Allow me to gush for just a moment.
I love Dover. I think it's one of the most exciting tracks on the Sprint Cup circuit, definitely the most underrated. It features side-by-side racing, and the action reminds me of an August Saturday night race at Bristol, with multicar incidents and rough racing a certainty.
It's not a short track in the technical meaning (tracks under a mile in length; Dover's an even mile), but it provides the finest in short track-style racing. Plus, a cool monster-type mascot. Looks like something that would fight Godzilla on the streets of Dover, Del.
It's just my opinion, but I think we should see more mascots wandering around at racetracks and just the streets in general. Let's start by getting that giant inflatable orange (part of a Tropicana promotion) back to Chicago Speedway.
So we're sure to see some craziness this year, much like last year when an early-race crash took out half of the cars in Chase positions at the time. But I can do my best to give you some numbers to look ahead at Dover and the halfway point of the 26-race lead up to the Chase.
A monster at Dover
Greg Biffle was the winner the last time the Sprint Cup Series headed to Dover, his second career win at the Monster Mile. But he's the true monster at Dover.
He's been sixth or better in each of the past five races there, and has only been worse than eighth once there over the past four seasons. And even that wasn't bad, a 13th-place run in the 2005 fall race.
NASCAR's Sultan of Stats, Mike Forde, tells us that Biffle has been even better than those results indicate. His average running position over the past four seasons is 6.4, and he's been the fastest car on the track for 332 laps, best among all drivers in that span. His 116.6 driver rating also tops all drivers.
He can pass up the front as well, making 250 quality passes (green-flag passes on the track) in those eight races, the second-most among all drivers.
Don't Roush to judgment
After winning the season's first two races, both courtesy of Matt Kenseth, it looked like Roush Fenway Racing would continue its winning ways from 2008.
Since then, however, the team has failed to win a race, and its highest driver in points is Kenseth, who is ninth. Right behind him is Biffle in 10th and Carl Edwards in 11th. After that, you have to drop back to 21st for Jamie McMurray and 32nd for a driver I thought would break out this season, David Ragan.
However, Roush Fenway cars have done some of their finest work at Dover. Going by individual driver ratings (think NFL quarterback rating, with anything more than 100 being very good and topping out at 150), Roush drivers are the class of the field.
Most races with driver rating of more than 100 (past five Dover races)
Carl Edwards -- Five
Matt Kenseth -- Five
Greg Biffle -- Four
Jimmie Johnson -- Three
Five drivers -- Two
There hasn't been a Dover race over the past five runnings that Edwards and Kenseth didn't have great cars, and Biffle's the only driver to do it four times.
Over the past four races, here's Edwards' driver rating rank in the field: third, first, third and second.
Who's the boss?
Getting away from loop data and race previews for just a moment, I thought I'd take the end of today's blog to discuss Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s crew chief situation and give you the statistical spin.
Statistical spin? Sounds like my professional wrestling finishing move. I'm getting fitted for the tights right now.
Although Earnhardt and Tony Eury Jr. struggled this year before Eury was replaced Thursday, out of the five crew chiefs Earnhardt has worked with in his Sprint Cup career, he's put up his second-best average finish with Eury Jr.
Besides that, Eury Jr. is the only crew chief besides Tony Eury Sr. who has won with Earnhardt multiple times. Earnhardt won with Eury Jr. twice and had a 16.4 average finish. With Eury Sr., Earnhardt won 15 times and had a 15.7 average finish in 65 races.
Check out Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Cup career with Tony Sr. calling the shots:
Category -- Tony Eury Sr. -- All others
Races -- 183 -- 156
Wins -- 15 -- 3
Top-5s -- 52 -- 35
Top-10s -- 79 -- 61
Average finish -- 15.7 -- 17.0
That's all I've got for you today. Don't forget to e-mail me whatever you have to say, and I'll do my best to answer whatever I get.
Matt Willis
