Dover NASCAR Notebook

DESPITE LAST YEAR’S FAILURE, JOHNSON LIKES HIS CHANCES AT DOVER

Story By: REID SPENCER / NASCAR WIRE SERVICE

Photos By: PETE MACDONALD / RACERSGUIDE.COM

DOVER, Del. –October 1, 2016- On a rainy morning at Dover International Speedway, Jimmie Johnson was hopeful lightning wouldn’t strike twice—figuratively speaking, of course.

A year ago, in the third race in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, the failure of a rear-axle seal eliminated the six-time series champion from NASCAR’s 10-race playoff.

Never mind that Johnson has owned the Monster Mile with 10 victories in 29 starts. Last year’s 41st-place finish in the Chase race reminded the Dover dominator that freakish bad luck can strike at any time and dramatically change the course of a season.

But that doesn’t mitigate Johnson’s eagerness to reverse his 2015 ill fortune.

“I’m excited to be back to my best race track, without a doubt,” Johnson said on Friday morning at the one-mile concrete track. “I think last year shows that you really can’t count on a race track always being kind to a driver or always working in their favor.

“It’s part of racing. I’ve learned it through many different lessons over my racing career. Last year, I think, kind of showed everybody once again that you just can’t take a race or a track for granted for anybody. We’re back with high hopes.”

Currently eighth in the Chase standings, Johnson remains within striking distance of both Jamie McMurray and Austin Dillon, who are tied for the 13th position, 18 points behind the driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet.

Nevertheless, Johnson should be able to advance to the Chase’s Round of 12 with a respectable finish in Sunday’s Citizen Soldier 400 (2 p.m. ET on NBCSN).

TRUEX EXUDES CONFIDENCE AS HE COMES TO HOME TRACK

If you don’t consider Martin Truex Jr. one of the favorites to win this year’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship, you haven’t been paying attention to the first two races in the Chase.

Truex won the Chase opener at Chicagoland Speedway and had perhaps the fastest car a week later at New Hampshire, though he dropped to seventh at the finish after a late restart.

Now he comes to Dover, the track closest to his childhood home in Mayetta, N.J., full of confidence—and not just because he’s locked into the Chase’s Round of 12 by virtue of the win at Chicagoland. Dover gave Truex his first Sprint Cup victory in 2007; in addition, he notched two poles and 10 top 10s at the track.

And it’s not the Chicagoland victory that accounts for the laid-back Truex’s relaxed attitude. That sort of atmosphere permeates the Furniture Row Racing team.

“I think that we’ve been pretty relaxed throughout preparing for the Chase and starting it off,” Truex asserted on Friday at Dover. “Obviously, winning Chicago was a big deal for us, but I think that we really haven’t paid much attention to everybody else. We’ve really just focused on what we’re doing and obviously happy to be locked in that next round already.

“But, all in all, I think our teams had a good focus, a good outlook, a good mind-set even before the Chase started. We’ve just had a lot of confidence and a lot of momentum—obviously. So things are going well and I think for us it’s just important to keep that mindset, not get too many highs or lows and just keep that even keel and be smart and race hard.”

ELLIOTT: PRESSURE WILL INCREASE AS CHASE PROGRESSES

As a Sunoco rookie in his first Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Chase Elliott has found the first two playoff races surprisingly “normal.”

Elliott comes to the elimination at Dover tied for ninth in the standings, 16 points ahead of Jamie McMurray and Austin Dillon, the first two drivers below the cut line.

But Elliott expects that, as the rounds of the Chase progress, the intensity will ratchet up significantly.

“I think the further you get into it, the more it is going to ramp up, for sure,” Elliott said on Friday at the Monster Mile. “Obviously, when guys are put in certain situations, their intensity is going to ramp up individually as you see, like last year. This race last year was a big race for that.

“I think a lot of it is situational, but, to me, this first round has been pretty normal as far as the races go and how I’ve seen people driving and whatnot. I feel like it’s been pretty similar to the races throughout the year. Like I said, I think if you make it further into the deal, it will ramp up, I’m sure. I mean it has to as you start eliminating more guys, and it gets down to a smaller group of people.”