Kahne wins Dover HH

Kasey Kahne posted the quickest average speed in Dover's Happy Hour with a 151.805 mph during 33 laps. That far outpaced his fastest single lap of 152.912 mph, which was only 17th best.

Our View Kahne has not yet cracked the top five at Dover, but last year, he swept the top 10. If he fits the final niche on your roster, he's worth considering, but you don't want to build a roster around him.

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Ky Busch posts fastest lap in Dover HH

Kyle Busch posted the single fastest lap in Dover's Happy Hour with a speed of 154.209 mph; his average speed of 151.387 mph in 56 laps was fifth-best on that chart.

Our View Since winning the spring 2008 race, Busch has not cracked the top 20 at Dover in the Cup series. That makes him a questionable pick this week regardless of his speed.

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Hamlin wins Dover Sat. a.m. practice

Denny Hamlin had only the seventh fastest single lap in Dover's morning session, but he posted the quickest average speed of 152.955 during 26 laps.

Our View Last week, he proved just how tough he is by sweeping victory lane at Darlington Raceway in the Cup and Nationwide Series. Dover is not his best track, but with the momentum he has this season, he should still be considered a favorite.

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Johnson posts fastest lap in Dover Sat. a.m. practice

Jimmie Johnson set the fastest single lap in the Saturday morning practice session at Dover International Speedway with a speed of 154.999 mph; his average speed of 152.099 during 33 laps was eighth best.

Our View Johnson continues to try and prove that the accidents he suffered in two of the last three races are not going to affect him. By the numbers alone, he should be considered a favorite, but the intangible factor of luck may not be on his side.

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Yahoo! Qualification Story – Dover

Nearly 80 percent of Dover's winners have started on the first five rows, giving 10 drivers a distinct advantage on Sunday. Find out if your favorite is among them in this week's Yahoo! Qualification story (.pdf).

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Sadler destroys primary car

Elliott Sadler cut a tire and slammed the wall in the early minutes of practice; he will roll out a backup car.

Our View Sadler probably thought this would be a good day after qualifying on the outside of the front row for the Craftsman Truck Series race. His primary car was only 30th on the speed chart at the time of his incident and it's unlikely his backup will be much better.

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Yahoo! Dover Preview

The toughest tracks on NASCAR's circuit are often the most predictable because it allows the cream to rise to the top. This week, the best picks are in Group A, so check out this week's Yahoo! Fantasy Racing preview (.pdf) to see who we think will win.

Possible problems for Ku Busch

According to a tweet from @BobPockrass, Kurt Busch had electrical issues this morning, mot likely because of the heavy moisture. The team believes this problem is fixed, however.

Our View Unfortunately, electrical problems are pesky little gremlins. Busch will probably be all right, but you want to be aware of the possible problem.

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Autism Speaks 400 newsbreakers
Official tweets from the track

Kahne to run new Dodge engine

Kasey Kahne will run the new Dodge engine at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, according to @DustinLong.

Our View: He previously used this same engine at Dover and Michigan. In its debut, he ran strong at Dover and finished sixth. At Michigan, however, he finished only 21st, so it is uncertain how this impacts his fantasy odds.

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Last week's contact between Biffle and Edwards "just racing"

The contact between Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle last week at Dover late in the Autism Speaks 400 was just a racing deal, according to SceneDaily.com.

Our View: As the author of this points out, however, the two do seem to run into one another a lot. Rivalries between teammates are often more intense because these guys are also fighting for internal resources. At Pocono, there is plenty of room to race, so don't look for any contact this week.

Week 23 Unified Power Rankings

With Formula 1 taking last week off, the two strongest drivers in auto sports remain at the top of our grid. Jenson Button and teammate Rubens Barrichello continue to be nearly unassailable with their strong showings on the international stage.

NASCAR driver Tony Stewart keeps hovering around the front of the field and last week's second-place finish in the Autism Speaks 400 kept him solidly in third on this grid. If Button and Barrichello stumble in this week's Turkish Grand Prix, "Smoke" could take the lead in the Unified Power Rankings just as he's done in the NASCAR point system. He hasn't been perfect, but then again with seven top-five finishes in his last nine attempts in Cup and Nationwide competition combined, he's about as close as you're going to get.

