Crafton was 0 for 15 at Dover. Dover is a good place to right the ship for Truex as he does have a victory here which happened to be his first win back in 2007. “This Menards Toyota Tundra was fast today”.
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Johnson’s been good – great, mostly – at just about every track and has wins this season at Atlanta and Fontana that already earned him a berth in the Chase.
If Johnson leads at least one lap this weekend he will surpass the 3,000 laps led mark at Dover International Speedway, becoming the seventh driver in series history to lead 3,000 or more laps at a single track.
Crafton, a two-time series champion, held off Daniel Suarez and rookie Christopher Bell to get the victory. Byron visited Victory Lane at Kansas in only his fifth career start.
“I’ve got some cool trophies in my collection, no doubt, but Miles, he’s cool”, Crafton said.
Last week: Eighteen-year-old William Byron picked up his first series win at Kansas. “He gave me a couple of opportunities to try to find a gear but it just locked out and wouldn’t go into gear for some reason”. “I thought we were faster than the 88 but clean air is the difference there”. Byron was running sixth late in the race until he was penalized for having a pit crew member tagged for going over the wall too soon.
With the weather cooperating after a wet Friday, Sprint Cup and Xfinity Series drivers took the track on Saturday.
Last race: Elliott Sadler won a wild one at Talladega on April 30, edging out Brennan Poole after a wreck at the finish.
“It’s awesome”, Crafton said. When I think back to having 10 wins at Dover, I just think about the three or four that got away from me over the years.
Wins aren’t an absolute requirement to make the Chase for the Sprint Cup lineup, and several – if not all – of the winless quintet will make the postseason on points. The two have both finished in the top 10 in the last two races.
“To not win here as long as it’s taken me, it’s much sweeter”, Crafton said. The win should vault him into the top five, considering he was tied with John Hunter Nemechek and one point behind Tyler Young.
Harvick, who won the 2015 fall Dover race, posted the fastest speed during Friday’s practice.
Track: Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course (road, 2.439-miles). Edwards has won the most recent race on concrete at Bristol this spring and will attempt to follow it up with a victory at Dover.
This track is the closest one to Martin Truex’s hometown in New Jersey so this is a “home” race for him.
Graham Rahal, another American, had the best lap by a Honda driver, going 1:09.1816.
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In addition to Johnson, the crash also included a dominant Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr., whom led a combined 164 laps. He also won the inaugural grand prix in 2014.
