Dover Observations

DOVER, Del. – Thoughts, observations and some questions after Sunday's Neighborhood Excellence 400 at Dover International Speedway:

• Roush cars finished 1-2, Childress cars finished 3-4, Hendrick cars finished 5-6. Call it dominance, parity or just plain great entertainment.

  Jack Roush says it's the state of NASCAR racing today, as the bigger organizations are the most prepared to tackle the kind of issues teams must deal with in order to win. Roush also mentioned how close NASCAR has made the aerodynamic and engine packages between the manufacturers.

  As for his own teams, Roush referred to an out-of-the-box setup that race winner Matt Kenseth and crew chief Robbie Reiser and Co. used for Sunday's race. Word is that Kenseth is one of the drivers who has never been completely comfortable with the softer coil-binding setup used by many teams. It seems this team has been able to find a solution for Kenseth.

• Kenseth's teammate Jamie McMurray scored his best finish (second) of the 2006 season. It also moved him into the top 15 for the first time this year, putting all five Roush cars in the top 15 (Kenseth is second, Mark Martin third, Greg Biffle 12th and Carl Edwards 14th).

• The crowd was estimated at 145,000, but there were plenty of empty seats in the Turns 2 and 3 grandstands. Maybe it's the area's ridiculously inflated hotel room prices, the embarrassing lack of decent restaurants in the Dover area or simply the fact that there is but one main road in and out of the track that has a growing number of fans deciding to stay at home.

• Ironically, for fans that can't make it to the mecca of NASCAR that is Bristol, Dover is the next best thing. If you dig high-banked, all-concrete tracks with high grandstands nearly surrounding the track and the constant deafening roar of engines, Dover is your kind of place.

  Funny thing – the exact same reasons that I mentioned for keeping fans away from Dover also can apply to Bristol, but the fans still flock there.

• Sunday's race was quite different from a typical Nextel Cup event in that there wasn't just one dominant car. It was Ryan Newman early on before Jeff Gordon took the point. Then came Jeff Burton, and then it was McMurray – but in the end it was Kenseth.

  I don't know about you, but I hate it when just one driver dominates all day long.

• Two-time (1998-98) Formula One champion Mika Hakkinen was a spectator at the race.

  After a long career in single-seat race cars, Hakkinen, who retired from F1 in '02, returned to racing last year driving a Mercedes in the DTM (German Tour Car Series), which is Europe's equivalent of stock car racing. It was his first time seeing American stock cars close up.

  The Finnish driver was impressed with how NASCAR has been able to keep the competition close while keeping the costs down. When asked if he would entertain the opportunity to drive one, he quickly smiled and politely answered, "No."

• Ricky Rudd did an admirable job sitting in for Tony Stewart, finishing 25th despite a less-than-comfortable race car and a drive-through penalty. After Rudd responded to being black-flagged with just one word (that we can't repeat here) over his radio, Nextel Cup director of competition John Darby responded matter-of-factly, "You were clocked at 42½ mph."

  Pit road speed on Sunday was 35 mph.

• The blistering pace of Sunday's race made staying on the lead lap a real challenge. At one point, only 13 cars remained on the lead lap.

• The 48 team's gutsy performance this weekend had championship written all over it. A spin during qualifying on Friday, a start from the rear of the field, a shared pit stall, a spin on lap 274 after being hit by David Stremme and still Jimmie Johnson finishes sixth.

  If these guys can deliver this kind of performance from Sept. 17 through Nov. 19, they'll have their long sought-after championship.

• Another top-10 finish for Dale Earnhardt Jr. He's now fourth in points.

• Then there are Jeff Burton and Kevin Harvick, who are seventh and eighth in points, respectively. It took the better part of five years, but RCR definitely is back.

• Remember how hot Casey Mears was at the start of the season? He hasn't had a top-10 finish since Las Vegas in March. Mears is 13th in points and falling weekly. Will someone please tell me again why he's such a hot free agent property?

• If anyone wonders how hard it is to be successful in NASCAR and thinks having the most money is the answer, look at Penske Racing. The organization dominates open wheel racing and won this year's Indy 500 but can't seem to put the screw into the nut in NASCAR.

  It is hard.

Postscript

Next week the NASCAR circus travels to Pocono Raceway's roval. That's part-road course, part-oval. Drivers used to shift at Pocono, but NASCAR's gearing rule has changed that. Nevertheless, many drivers still think of the flat 2½-mile triangle-shaped oval as being closer to a road course than a true oval.

Stashed away in the beautiful Pocono Mountains, just a stone's throw from Interstate 80, it's typically a place where we see an unlikely winner.

It was Carl Edwards last June. As for this year? Maybe Brian Vickers, who finished second there a year ago.

There are several likely candidates, including Denny Hamlin, Clint Bowyer and Scott Riggs.

Or will the current Johnson-Kenseth show take the main stage?