2018 Gander Outdoors 400 (Dover) Explained

Type:	NASME
Race Name:	Gander Outdoors 400
Details Ref:	^[1] ^[2] ^[3] ^[4] ^[5] ^[6] ^[7] ^[8] ^[9]
Year:	2018
Race No:	30
Season No:	36
Location:	Dover International Speedway in Dover, Delaware
Course Mi:	1
Course Km:	1.6
Distance Laps:	404
Distance Mi:	404
Distance Km:	646.4
Scheduled Laps:	400
Scheduled Mi:	400
Scheduled Km:	640
Avg:	122.404mph
Pole Driver:	Kyle Busch
Pole Team:	Joe Gibbs Racing
Pole Time:	N/A
Most Driver:	Kevin Harvick
Most Team:	Stewart-Haas Racing
Most Laps:	286
Car:	9
First Driver:	Chase Elliott
First Team:	Hendrick Motorsports
Network:	NBCSN
Announcers:	Rick Allen, Jeff Burton, Steve Letarte and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Ratings:	1.2/1.3 (Overnight)^[10]
Radio:	MRN
Booth Ann:	Joe Moore, Jeff Striegle and Rusty Wallace
Turn Ann:	Mike Bagley (Backstretch)

The 2018 Gander Outdoors 400 was a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race held on October 7, 2018 at Dover International Speedway in Dover, Delaware. Contested over 404 laps—extended from 400 laps due to an overtime finish, on the one-mile (1.6 km) concrete speedway, it was the 30th race of the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season, fourth race of the Playoffs, and the first race of the Round of 12.

Report

Background

Dover International Speedway (formerly Dover Downs International Speedway) is a race track in Dover, Delaware, United States. Since opening in 1969, it has held at least two NASCAR races. In addition to NASCAR, the track also hosted USAC and the Verizon IndyCar Series. The track features one layout, a 1miles concrete oval, with 24° banking in the turns and 9° banking on the straights. The speedway is owned and operated by Dover Motorsports.

The track, nicknamed "The Monster Mile", was built in 1969 by Melvin Joseph of Melvin L. Joseph Construction Company, Inc., with an asphalt surface, but was replaced with concrete in 1995. Six years later in 2001, the track's capacity moved to 135,000 seats, making the track have the largest capacity of sports venue in the mid-Atlantic. In 2002, the name changed to Dover International Speedway from Dover Downs International Speedway after Dover Downs Gaming and Entertainment split, making Dover Motorsports. From 2007 to 2009, the speedway worked on an improvement project called "The Monster Makeover", which expanded facilities at the track and beautified the track. After the 2014 season, the track's capacity was reduced to 95,500 seats.

Entry list

	Driver	Team	Manufacturer
00	Landon Cassill (i)		Chevrolet
1			Chevrolet
2			Ford
3			Chevrolet
4			Ford
6			Ford
9			Chevrolet
10			Ford
11			Toyota
12			Ford
13			Chevrolet
14			Ford
15	Ross Chastain (i)		Chevrolet
17			Ford
18			Toyota
19			Toyota
20			Toyota
21			Ford
22			Ford
23	J. J. Yeley (i)		Toyota
24	William Byron (R)		Chevrolet
31			Chevrolet
32			Ford
34			Ford
37			Chevrolet
38			Ford
41			Ford
42			Chevrolet
43	Darrell Wallace Jr. (R)		Chevrolet
47			Chevrolet
48			Chevrolet
51	B. J. McLeod (i)		Ford
52			Chevrolet
66	Timmy Hill (i)		Toyota
72			Chevrolet
78			Toyota
88			Chevrolet
95			Chevrolet
96			Toyota
Official entry list

First practice

Kyle Larson was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 21.892 seconds and a speed of 164.444mph.^[11]

Pos		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Time
1	42				21.892	164.444
2	4				22.025	163.451
3	41				22.037	163.362
Official first practice results

