TEAM CHEVY ADVANCE: DOVER MOTOR SPEEDWAY
Dover, Delaware
April 27-28, 2024
DOVER DOUBLE
On deck for the NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) and NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is the series’ annual appearance at Dover Motor Speedway. The doubleheader in Delaware will kick off with the NXS BetRivers 200 on Saturday, followed by the NCS Würth 400 on Sunday. Chevrolet has a history of success in taming the “Monster Mile” – leading both of NASCAR’s top two series with 43 NCS victories and 33 NXS victories.
Chevrolet at Dover Motor Speedway: By the Numbers
Dover Motor Speedway is one of just 10 tracks that has hosted more than 100 NASCAR Cup Series events, with Sunday’s 400-mile race marking the series’ 106th appearance at the Delaware venue. Since the series’ debut at Dover Motor Speedway in 1969, the Bowtie brand has collected a series-leading 43 victories. Chevrolet’s most recent trip to victory lane at the “Monster Mile” came in the Next Gen car’s first appearance at the track with a win courtesy of Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott (May 2022). Elliott’s victory was accompanied by a podium sweep by the Bowtie brand, with fellow Team Chevy drivers Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in second and Ross Chastain in third.
In the NASCAR Xfinity Series’ 77-race history at Dover Motor Speedway, Chevrolet leads the way with 33 all-time victories. The manufacturer’s most recent NXS victory at the track also came in the 2022 season with Josh Berry behind the wheel of a JR Motorsports Camaro SS. Nearly half of Chevrolet’s NXS triumphs at the “Monster Mile” came within the timespan of June 1993 to June 2001 when the manufacturer reeled-off 16 wins in 17 races – earned by an impressive 13 different drivers.
HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS: MASTERY AT THE “MONSTER MILE”
Hendrick Motorsports’ past and recent success at Dover Motor Speedway has made the Chevrolet organization an automatic frontrunner when the series returns to the “Monster Mile” each year. Hendrick Motorsports leads the series with 22 all-time NASCAR Cup Series victories at the Delaware venue – a record more than double the next leading organization, Joe Gibbs Racing, with 10 victories.
Seven different drivers have earned victories under the Hendrick Motorsports banner at Dover Motor Speedway – led by Jimmie Johnson with a series-leading 11 triumphs. In recent years, three of Chevrolet’s past four NCS victories at the track have come with Hendrick Motorsports including Chase Elliott (May 2022 and Oct. 2018) and Alex Bowman (May 2021).
The Delaware venue is also home to a history-making finish for Hendrick Motorsports when Bowman’s victory in 2021 was accompanied by an organizational top-four sweep (Larson – second; Elliott – third; William Byron – fourth). The feat marked the first time in Hendrick Motorsports’ storied NASCAR history that the organization accomplished a sweep of the top-four finishing positions in a NCS race.
Chase Elliott
No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Oct. 7, 2018
Alex Bowman
No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
May 16, 2021
Chase Elliott
No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
May 2, 2022
Bowman Set for Milestone Start
Sunday’s Würth 400 will mark Alex Bowman’s 300th career NASCAR Cup Series start. The 30-year-old Arizona native is coming off his fourth top-five finish of the 2024 season – moving the Team Chevy driver into the top-10 of the series’ points standings heading into the Dover race weekend.
Bowman’s milestone start will come at a venue where the Team Chevy driver has found remarkable success in NASCAR’s top division. In 12 NCS starts at Dover Motor Speedway, Bowman has recorded one victory and five top-five finishes – all of which have come in his last six starts at the track.
TALLYING TOP-10S
For the second consecutive race, and third time overall this season, Chevrolet has owned at least 50 percent of the top-10 results in a single NASCAR Cup Series race – each recorded by drivers from four different Chevrolet organizations. The Bowtie brand has accomplished this feat on three completely different racetrack configurations including a road course circuit (Circuit of The Americas); an intermediate oval (Texas Motor Speedway); and a superspeedway (Talladega Superspeedway).
