Prior to Sunday’s AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway, prognosticators wouldn’t have considered it far fetched to predict a Dover win by Jimmie Johnson or Mark Martin. After all, the two Hendrick Motorsports drivers each had four wins there prior to Sunday’s race.
Now, make that five wins for Jimmie Johnson. Johnson collected his fourth win of the season to pull to within 10 points of his teammate and points leader, Martin. Then win was the 44th of Johnson’s Sprint Cup career. Johnson’s now tied with Bill Elliott for 14th on the all-time win list even though this is only his eighth full-time season on the Sprint Cup circuit.
“I'm pretty sure that dude's Superman,” Martin said. “And, you know, I have had the opportunity to see up close.”
Martin, meanwhile, claimed the runner-up position.
“I'm really happy with the result,” Martin said of his second-place finish.
The top-five finishing order was made up predominantly of Chase contenders. Matt Kenseth, who is on the outside looking in for the first time since the Chase’s inception, was the lone driver outside the Chase to post a top-five finish on Sunday. Kenseth finished third.
For that matter, only two drivers not in the Chase came away from Dover with a top-10. Joining Kenseth in the top-10 was A.J. Allmendinger who finished seventh.
Juan Montoya finished fourth -- his first Dover finish on the lead lap -- and occupies the third position in points, 65 points out of first. Kurt Busch rounded out the top-five. Not only did Busch finish right behind Montoya on the racetrack, he’s also right behind him in the points standings, only 10 points behind Montoya.
While most of the afternoon seem to be the same old song and dance among many Chase competitors -- they occupied most of the slots in the top-10 and many of them ran near the front all day -- the AAA 400 was not without drama. On lap 32, a huge wreck that involved Joey Logano, Tony Stewart, Reed Sorenson, Martin Truex Jr., and Robby Gordon sent Logano’s car into a barrel-roll that saw his car flip more than seven times. The cars of Gordon and Sorenson also suffered significant damage and were retired for the afternoon. Everyone walked away from the incident, and no injuries were reported.
While many Chase competitors were running in the top-10 and remaining there for the finish, a few Chasers weren’t so lucky. Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle, and Brian Vickers did manage top-20s, though, as Edwards finished 11th, Biffle 13th, and Vickers 18th. Suffering the poorest finish among the 12 Chase competitors was Denny Hamlin, who finished 22nd.
“The whole company hasn't been performing the way it needs to to win a championship,” Kenseth, Edwards’ teammate at Roush-Fenway Racing said of Edwards’ shot to win the championship. “That's not being negative or anything. It's just obvious. Everybody can see that.”
The lackluster finish for Hamlin was an improvement over his recent Dover performances, though. Prior to Sunday, Hamlin had finished outside the top-35 in the last four Dover races.
Top-10 at Dover:
1. Jimmie Johnson
2. Mark Martin
3. Matt Kenseth
4. Juan Montoya
5. Kurt Busch
6. Jeff Gordon
7. A.J. Allmendinger
8. Kasey Kahne
9. Tony Stewart
10. Ryan Newman
Other Chase drivers’ finishes:
11. Carl Edwards
13. Greg Biffle
18. Brian Vickers
22. Denny Hamlin
Points:
1. Mark Martin
2. Jimmie Johnson, -10
3. Juan Montoya, -65
4. Kurt Busch, -75
5. Tony Stewart, -106
6. Denny Hamlin, -108
7. Ryan Newman, -110
8. Jeff Gordon, -122
9. Greg Biffle, -138
10. Brian Vickers, -151
11. Carl Edwards, -153
12. Kasey Kahne, -189
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