Qualifying

Qualifying for Friday was cancelled due to rain and Kyle Busch, the point leader, was awarded the pole as a result.^[12]

Starting Lineup

Pos		Driver	Team	Manufacturer
1	18			Toyota
2	4			Ford
3	78			Toyota
4	2			Ford
5	14			Ford
6	22			Ford
7	41			Ford
8	12			Ford
9	9			Chevrolet
10	42			Chevrolet
11	10			Ford
12	88			Chevrolet
13	48			Chevrolet
14	3			Chevrolet
15	11			Toyota
16	20			Toyota
17	31			Chevrolet
18	21			Ford
19	19			Toyota
20	1			Chevrolet
21	17			Ford
22	24	William Byron (R)		Chevrolet
23	37			Chevrolet
24	47			Chevrolet
25	95			Chevrolet
26	38			Ford
27	34			Ford
28	6			Ford
29	43	Darrell Wallace Jr. (R)		Chevrolet
30	13			Chevrolet
31	32			Ford
32	15	Ross Chastain (i)		Chevrolet
33	72			Chevrolet
34	00	Landon Cassill (i)		Chevrolet
35	23	J. J. Yeley (i)		Toyota
36	51	B. J. McLeod (i)		Ford
37	96			Toyota
38	66	Timmy Hill (i)		Toyota
39	52			Chevrolet
Official starting lineup

Practice (post-qualifying)

Second practice

Second practice session scheduled for Saturday was cancelled due to rain.

Final practice

Kyle Larson was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 22.640 seconds and a speed of 159.011mph.^[13]

Pos		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Time
1	42				22.640	159.011
2	11				22.880	157.343
3	20				22.916	157.095
Official final practice results

Race

Kyle Busch led the field to green, only to be passed by Kevin Harvick ten laps later. Harvick swept both stages. Harvick led until about 50 to go when he had a loose wheel. Aric Almirola inherited the lead from his mistake-cursed teammate. Almirola maintained the lead until a caution with ten to go, caused by a crashed SHR car of Clint Bowyer. Chase Elliott boldly opted not to pit, taking the lead. On the restart Elliott surfed ahead of Almirola, who would ultimately wreck with Brad Keselowski a half lap later, sending the race into overtime. At the restart, Elliott forged ahead of Denny Hamlin, a rival from Martinsville and Phoenix in 2017. Chase would go on to lock himself into the round of 8.

Stage Results

Stage 1Laps: 120

Pos		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Points
1	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	10
2	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	9
3	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	8
4	14	Clint Bowyer	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	7
5	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	6
6	2	Brad Keselowski	Team Penske	Ford	5
7	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	4
8	41	Kurt Busch	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	3
9	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	2
10	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Furniture Row Racing	Toyota	1
Official stage one results

Stage 2Laps: 120

Pos		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Points
1	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	10
2	14	Clint Bowyer	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	9
3	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Furniture Row Racing	Toyota	8
4	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	7
5	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	6
6	41	Kurt Busch	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	5
7	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	4
8	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	3
9	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	2
10	2	Brad Keselowski	Team Penske	Ford	1
Official stage two results