Dario Franchitti was last week's top Indy Racing League driver on our grid and he actually improved two positions from 11th overall to ninth on the strength of his third-place finish in the ABC Supply Co. / A.J. Foyt 225 at the Milwaukee Mile—and yet, he's no longer the king of his crowd.

The IRL honor goes to Helio Castroneves, who settles into fourth on the overall grid despite an 11th in that same race. He didn't actually leap frog Franchitti, however; Castroneves was not included in last week's grid because he had not yet run four races in 2009. His victory in the Indy 500 and a second in the Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 at Kansas Speedway was enough to place Castroneves fourth on the overall grid.

Mark Martin was the biggest mover in the top 10—or at least, he's in the top 10 now, after jumping eight spots from 18th with a 10th-place finish at Dover International Speedway. The biggest loser was Camping World Truck Series Ron Hornaday Jr., who dropped 19 positions from 10th to 29th after crashing early last week. He has a chance to snap back this week, however, since he starts from the outside pole for Friday night's companion race at Texas Motor Speedway with the IRL.

Hornaday's hardship can't compare to Tony Kanaan. His early-race crash at Milwaukee caused him to drop 21 positions from 14th to 35th.

Unified Power Rankings

Rank	Driver	Points	Last week	+/-
1	Jenson Button	110.67	1	0
2	Rubens Barrichello	99.83	2	0
3	Tony Stewart	96.00	3	0
4	Helio Castroneves	92.25	NR
5	Kurt Busch	91.91	5	0
6	Jimmie Johnson	90.45	7	1
7	Ryan Briscoe	87.80	12	5
8	Jason Leffler	87.56	4	-4
9	Dario Franchitti	86.80	11	2
10	Mark Martin	85.00	18	8
11	Ryan Newman	84.60	6	-5
12	Denny Hamlin	84.27	9	-3
13	Danica Patrick	82.60	15	2
14	Brad Keselowski	82.14	21	7
15	Mark Webber	82.00	13	-2
16	Scott Dixon	81.20	28	12
17	Jeff Gordon	81.09	8	-9
18	Kyle Busch	79.63	19	1
19	Timo Glock	79.50	20	1
20	Matt Kenseth	79.44	27	7
21	Carl Edwards	78.30	22	1
22	Jeff Burton	78.00	17	-5
23	Dan Wheldon	77.20	16	-7
24	Joey Logano	76.55	25	1
25	Fernando Alonso	76.17	24	-1
26	Kasey Kahne	75.27	26	0
27	Matt Crafton	74.60	29	2
28	Greg Biffle	73.29	23	-5
29	Ron Hornaday Jr	72.60	10	-19
30	Jason Keller	72.11	36	6
31	Juan Montoya	71.73	30	-1
32	Dale Earnhardt Jr	70.21	31	-1
33	Nico Rosberg	70.00	32	-1
34	Brian Vickers	68.20	33	-1
35	Tony Kanaan	68.20	14	-21
36	Sebastian Vettel	67.50	39	3
37	Kevin Harvick	67.28	41	4
38	Steve Wallace	67.11	40	2
39	Justin Allgaier	67.00	42	3
40	Clint Bowyer	66.50	43	3
41	Graham Rahal	66.40	59	18
42	Martin Truex Jr	65.82	45	3
43	David Reutimann	65.62	38	-5
44	Marco Andretti	64.80	52	8
45	Jamie McMurray	64.73	44	-1
46	Lewis Hamilton	63.67	47	1
47	Johnny Benson Jr	63.60	35	-12
48	David Ragan	63.17	55	7
49	Brian Scott	63.00	57	8
50	Paul Menard	62.63	54	4

Previous Unified Power Rankings:

Week 22
Week 21
Week 20

Dover Cup Results

A slow pit stop for four tires late in the race appeared to be the unmaking of the No. 48 team. Jimmie Johnson restarted the Autism Speaks 400 ninth on lap 368 and with only a few laps laps he needed to pass a lot of cars. He slipped past David Stremme when that driver crashed and then had to sweat out four more laps under caution—watching precious time slip away.

