Jeff Gordon, but I’m going to say that….

Jimmie Johnson will win tomorrow’s race.

The Lowe’s “48″ will start out of the #4 hole, and all the adjustments being made seem to be working for Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus. Johnson, a two-time defending champion is hungry after some less-than-satisfying recent runs. Johnson has a way of doing constructive things with that kind of hunger. Hendrick has only one victory in 2008 after owning the NASCAR schedule in 2007, but I think they’ll add another win tomorrow- whether it’s Johnson or Gordon.

I also look for other drivers to bounce back tomorrow. Kurt Busch ran some great laps last week and Matt Kenseth isn’t giving up. Never give up on Tony Stewart, who has two wins at DIS.    

Now a sure sign of a Kahne resurgence would be a win here.

Other young guns that bear watching include the ubiquitous Kyle Busch, A.J. Allmendinger- who qualified in the 8th spot, and A.J.’s Red Bull teammate Brian Vickers. The North Carolinian qualified 6th and was wicked fast at Lowe’s before the infamous “wheel incident.” Ryan Newman’s looking good, in spite of all the complaint he’s recently logged in his Yahoo! blog.

Drivers seem to have a lot of fun at this track. It also seems that the shorter the distance with the new car, the better the racing.

I can’t wait. 

 

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