We’ve got a special race coming to us this weekend, as the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series brings us another installment of the AAA 400 Drive for Autism.
Last week, Austin Dillon became the 10th unique driver to win in 13 points-based races this season. However, Dover International Speedway has been a breeding ground for wins for one particular legend of the sport, and that man could very well take the cake once more this Sunday.
Read on below to see how we predict this week’s race at the Monster Mile will go down.
Simply put, Jimmie Johnson’s winning DNA really stands out whenever he steps foot on Dover. Here’s a list of his top-ranking accomplishments on the course amongst all active drivers: total wins (10), driver rating (118.3) and average finish (9.53). In fact, Jimmie J has fewer finishes on the Monster Mile outside the top 10 than his lifetime victories, and those numbers we just mentioned are made all the more impressive considering that he’s had 30 starts on the track to his credit.
As one of only three drivers this season who’ve won two races already, a third victory for Johnson is certainly a possibility as he aims to further prove that his 41-year-old self can still keep up with the rest of NASCAR’s rising stars.
Although Kevin Harvick hasn’t sped his way to victory lane yet this year, another start in Delaware could very well get him back on the winning path.
Since 2014, Harvick’s 111.9 driver rating at Dover is second amongst all drivers in this week’s field. And despite failing to reach the top 10 in his past couple of starts on the track, the former Cup Series champion did win it all in the fall edition of the race in 2015 and finished second in the spring race of that same year.
In last week’s race in Charlotte, Harvick secured his third runner-up finish of the season. No. 4 has been on the cusp of his first victory in 2017 for quite some time now, and we really like his chances of finally ending his relative slump this Sunday.
With four sub-20 finishes in his last six starts, the luster on Chase Elliott’s promising season is starting to fade.
On the other hand, Hendrick Motorsports’ young upstart has never been daunted by the Monster Mile during his short professional career. Elliott has top-11 finishes in five of six lifetime starts at Dover, and he’s even entering this week’s event with back-to-back third-place finishes on the course. Having said that, we wouldn’t be surprised at all if Sunday’s race results to the 21-year-old’s maiden victory in Cup Series contention.
As the defending AAA 400 champion, Matt Kenseth isn’t getting as much love from the oddsmakers as one would expect. Well, it’s really hard to argue against his current odds considering that he only has three top-five and and four top-10 finishes this season.
Then again, and much like the three drivers before him here, Kenseth still makes for a viable sleeper pick given his track record at Dover. The Cambridge, Wisconsin native has three career wins on the track and has also cracked the top seven in six of his last seven starts on the course.
Ryan Newman hasn’t made an impact on the circuit since winning in Phoenix this past March. In the eight races following that win, the 39-year-old veteran has just three top-10 finishes – none of them in the top five.
Don’t count on Newman to get back into Cup Series contention talks after this Sunday’s either, as he has fallen short of a top-15 finish in his last four starts on the Monster Mile.
Writer’s Prediction
Harvick (+550) finally wins his first race of the season.
