What to watch for in today's NASCAR Cup race at Dover

NBC Sports

3 days ago

The race for the final Cup playoff spot continues today at Dover Motor Speedway.
Here is what to watch for in today's 400-lap race.
Kyle Busch on a roll
Kyle Busch has scored back-to-back top-10 finishes and cut 35 points off his deficit to the playoff cutline. He enters today's race 37 points behind Bubba Wallace, who holds the final playoff spot.
Busch finished fourth in last year's race at this 1-mile high-banked concrete track.
Busch's focus is on ending his 77-race winless drought, but he knows another good performance could close his gap to the cutline.
'Points take care of themselves when you run good,' said Busch, who starts 10th. 'Results are what matters. Being able to get stage points and being able to get good finishes will all equate to higher point totals and you not having to look at the sheet. So obviously with a 'win and you're in,' you really don't have to pay any attention to it.
'That's certainly on our radar right now. We've had a couple of good weeks where we've made up some of the deficit. I feel like there is potential and opportunity for us to continue that way, and we want to continue to climb that way and put ourselves above the cut for making the playoffs.'
Also looking to make a move is Ryan Preece. He enters today's race three points behind Wallace for the final playoff spot. Preece starts today's race 11th. Wallace starts 22nd.
A new tire
Goodyear brought a new tire to Dover and teams didn't get any track time Saturday with practice and qualifying canceled by rain.
That will present a challenge for competitors in today's race.
'I think all we can really do at this point is just try and dissect any similarities that the tire this weekend might have to a change that we've maybe already seen throughout the year,' said Chase Elliott, who will start on the pole.
'Really just make your best guess off of the information that you have in front of you with that. I feel like that stuff is always a little bit of an educated guess when you're coming to these places for the first time.'
In-Season Challenge
The NASCAR In-Season Challenge is down to the final four drivers.
Tyler Reddick goes against Ty Gibbs. John Hunter Nemechek faces Ty Dillon.
Said Reddick of his matchup with Gibbs: 'It does feel like every time I've been at Dover since Ty has been in the Cup Series, I can at least see him on the track when I'm making laps, and yeah, last year, I finished directly behind him –- so I feel like that is going to continue. I feel like we are going to be around each other a lot this weekend. Hopefully, we will have some good hard racing.'
The winners of both matchups advance to next week's finals at Indianapolis with $1 million to the champion.
Watch pit road
Dover has one of the tightest pit roads on the circuit. That can lead to issues between competitors.
Last year's race had only one pit road speeding penalty but the previous three Cup races at Dover averaged eight pit road speeding penalties. Pit road speed is 35 mph.