Among those three events, seven different Chevrolet organizations contributed at least one top-10 result towards the feat – including all six organizations that compete with the manufacturer full-time in NASCAR’s top series:
Circuit of The Americas
1. William Byron: Hendrick Motorsports
- Alex Bowman: Hendrick Motorsports
- AJ Allmendinger: Kaulig Racing
- Ross Chastain: Trackhouse Racing
- Kyle Busch: Richard Childress Racing
Texas Motor Speedway
- Chase Elliott: Hendrick Motorsports
- William Byron: Hendrick Motorsports
- Daniel Suarez: Trackhouse Racing
- Austin Dillon: Richard Childress Racing
- Kyle Busch: Richard Childress Racing
- Carson Hocevar: Spire Motorsports
Talladega Superspeedway
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr: JTG Daugherty
- Alex Bowman: Hendrick Motorsports
- Anthony Alfredo: Beard Motorsports
- William Byron: Hendrick Motorsports
- Daniel Hemric: Kaulig Racing
RCR TEAMMATES CARRY MOMENTUM TO “MONSTER MILE”
Richard Childress Racing’s Jesse Love became Chevrolet’s fourth different winner in the NASCAR Xfinity Series last weekend – driving the Bowtie brand to its fifth win of the season at Talladega Superspeedway. The 19-year-old California native joined the Bowtie brigade at the beginning of season for his rookie campaign in the series. In just nine starts, Love has driven his No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Camaro SS to one victory, six top-10s, three top-fives and three poles.
The pair of Richard Childress Racing teammates, Love and Austin Hill, topped nearly all of the major statistical categories at Talladega Superspeedway last weekend. In addition to the victory, the teammates posted the top-two times in qualifying to sweep the front-row starting positions. The pair swept the stage wins, with Love taking Stage One and Hill taking Stage Two. Hill and Love, combined, led over 50 percent of the event’s 124 laps, with Hill pacing the field a race-high 41 laps and Love tallying the second-most laps led at 28.
Kvapil Rejoins JRM After Strong NXS Debut
Carson Kvapil’s first career NASCAR Xfinity Series start saw the 20-year-old second-generation driver take the No. 88 JR Motorsports Camaro SS to an impressive fourth-place finish at Martinsville Speedway. The debut started with a 12th-place qualifying effort and early pit strategy paid dividends for track position – setting Kvapil up for a fourth-place finish in the second stage. Utilizing a combination of learnings from both stages, as well as his experience in short-track racing, the young driver maneuvered through the wild closing laps to take the checkered-flag in fourth. Kvapil will return to the seat of the No. 88 JR Motorsports Camaro SS this weekend, carrying the Chevy Truck Season livery in Saturday’s 200-mile NXS race for his second career start.
BOWTIE BULLETS:
· With 26 races complete across NASCAR’s three national series this season, Chevrolet has a winning percentage of 65.4% with 17 victories (NASCAR Cup Series – six wins; NASCAR Xfinity Series – five wins; NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series – six wins).
· Active Chevrolet drivers with a NASCAR Cup Series win at Dover Motor Speedway:
Kyle Busch – three wins (2017, 2010, 2008)
Chase Elliott – two wins (2022, 2018)
Alex Bowman – one win (2021)
Kyle Larson – one win (2019)
· In 105 NASCAR Cup Series races at Dover Motor Speedway, Chevrolet has recorded a series-leading 43 victories – two of which came in the series’ last three races at the track (Chase Elliott – 2022; Alex Bowman – 2021).
· Chevrolet is the only manufacturer to accomplish a tripleheader weekend sweep in the NASCAR national ranks this season, with the Bowtie brand earning its third tripleheader sweep at Texas Motor Speedway.
· In three NASCAR Cup Series races this season, Chevrolet has earned at least 50 percent of the top-10 finishing results – recorded on three completely different racetrack configurations (Circuit of The Americas, Texas Motor Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway). In each of those events, four different Chevrolet organizations were represented in the top-10.
· Team Chevy’s William Byron is the only driver to have a double-digit win record in the NASCAR Cup Series’ Next Gen era – with his victory at Martinsville Speedway marking his 11th all-time victory in the Next Gen Camaro ZL1.
· In 82 points-paying races in the Next Gen era, Chevrolet leads all manufacturers with 43 victories – a winning percentage of 52.4%.
