It’s May and the NASCAR Series Cup Season is heating up. For the 11th regular-season race, the NASCAR Drivers are in Dover, Delaware for the DuraMax Drydene 400 at Dover Motor Speedway. The race will start on Sunday at 3 p.m. ET and air on FS1.
Heading into Sunday’s race, there are two drivers who have two cup series wins this year — William Byron and Ross Chastain, who won last week’s race at Talladega. If Chastain wins Sunday’s race, it would three victories at three different track types. His first win came at the Circuit of Americas, which is a road course, and Talladega is a Superspeedway. Dover is known as the “Monster Mile” as the track is one mile long. And the course has been a challenge for Chastian, finishing no better than 15th and has led zero laps in his career.
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After winning at Talladega, Chastian talked about getting his first two wins at two different tracks. “Absolutely mind-blowing, it is,” he said. “I grew up short-track racing, so I just assumed and thought that was where I was the best. Turning right was hard, drafting was hard. I just thought I would never be able to catch up to guys that had been doing it so much longer than me. A lot of time and work and really good people surrounding me, we’ve closed the gap. There’s still a long ways to go.”
Martin Truex Jr. who won the Cup Series in 2017, is off to a solid start as he’s currently eighth in the standings. And he has had his success in Dover, winning the race in 2007 and in 2019. However, the 41-year-old knows that the track is one of the most challenging in the Cup Series.
“It’s going to be a challenge for sure,” Truex said. “Dover is so different from anything we have raced so far and really different from anywhere that we go all year. So that practice is going to be very important. It’s a hard track to get right anyways but throw in the new car and limited track time, it’s going to be difficult. I love going there though, so I’m really looking forward to it.”