Written by Gabriel Tsui, Edited by Vyas Ponnuri
After one of the most exciting end to a race in recent memories, we head to Dover Motor Speedway for the final race of the month. To close out the month, can the Chevrolet cars get their third win of the month? Or can either Ford or Toyota slug it out and take the win in Dover?
Talladega 500 Race Debrief
Superspeedways tend to produce some of the most exciting finishes in NASCAR, and this weekend was nothing different. However, before getting to the finish, let’s start from the beginning.
The race started off with Michael McDowell leading the way, and he held onto it for a while until BJ McLeod stormed all the way from 37th to the lead, but was soon overtaken by Chase Briscoe.
After the green flag cycle, Chase Elliott took the lead and held for most of the way towards the end of the stage, but a big run by Austin Cindric made Elliott concede the lead, with Cindric barely beating Elliott for the stage win.
On the start of stage two, Kyle Busch held the lead but a strong push from the inside line propelled Ryan Blaney to the lead. The field soon settled and shifted towards saving fuel before the green cycle stop, in which Chris Buescher led the way after the cycle.
However, Joey Logano quickly took over the lead, and with a huge run down the main straight, Logano beat Kyle Larson to the chequered flag for the stage two win.
On the restart, Logano held the lead but a crash between multiple drivers a few laps later brought out the caution flag. Josh Berry took the lead on the restart, but McDowell soon took the lead again.
A few drivers decided to pit under the green flag for fuel, a decision that paid off massively due to a caution just a few laps later. This propelled Tyler Reddick to the lead, but soon McDowell was side-by-side with him on the inside.
The Ford line soon took over and had a firm grip on the lead, and was leading up until the end, when McDowell’s untimely block sent him and Brad Keselowski to the wall, giving Reddick the red carpet to victory lane, and a playoff berth.
Track Preview
The Dover Motor Speedway is located in Dover, Delaware, and has been hosting a race ever since 1969. The oval layout has a distance of 1.03 miles (1.66 kilometres), with a banking of 24 degrees on the turns, and a banking of 9 degrees on the straights.
The drivers will be driving a distance of 400 miles (643.738 kilometres) around the track, with 120 laps in stages one and two, while 160 laps constitute the final stage.
The race will commence on the Sunday of April 28th, at 14:00 ET (11:00 PT, 20:00 CET). The temperature will fluctuate from 14 to 26 degrees Celsius on race day, and a possibility for rain.
Race Predictions
After the race in Talladega where Tyler Reddick and Toyota took one back after two consecutive Chevrolet wins, the tower of balance is slowly shifting back towards Toyota.
However, even though Chevrolet were slightly outmatched by the Fords and Reddick, we are heading back to an intermediate track, a type of track where Chevrolet has incredible performances.
On the other hand, Toyota will certainly bring a fight to the table, and with the win they certainly carry a lot of momentum into the weekend. Therefore, even though it is an incredibly tough prediction, I believe that Toyota will have one of their drivers on victory lane, splitting the wins in April.