· Within the first three points-paying races of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series races season, each Chevrolet organization had already recorded at least one top-10 finish.
· With its 42 NASCAR Cup Series Manufacturer Championships, 33 NASCAR Cup Series Driver Championships, and 857 all-time NASCAR Cup Series wins, Chevrolet continues to hold the title as the winningest brand in NASCAR Cup Series history.
Manufacturer Points Standings
Chevrolet: 371
Toyota: 362 (-9)
Ford: 332 (-39)
Manufacturer Points Standings
Chevrolet: 335
Toyota: 325 (-10)
Ford: 279 (-56)
Manufacturer Points Standings
Chevrolet: 273
Toyota: 240 (-33)
Ford: 224 (-49)
TUNE-IN:
NASCAR Cup Series
Würth 400
Sunday, April 28, at 2 p.m. ET
(FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90)
NASCAR Xfinity Series
BetRivers 200
Saturday, April 27, at 1:30 pm. ET
(FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90)
QUOTABLE QUOTES:
ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 1 MOOSE FRATERNITY CAMARO ZL1
What do you think about Dover?
“I ran my very first Cup race at Dover in the spring (2017) and I also raced the fall race there. Those were the only two Cup races I ran all year. I remember being scared to death because I didn’t think I was ready. I had a lot of encouragement to go ahead and do my first Cup race and sort of get it out of the way. I’m so glad I did it. Dover is like a third home to me after Florida and North Carolina. I’ve spent more time in Delaware than almost any other state.”
What has made you so good at Dover recently?
“Phil Surgen and my No. 1 team. I feel like concrete tracks have been really, really strong for us – Nashville and Dover. We’ve been fortunate to have super-fast cars at concrete tracks.”
Is a win in the future because you’ve been so close the last couple of times at Dover?
“I have that level of confidence every time I go to the track. It’s cool to experience this level of competition with Trackhouse. I’m trying to soak up every moment and every race because it’s really cool to be in the position I’m in. I’ve been in the sport so long and so many people have helped me get here. To be fast at Dover is great. I remember watching the guys who were fast, (Matt) Kenseth in turn 4 sideways in qualifying and I never thought I would get there and be able to do that in a Cup car.”
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 BREZTRI CAMARO ZL1
What does the sensation of speed at Dover Motor Speedway feel like?
“Racing at Dover Motor Speedway is like a rollercoaster ride with no tracks. There isn’t another track like it. You carry a lot of pace there. When you drive down into the corner to get to the bottom of the track, it feels like you’re coming off a four-story building with the banking. You just try to catch your breath and get back on the gas to drive off the corner. We do that for 400 laps. Once you get into the race, you get into a rhythm, and you start to feel comfortable. The first couple of laps are always hard on you though. It’s a hard concrete track. We have to make sure our shock package is good, and hopefully, the No. 3 Chevrolet handles well. Maybe the line will move around, but it’s usually right around the bottom. As the rubber lays down, it gets harder to do more with the car. Dover is a Monster, but my team is up for the challenge.”
KYLE BUSCH, NO. 8 FICO CAMARO ZL1
Last year rain cut short Cup practice at Dover and you started the race on a green track. How big of a challenge is that?
“Track conditions at Dover are challenging because they’re always changing. When you’re on a green racetrack you really fight tire wear and you’re wearing out the tires quite rapidly. As the weekend progresses and as the race progresses, rubber gets put down on the track and that makes tire life better.”
Is racing at Dover physically demanding for a driver?
“Racing at Dover is physically demanding. You’re in the corner around that track longer than you are going straight on the straightaways which means the time in which you’re doing the most work is the longest. It’s also very physically taxing just because of the roughness of the concrete surface and the constant beating that the driver takes in the seat from going over all the joints in the track.”
How easy is it for a driver to get into trouble at Dover?
“I would say it’s pretty easy for drivers to find trouble at Dover. Typically, the looser you are, the faster you are, but when you get too loose, it’s really easy to spin. If you spin it at Dover, more than likely you are going to hit both the outside and inside walls. As crashes happen, you’re going so fast that sometimes you can’t get checked up fast enough.”