Once the green waved again on lap 375, he steadily climbed toward the lead and passed Tony Stewart on the high side with only three laps remaining.

Finishing second, Stewart took the point lead from Jeff Gordon, who had a miserable day and fell two laps off the pace to finish 26th.

At the beginning of the week, we said Roush-Fenway would be strong. Greg Biffle finished third with Matt Kenseth on his back bumper. Biffle and Carl Edwards got to banging in the middle stages of the race, but the No. 99 was able to hold onto a top-10 finish in seventh. Jamie McMurray also finished on the lead lap in 14th.

Joey Logano kept his streak of top-15s alive at three with a 15th. That was also his fifth straight top-20.

Results, with career avg. finish

Finish	Start	Driver	Laps	Laps Led	Status	Avg Fin
1	8	Jimmie Johnson	400	298	Running	10.40
2	31	Tony Stewart	400	6	Running	11.67
3	5	Greg Biffle	400	41	Running	10.64
4	14	Matt Kenseth	400	7	Running	13.62
5	19	Kurt Busch	400		Running	20.50
6	2	Kasey Kahne	400		Running	24.09
7	13	Carl Edwards	400	12	Running	7.60
8	11	Ryan Newman	400		Running	10.33
9	17	Casey Mears	400		Running	20.38
10	28	Mark Martin	400	1	Running	12.70
11	25	Clint Bowyer	400		Running	14.29
12	22	Dale Earnhardt Jr	400		Running	17.05
13	12	Sam Hornish Jr	400		Running	24.33
14	18	Jamie McMurray	400		Running	16.00
15	21	Joey Logano	400		Running	15.00
16	32	Jeff Burton	400		Running	16.32
17	35	Kevin Harvick	400		Running	18.35
18	1	David Reutimann	400	25	Running	20.00
19	4	Reed Sorenson	400	4	Running	23.14
20	20	Marcos Ambrose	400		Running	26.00
21	15	Martin Truex Jr	399		Running	12.71
22	33	Regan Smith	399		Running	26.67
23	6	Kyle Busch	399		Running	15.33
24	26	David Ragan	399		Running	23.00
25	9	Brian Vickers	399		Running	21.55
26	42	Jeff Gordon	398		Running	12.36
27	10	Elliott Sadler	398	2	Running	21.38
28	27	Bobby Labonte	397		Running	16.76
29	7	A J Allmendinger	396		Running	31.60
30	3	Juan Montoya	395	3	Running	24.40
31	30	David Stremme	370		Accident	33.00
32	36	Paul Menard	363		Running	24.00
33	40	Robby Gordon	282		Accident	23.88
34	41	John Andretti	253		Accident	25.64
35	29	Michael Waltrip	250		Engine	21.43
36	16	Denny Hamlin	232		Accident	25.57
37	23	Scott Speed	118		Engine	37.00
38	38	Joe Nemechek	67		Drive Shaft	25.00
39	39	Dave Blaney	66		Transmission	25.44
40	37	Mike Bliss	56		Electrical	33.20
41	34	Mike Skinner	51		Engine	22.25
42	43	Tony Raines	42		Accident	31.79
43	24	David Gilliland	38	1	Power Steering	26.33
44		Brad Keselowski	0		DNQ
45		Max Papis	0		DNQ
46		Derrike Cope	0		DNQ	25.04
47		David Starr	0		DNQ

Johnson wins Dover thriller

Jimmie Johnson restarted the Autism Speaks 400 eighth on lap 375 and rapidly charged through the field. In the final laps, he passed Tony Stewart on the high side to win a race he dominated most of the afternoon.

Our View: While most of the race was a "snoozer," along with Greg Biffle, there was a spirited battle at the end.

Gordon, Andretti to the back

Jeff Gordon (with a backup car) and John Andretti (transmission) will drop to the back of the field to start the Autism Speaks 400.

Our View: This won't matter a bit. Gordon was scheduled to start 42nd after crashing in qualification and Andretti qualified 41st.

