NASCAR WCUP: Chassis Notes, Dover Downs, Dover Delaware

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

June 1, 2001

[The following are facts and figures regarding the cars Pontiac teams will be running during this weekend's NASCAR Winston Cup Series event at Dover Downs International Speedway.]

No. 10

Johnny Benson matched a career-best second-place finish the last time the Winston Cup Series visited Dover Downs in September. Benson, who is just 118 points behind points leader Dale Jarrett in the chase for the 2001 championship, has three top fives, seven top 10s and just two finishes outside the top 20.

No. 14

Rookie Ron Hornaday is running the same chassis for the third straight week. He ran it in the qualifying races for The Winston and also during the Coke 600. Hornaday, who has one top 10 this season, is third in the Raybestos Rookie standings.

No. 18

Interstate Batteries Grand Prix driver Bobby Labonte is a former winner at Dover (spring 1999) and would love to get his second at "The Monster Mile" with the chassis that won the Southern 500 at Darlington last fall. Labonte, who is coming off a fifth-place finish last week, has run this car twice in 2001, posting an 11th at Darlington and a 13th at Bristol back in March.

No. 20

Tony Stewart continues to be the hottest driver in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series, having posted an average finish of 3.4 in the last five points races. Stewart is looking for his third consecutive win at Dover Downs in the same chassis that has carried him to a career average finish of 2.0 here. In nine starts at Dover and Bristol with this chassis, Stewart has two wins, six top fives and has led 1,042 of a possible 4,100 laps (25.4 percent). It is the only car he has ever run on the series' concrete tracks.

No. 27

Duke's Mayonnaise driver Kenny Wallace put forth his most competitive showing of the year at Richmond with this chassis. Although a blown motor eventually sidelined him, Wallace ran as high as 17th during the 400-lap event. Wallace is looking to better his season-best 25th place finish, posted at both Daytona and Texas.

No. 36

M&M's Pontiac driver Ken Schrader - who won his last NASCAR Winston Cup race at Dover in 1991 -- ran this car most recently at Darlington, where he charted a 13th place finish. He and his MB2 Motorsports teammates brought the car to Dover in mid-May for a two-day test session and were very happy with the workout

Text provided by Al Larsen

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