DANIEL HEMRIC, NO. 31 POPPY BANK CAMARO ZL1
“Dover is a place I have had circled on my calendar. The track has high grip, high speed and a lot of loading, so I’m curious to see what that feels like in this car. That track evolves and changes a lot, and Kaulig Racing has had speed there in the past, so I’m excited to see what we can do there.”
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1
Bowman on racing at Dover Motor Speedway:
“I’m super excited to get to Dover (Motor Speedway). It’s my favorite race track and running my 300th start (in the Cup Series) there this weekend is pretty special. That milestone is certainly something that, say 10 years ago, I wouldn’t have thought I’d be able to achieve. Race weekend in Dover was something that I was going to be excited about regardless of how Talladega (Superspeedway) went, but Talladega was good to us and our No. 48 Ally Racing team has been trending in the right direction. I’m looking forward to it and we should be in contention for a win this Sunday.”
BLAKE HARRIS, CREW CHIEF, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1
Harris on racing at Dover Motor Speedway:
“The team was really bummed to not have him (Alex Bowman) at Dover (Motor Speedway) last year. This year will be Bowman and I’s first trip there (to Dover Motor Speedway) together. Alex won there in 2021 and runs statistically really strong there. Dover is probably one of his favorite tracks so we look forward to getting on track there together. We saw some good data points there last year from teammates, even when he didn’t get to run. It would be great to pick up a win in Dover this weekend.”
CARSON HOCEVAR, NO. 77 PREMIER SECURITY CAMARO ZL1
“I’m pretty excited about this weekend at Dover. It was fun when I got to run there a handful of years ago, so I am excited to go back and even more excited to run in a cup car. I feel like we should be pretty solid and sporty in our Premier Security Chevy. We seem to have speed at these types of tracks and Luke (Lambert) feels very confident. I also feel confident in our race cars and what we can bring to the track so just hoping we can have another good solid day and just continue to rack up the points and better our finishes as we’ve continued to this season.”
DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 JOCKEY CAMARO ZL1
What do think about racing at Dover?
“Dover is an amazing racetrack and in my opinion one of the best just because it is so tense and fast. It is very unique. There is nothing similar to Dover – except maybe Bristol, a little bit but it is still quite different. I am excited for this weekend. The feeling you get inside the car there is pretty incredible.”
What do you think of your paint scheme?
“It is an honor for me to drive a car carrying the American flag. I came to America to chase my dream and live it. Representing Jockey is quite an honor and I hope NASCAR fans see our car out front a lot this Sunday. You won’t be able to miss us.”
Are you happy where your team is at in 2024?
“We have work to do, but until we are winning consistently we will always have work to do. We have a great bunch of people, and we have high expectations for the rest of the season.”
Chevrolet NASCAR Cup Series Statistics
Manufacturers Championships:
Total (1949-2023): 42
First title for Chevrolet: 1958
Highest number of consecutive titles: 13 (2003-15)
Years Won: 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2021, 2022, 2023
Drivers Championships:
Total (1949-2021): 33
First Chevrolet champion: Buck Baker (1957)
Highest number of consecutive titles: 7 (2005-11)
Most Recent: Kyle Larson (2021)
Years Won: 1957, 1960, 1961, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2020, 2021
Event Victories:
Record for total race wins in single season: 26 (2007)
2024 STATISTICS:
Wins: 6
Poles: 4
Laps Led: 1,028
Top-five finishes: 21
Top-10 finishes: 38
Stage wins: 7
· Chase Elliott: 1
· Kyle Larson: 5
· Ross Chastain: 1
CHEVROLET IN NASCAR CUMULATIVE STATISTICS:
Total Chevrolet race wins: 857 (1949 to date)
Poles won to date: 747
Laps led to date: 250,203
Top-five finishes to date: 4,319
Top-10 finishes to date: 8,899
Total NASCAR Cup Wins by Corporation, 1949 to Date:
General Motors: 1,191
Chevrolet: 857
Pontiac: 154
Oldsmobile: 115
Buick: 65
Ford: 828
Ford: 728
Mercury: 96
Lincoln: 4
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles: 467
Dodge: 217
Plymouth: 191
Chrysler: 59
Toyota: 184
About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.