Earnhardt, McGrew unite early

Lance McGrew will be on top of Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s pit box one week early, according to ESPN.com, since Brad Keselowski failed to qualify for Sunday's Autism Speaks 400. Brian Whitesell will actually be making the setup calls, however, according to a tweet from @BobPockrass.

Our View: This allows Earnhardt and McGrew to start developing chemistry. That will pay dividends in the next couple of weeks, but fantasy owners shouldn't think about starting him at Dover. Once they have a full race under their belt, however, Earnhardt should be watched in Pocono prelims.

Weather or not?

A brief rain shower moved through, but has given way to bright blue skies, according to a tweet from @NASCARSays—the official news site of NASCAR PR.

Our View: Let's hope the sun stays out. Another rainy week would play havoc with your fantasy roster.

Competition caution coming

After last night's tire killing Camping World Truck Series race, NASCAR has decided to throw a competition caution at lap 30 of the Cup race, according to a tweet from @BobPockrass.

Our View: We can't remember the last time they had to do this during all three races during the weekend. Dover has been concrete for a long while, but for some reason it is not taking to the current tire compound. As with Nationwide, this will allow teams to make a final adjustment - and expect Jeff Gordon to jump up 10 - 15 spots during it.

Dover pit stall selections

The pit stall selections have been published at Jayski.com.

Our View: As expected, David Reutimann has the first stall at the turn one end of pit road. Jimmie Johnson took the last stall in turn four and it will be interesting to see if this provides a benefit.

N'Wide: Four drivers do double duty

Four drivers in the Nationwide Heluva Good! 200 will also run in the AAA Insurance 200. They are Mike Bliss, Kyle Busch, Terry Cook and Scott Wimmer.

Our View: Practice makes perfect—and Busch will actually run the triple header with Sunday's Cup Autism Speaks 400.

Kasey Kahne on Dover

Here are some excerpts from an interview after Saturday's practice sessions for the Autism Speaks 400.

YOU WERE SECOND IN PRACTICE TODAY, HOW WAS YOUR CAR? “So far, so good. Our Budweiser Dodge feels really strong again today. Kenny (Francis, crew-chief) really seems happy with the car, so we just tried to fine-tune our package a bit to stay with the race track. It’s a long race tomorrow and our (race) package has to be right when we get the green flag to go racing. We’re fairly close, but we’re really fast too.”

HAVE YOU BEEN ABLE TO RUN IN TRAFFIC ENOUGH TO GET A FEEL FOR HOW THE R6 ENGINE PERFORMS WITH OTHER CARS AROUND YOU? “Not really. I was pretty much by myself all practice. It’s kind of how practice is at Dover. Everybody is heading into the pits to make changes and you don’t really have the traffic you look for in practice.”

DOVER HASN’T BEEN TOO FRIENDLY TO YOU IN RECENT YEARS. HOW NICE IS IT TO START UP FRONT TOMORROW? “No kidding. I’ve been in a lot of little deals (wrecks) that were never really our fault. When you hit oil or get involved in wrecks just driving down the straighaways and get collected, it’s tough to swallow sometimes. Dover’s been a rough place for us recently, but I think we have as good a race car as we’ve brought here in recent years. I’m excited for tomorrow.”

HOW PHYSICALLY DEMANDING OF A RACE WILL TOMORROW BE? “It certainly gets your attention. You can run pretty hard here and the track is pretty rough. The concrete is pretty rough and you get bouncing around like you’re on really, really hard tires. It’s a little bit physical compared to some of the other tracks, but nothing too out of control.”

THIRTY-SEVEN RACES HAVE BEEN WON INSIDE THE TOP-THREE STARTING SPOTS. YOU START IN SECOND POSITION, HOW MUCH CONFIDENCE DOES THAT GIVE YOU HEADING INTO TOMORROW? “Qualifying is a big part of your race day success at Dover. We’ve got a great starting position and a great pit stall, so that’s a nice advantage. Just as important is the fact that our race car was strong in race trim all day today. We unloaded fast and have been fast all weekend.”