NASCAR has conducted races at Dover (Del.) International Speedway since 1969, and in 70 races, 17 drivers have won more than once.
The late Dale Earnhardt, the long-retired Cale Yarborough and the soon-to-be retired Rusty Wallace are among four drivers to have won three times at “The Monster Mile.”
The fourth is Ryan Newman, 27, who has parked in Victory Lane in half of his six Cup starts at Dover.
“Sometimes, a track just clicks with a team,” Newman said Tuesday in a teleconference. “That’s what happened with Dover and the Alltel team. I definitely like Dover. It’s a racer’s racetrack, with the banking and high speeds.”
Newman has won three of the past four races at Dover. He swept the two 2003 MBNA races and won last fall’s MBNA America 400, leading 325 of 400 laps.
Only three current full-time drivers have more victories at Dover than the relatively young Newman. Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin and Ricky Rudd have three each, but nobody has won 50 percent of the time like Newman.
“We’ve experienced success there from the first time we went there in a Busch car,” Newman said. “The entire team just enjoys racing at Dover.”
Footnotes
Five cities – Atlanta, Charlotte, N.C., Daytona Beach, Fla., Kansas City, Kan., and Richmond, Va. – are finalists to become home of the first NASCAR Hall of Fame, the sanctioning body announced Tuesday. Site visits are scheduled this summer, and the location will be announced by the end of the year. … Ken Schrader turned 50 on Sunday, becoming the first Cup regular since Darrell Waltrip and Dave Marcis in 2000 in the over-40s age bracket. Schrader, who competes in more than 100 races a year, still is considered the busiest driver in major-league motorsports. He said he has competed at more than 300 racetracks. … Petty Enterprises driver Jeff Green says Dover promotes the “waterfall effect.” “Everything is falling down and washing away at the bottom,” Green said in a release. “If you see a single-car wreck at Dover, it must be qualifying. That is all because of the banking. The banking is really steep, all the way around the track, and in nearly every accident the cars are falling from the top to the bottom.”
Mike Chambers can be reached at 303-820-5453 or mchambers@denverpost.com.
