Denny Hamlin is 8/1 to win at Dover

FedEx Racing Express Facts – Dover Motor Speedway

 

Denny Hamlin

#11 FedEx Office Toyota

Joe Gibbs Racing

 

Sunday Race Info

Race: Würth 400

Date/Time: Sunday, April 30 / 2 p.m. ET

Distance: 400 laps / 400 miles

Track Length: 1 mile

 

Express Notes

Press Kit: Download the 2023 FedEx Racing press materials at www.fedex.com/en-us/racing/press-kit, including bios for Denny Hamlin, Chris Gabehart and Joe Gibbs Racing leadership, program highlights and statistics.

Dover Notes: The FedEx Racing driver has one win (August 2020) in his career at Dover Motor Speedway. Hamlin has found success at Dover in recent years as 402 of his 678 laps led at the track have come in the past five trips to the Monster Mile. Last season, Hamlin started second, won stage one, and led 67 laps before a loose wheel dropped him to the rear of the field. After climbing back into contention, he was collected in an accident that ultimately relegated him to a 21st-place finish.

Talladega Recap: The No. 11 team earned their first pole award of the season last weekend at Talladega Superspeedway and Hamlin ended the day with a 17th-place finish. The result was not indicative of the performance Hamlin turned in as he battled amongst the leaders throughout the 500-mile event. Prior to the second attempt at an overtime finish, Hamlin was forced to pit for fuel and lost his track position. Despite avoiding a multi-car accident on the final lap, Hamlin finished the day in the 17th position.

Starting Up Front: Hamlin, NASCAR’s active leader for most pole awards, has claimed four poles at the one-mile concrete oval. For his career, he has eight front-row starting positions at Dover, including a second-place qualifying effort last season. Through a mix of actual qualifying efforts and the metric qualifying system used in 2020 and 2021, Hamlin has started on the front row in four of the past five races at the Monster Mile.

Hamlin Statistics

Track: Dover Motor Speedway

Races: 32

Wins: 1

Poles: 4

Top-5: 6

Top-10: 14

Laps Led: 678

Avg. Start: 9.8

Avg. Finish: 16.4

 

Hamlin Conversation – Dover

What are the challenges of racing at Dover?

“It’s a fast one-mile racetrack with high banking. Believe it or not, the setup correlation for Dover is more like a mile-and-a-half than it is a short track even though it’s only a mile. You can draw some conclusions on who will be good there based on the mile-and-half tracks we’ve ran. It’s a really tough track because if someone bobbles, we’ve seen huge crashes because it all funnels down to the bottom of the racetrack. It’s a track where you need to stay up front because if you get to about eighth place or so, man, it is tough to navigate restarts. If we can put it all together, I’m optimistic about our chances.”

 

FedEx Office Along for the Ride at Dover Motor Speedway: For this weekend’s race at Dover Motor Speedway, Hamlin’s FedEx Office Toyota Camry TRD will feature D081 on the b-post to recognize the District 81 D.C. South team for leading the President’s Club standings for the fiscal year-to-date.

 

FedEx Office – Closest to Dover Motor Speedway: 132 S. Main St., Newark, DE 19711, 302-368-5080

 

2023 FedEx Racing Team Results
DATE	EVENT	LOCATION	START	FINISH	LAPS	STATUS	LED	PTS	TREND
Feb. 19	Daytona 500	Daytona	18th	17th	212/212	Running	6	19th	▬
Feb. 26	Pala Casino 400	Fontana	13th	6th	200/200	Running	11	9th	▲
March 5	Pennzoil 400	Las Vegas	12th	11th	271/271	Running	10	6th	▲
March 12	United Rentals Work United 500	Phoenix	2nd	23rd	317/317	Running	0	12th	▼
March 19	Ambetter Health 400	Atlanta	14th	6th	260/260	Running	14	9th	▲
March 26	EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix	Austin	21st	16th	75/75	Running	0	14th	▼
April 2	Toyota Owners 400	Richmond	11th	20th	400/400	Running	71	12th	▲
April 9	Food City Dirt Race	Bristol	30th	22nd	250/250	Running	0	12th	▬
April 16	NOCO 400	Martinsville	11th	4th	400/400	Running	36	9th	▲
April 23	GEICO 500	Talladega	1st	17th	196/196	Running	7	9th	▬
Averages/Totals			13.3	14.2	100%		155

 

 

Hendrick Motorsports Driver Quotes for Dover

Hendrick motorsports finished 1-2-3-4 at Dover last season.

Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on driving the Next Gen car at Dover: “We had a great result last year in the Gen 6 car. Finishing one-two-three-four I know meant a lot to Rick (Hendrick, owner) and all the men and women at Hendrick Motorsports. I’ve run well at Dover throughout my career and have led a lot of laps there, and I hope that is the case again this weekend. I don’t know how this generation of car will race on the concrete, but I hope we’ll be using multiple lanes on Sunday.”

Cliff Daniels, crew chief of the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on challenges of new Next Gen car on a concrete track: “The car itself is really going to perform well – I think we have the potential to see a really good race. If we get some warmer temperatures and the groove widens out, these cars should be very racy on a very racy track. I think it could be a lot of fun and a great race for the fans. If it’s super cool and the track is very fast, it could be a narrower groove and much harder to pass. We’ll just need to see how the temperatures are, what the tire wear is like and how the track is taking (tire) rubber, but I think it’s going to be great.”




Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on heading to Dover with the Next Gen car: “All these places, as we go to them for the first time, I’m kind of like everybody else, just waiting to see how it goes. I never would have thought that Martinsville would have gone like it did, so I think we were probably all surprised about that one, but nonetheless, I’m excited to get out there and hopefully it goes well.”

Elliott on the expectations he sets for himself to perform well: “I want to win just as much as everyone else, if not more. I always want to win, and I always have an expectation of myself to want to go and perform. That expectation is the only one that matters to me, and I want to do the job to the best of my ability always, whether you have a win in the bank or not. For me, that doesn’t make me try any harder. I’m going to do my best and see where we end up.”

Alan Gustafson, crew chief of the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on racing at Dover with the Next Gen car: “I don’t really know what to expect. I love Dover. It’s one of my favorite tracks to go to. It’s a lot of fun to race. Obviously, it has big wide surface, and that’s the key to me is hopefully there’s some value in getting up the track and there’s multiple lanes. That’s always, in my opinion, what creates good racing, is the opportunity to have multiple lanes. Hopefully that shows up.”





William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on if he feels like he’s having to re-learn tracks with the Next Gen car: “I’d say every week is a new week. It really is. We look at our old notes for balance and things like that, but even that’s kind of changed. I think Dover’s going to be eye-opening to see how this car gets around, because you know it has way less downforce. Downforce is key at Dover. I’m very interested to see how that feels and how that plays out, because I don’t know what to expect.”

Rudy Fugle, crew chief of the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on what notes he can use to prepare for Dover: “We don’t have a ton of short track notes with the Next Gen car right now, but I think the race at Martinsville gives us a good starting point. That race we saw that track position played a big factor and that maintaining a pit strategy that helped with that was key. I can see that playing a factor again this weekend at Dover. I also think some of our setup notes from last year will still help as well. Plus, with the high banking in the corners at Dover, it translates slightly to an intermediate track in that regard, so we can use those notes that we have as well. We ran well at Martinsville a few weeks ago, and Dover has been good to us in the past, so I think those things give us a good baseline for when we unload for practice.”



Alex Bowman, driver of the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on returning to Dover after the Hendrick Motorsports sweep last year: “Winning last year at Dover was special. We had a fast race car, fast enough to hold off my teammates and be the one to lead the one-two-three-four charge for Hendrick Motorsports. Being a part of such a unique moment in a season that was filled with these types of moments is something I will always hold close to me.”

Greg Ives, crew chief of the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on how he’s preparing to repeat last year’s success: “Dover has been a track that Hendrick Motorsports has historically done well at as well as Alex (Bowman). Our plan is to go back there and continue to build off the confidence and success from the past. Even though it is a different car and tire, we are approaching it the same way we always do; maximizing restarts, pit road times, practice and qualifying to get the most out of the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet and look to come out of there with another Miles the Monster trophy.”