Top NASCAR drivers head to Dover, but not this legend who has most Monster Mile wins
The Wurth 400, featuring all of the top NASCAR drivers, will be held Sunday at the Monster Mile in Dover, culminating a three-day weekend of racing.
Delaware is in its third year with just one NASCAR race instead of two, and Mike Tatoian, the president and CEO of Dover Motor Speedway, is putting his background in minor league sports to good use.
The Dover track, just like NASCAR as a whole, is at a crossroads as it tries to hold on to longtime fans while attracting new ones. As a whole, the racing is better than ever as more drivers have a legitimate chance of making the playoff field, but NASCAR's TV ratings for this season were down every week up until the race at Martinsville, Virginia, on April 16.
That was the 10th event of the season.
But there are encouraging signs, too, both throughout NASCAR and at Dover, and that's something Tatoian wants to take advantage of.
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So in addition to the racing on the track, including the most popular driver in Chase Elliott, who returned a few weeks ago from a broken leg, you'll see the world's largest bounce house, live music, Q&As with drivers and even plenty of unique ways to consume scrapple.
"We feel like this is our opportunity to really create an environment outside of the track," Tatoian said. "So everything that happens on the track, that’s (handled by NASCAR). They control the product on the track. Equally important is what happens outside of the track in our fan zone.
"We try to have as much entertainment all weekend long to either take care of the fans that have been here 30, 40 times. But equally important is how can we attract that new generation of fans, and what do we need to do to get them to the track."
That's something Dover, like most race tracks around the country, has been wrestling with for the past decade or more. Dover has decreased its seating capacity from a high of around 135,000 in the early 2000s to 54,000 in 2019.
The last reduction was completed just before the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020, but Dover has yet to get a full sense of the demand. That's because fans weren't allowed to the races in 2020.
In 2021, the first season since Dover moved one of its two races to Nashville, attendance was capped at 20,000 due to COVID-19 restrictions. All of those available seats were sold. Then the 2022 Cup series race was postponed by rain, leading to a smaller crowd when the race was held the next day.
Tatoian said there are indicators that show this could be the highest-attended race going back to before the pandemic.
"There are parts of our campgrounds that we haven’t opened in six, seven years that we’re opening up," Tatoian said.
Here are some things to look for, both on the track and off, during the race weekend that includes the General Tire 125 on Friday, the A-Game 200 on Saturday and the Wurth 400 on Sunday:
World's largest bounce house
The Fan Zone is free to the public, so a ticket to the race is not required.
There's "Big Bounce America," a 12,000-square-foot bounce house. It's next to a 9,000-foot obstacle course. There will be live music, Q&A sessions with some of the drivers, a new indoor-outdoor bar and arcade, and a new food provider that will feature scrapple-inspired dishes.
"The way we see it, it's our show up until the green flag," Tatoian said. "Once the green flag waves, it’s up to the drivers to put on the show."
Star power back
Some in NASCAR have said the decline in TV ratings is due to the "Chase Elliott effect." Elliott fractured his tibia in a snowboarding accident in early March. He returned April 16 at Martinsville. So Dover will be his third race back. There is still time for Elliott to contend for the Cup championship, which he won in 2020.
Elliott is 31st in the points standings after finishing 10th and 12th in the two races since his return. The top 16, as of Sept. 3, are in the playoffs.
Denny Hamlin, who's 10th in the standings, said it's too soon to tell if Elliott's return will bump up the TV ratings.
"One thing is for sure, is we need the most popular driver in our sport on the race track, no matter what," Hamlin said. "I think (Chase Elliott) brings a lot to the table on competition."
Hamlin, meanwhile, made his Dover debut in 2006 and has 14 top-10 finishes. Hamlin won for the first time in 2020 and finished second in 2018.
Hamlin said he never like racing in Delaware until recently.
"I could not get a grasp of that race track," he said. "It just seems like over the last four, five years or so, I’ve just gotten better at it, and my team has found a setup that seems to really work with me as a driver. So here, lately, I’ve been pretty optimistic every time I go there. I certainly like it more now."
Is Jimmie Johnson racing at Dover?
Jimmie Johnson, by far the winningest driver at Dover with 11 victories during his Hall of Fame career, is entering four races this season after spending the previous two years as an Indy Car driver.
Tatoian was holding out hope that one of the races would be Dover so Johnson could go for an even dozen number of victories. Johnson, however, chose the Circuit of the Americas held March 26 and the Coca-Cola 600 on May 28. He also raced at Daytona and will race the Chicago Street Course on July 2.
But Tatoian is hoping that Johnson will choose Dover in the future if he continues to race a limited schedule.
"It would be a great story if he could get that even dozen here," Tatoian said. "Whether he does or not, he’s won here 11 times and that’s an amazing accomplishment."
The next closest winners at Dover are Richard Petty and Bobby Allison, with seven each.
Drivers to watch
The top 10 drivers in the points standings consist of:
Christopher Bell
Ross Chastain
Kevin Harvick
Kyle Larson
Kyle Busch
Tyler Reddick
Martin Truex Jr.
Ryan Blaney
Alex Bowman
Hamlin
Of those top 10, Busch, Truex Jr. and Harvick have won three times at Dover, most among active drivers. Hamlin and Larson have won once. Elliott has won twice.
If you go
There are three races held this weekend at Dover Motor Speedway. The General Tire 125 will be held Friday at 5:30 p.m. The A-Game 200 will be held Saturday beginning at 1:30 p.m. And the Wurth 400 begins Sunday at 2 p.m.
For ticket information and more, go to dovermotorspeedway.com.
Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @Mfranknfl.
This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Top NASCAR drivers head to Monster Mile; what about Jimmie Johnson?
