Friday, May 4, 2018

Dover Betting Preview: 2018 AAA 400 Drive for Autism

Jimmie Johnson has been the concrete King at Dover.
Last week's volatile Talladega Superspeedway race may have momentarily distracted us from the realities of what's been happening in non-restrictor plate races, but let's just put that race won by Joey Logano on the side, and then go back to the realities of this NASCAR Cup Series season and remember that Kyle Busch had won three straight races on three different types of tracks.

The 11th race of the season takes us to Delaware for some exciting racing on Dover International Speedway's high banked, concrete layout. It's the only 1-mile track in the series that isn't flat and because of it being so unique, we don't have a lot of homework to do for handicapping other than using current form and past Dover history.

But despite how unique it is, I've done quite well over the years betting Dover races by applying a bit of what happened in the most recent Bristol race into the overall equation. Although Bristol is a half-mile layout, it's also concrete and high banked. It's like a mini-version of Dover's Monster Mile. And it just so happens that Bristol had a race three weeks ago won by Kyle Busch with Kyle Larson leading a race-high 200 laps and finishing second. Both those drivers are great starting points to picking a winner for Sunday's AAA 400 Drive for Autism.

However, the third-place finisher at Bristol is a driver you need to seriously consider. Jimmie Johnson has gone almost a full season since winning a race and that win came in this race at Dover. It was his 11th career win at Dover. Yes, you read that correctly: 11 wins. Until finishing third at Bristol three weeks ago, his last top-five finish came at Dover last fall when he finished third. He loves this track and he's dominated it like no other driver in history. He owns track records with wins and 3,105 laps led.

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