The 400 miles that will be raced at the Dover Motor Speedway on Sunday will be among the most challenging tasks for Cup Series drivers this season. The core reasons behind the difficulty are the abrasive concrete surface and the steep banks that the 1-mile track proudly boasts. While most of the grid would be losing sleep heading to the Monster Mile, Kyle Larson isn’t one of them.
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The Hendrick Motorsports star seemed rather peppy talking to reporters on Saturday. With an optimistic smile, he revealed that he enjoyed racing in Dover for a few particular reasons. He said, “I just enjoy this place cuz it’s fast-paced. You can move around quite a bit. You have to take care of your stuff. It’s just an aggressive style race track and suits my style quite a bit.”
In 15 starts at the track, Larson has secured eleven top-10 finishes. He found victory lane once, in 2019, when racing for Chip Ganassi. He added, “I’ve always ran really well here and led lots of laps. You know, fortunately, won one race. Would like to win a lot more. But yeah, I just know we’re going to have a good shot every time we come here.”
Notably, Larson was part (runner-up) of the Hendrick Motorsports team that secured a 1-2-3-4 finish in Dover, in 2021. The iconic result was a key moment in the team’s storied history and serves as a benchmark for every racing outfit that enters the Diamond State with the hope of victory. Larson is among the top favorites (9-2) to win on Sunday according to the SportsLine consensus.
What makes the Dover Motor Speedway a challenging venue?
2X Cup Series champion Kyle Busch says of the challenges in driving at Dover, “…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. I would say it’s pretty easy for drivers to find trouble at Dover.”
The Dover Motor Speedway has been blanketed with a concrete surface since 1995. This grayness has had a profound effect in making times bad for many drivers over the last three decades. Adding to the misery are the 24-degree banks that the track has in its corners and the 9-degree banks on the straights.
Coming together, these hurdles make for one of the most interesting races in all of NASCAR.