Final Stage Results

Stage 3Laps: 160

Pos	Grid		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Points
1	9	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	404	48
2	15	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	404	38
3	6	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	404	50
4	16	20	Erik Jones	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	404	33
5	7	41	Kurt Busch	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	404	40
6	2	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	404	51
7	14	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	404	30
8	1	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	404	41
9	21	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	404	28
10	19	19	Daniel Suárez	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	404	27
11	8	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	404	30
12	10	42	Kyle Larson	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	404	25
13	11	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	404	32
14	4	2	Brad Keselowski	Team Penske	Ford	404	29
15	3	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Furniture Row Racing	Toyota	404	31
16	18	21	Paul Menard	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	403	21
17	17	31	Ryan Newman	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	403	20
18	20	1	Jamie McMurray	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	402	19
19	22	24	William Byron (R)	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	402	18
20	28	6	Matt Kenseth	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	402	17
21	25	95	Regan Smith	Leavine Family Racing	Chevrolet	401	16
22	24	47	A. J. Allmendinger	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	400	15
23	29	43	Darrell Wallace Jr. (R)	Richard Petty Motorsports	Chevrolet	399	14
24	26	38	David Ragan	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	399	13
25	23	37	Chris Buescher	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	399	12
26	27	34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	399	11
27	31	32	Matt DiBenedetto	Go Fas Racing	Ford	397	10
28	12	88	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	396	9
29	30	13	Ty Dillon	Germain Racing	Chevrolet	396	8
30	33	72	Corey LaJoie	TriStar Motorsports	Chevrolet	394	7
31	37	96	Jeffrey Earnhardt	Gaunt Brothers Racing	Toyota	394	6
32	35	23	J. J. Yeley (i)	BK Racing	Toyota	392	0
33	34	00	Landon Cassill (i)	StarCom Racing	Chevrolet	390	0
34	36	51	B. J. McLeod (i)	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	389	0
35	5	14	Clint Bowyer	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	388	18
36	13	48	Jimmie Johnson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	387	1
37	32	15	Ross Chastain (i)	Premium Motorsports	Chevrolet	314	0
38	39	52	Harrison Rhodes	Rick Ware Racing	Chevrolet	308	1
39	38	66	Timmy Hill (i)	MBM Motorsports	Toyota	35	0
Official race results

Race statistics

• Lead changes: 8 among different drivers
• Cautions/Laps: 5 for 31
• Red flags: 1 for 4 minutes and 59 seconds
• Time of race: 3 hours, 18 minutes and 2 seconds
• Average speed: 122.404mph

Media

Television

NBC Sports covered the race on the television side. Rick Allen, 2006 race winner Jeff Burton, Steve Letarte and 2001 race winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. had the call in the booth for the race. Dave Burns, Marty Snider and Kelli Stavast reported from pit lane during the race.

Radio

MRN had the radio call for the race, which was simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.

Standings after the race

	Pos	Driver	Points
1	1	Kevin Harvick	3,101
1	2	Kyle Busch	3,096 (–5)
	3	Martin Truex Jr.	3,069 (–32)
2	4	Joey Logano	3,064 (–37)
4	5	Chase Elliott	3,056 (–45)
1	6	Kurt Busch	3,054 (–47)
3	7	Brad Keselowski	3,054 (–47)
	8	Ryan Blaney	3,043 (–58)
2	9	Aric Almirola	3,033 (–68)
5	10	Clint Bowyer	3,033 (–68)
1	11	Kyle Larson	3,031 (–70)
	12	Alex Bowman	3,009 (–92)
1	13	Austin Dillon	2,101 (–1,000)
1	14	Jimmie Johnson	2,098 (–1,003)
	15	Denny Hamlin	2,094 (–1,007)
	16	Erik Jones	2,079 (–1,022)
Official driver's standings

Manufacturers' Championship standings

	Pos	Manufacturer	Points
	1	Ford	1,084
	2	Toyota	1,075 (–9)
	3	Chevrolet	990 (–94)
Official manufacturers' standings

• Note: Only the first 16 positions are included for the driver standings.

Notes and References

1. Web site: 2018 schedule. Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. September 12, 2018. May 5, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20171224004109/http://www.jayski.com/news/pages/story/_/page/2018-NASCAR-Cup-Schedule. December 24, 2017. dead.
2. Web site: Dover International Speedway. NASCAR.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC.. September 12, 2018. January 3, 2013. April 29, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170429053836/http://www.nascar.com/en_us/nascar-tracks/dover-international-speedway.html. dead.
3. Web site: Entry List. MRN.com. Motor Racing Network. October 1, 2018. October 1, 2018.
4. Web site: First Practice Results. MRN.com. Motor Racing Network. October 5, 2018. October 5, 2018.
5. Web site: Starting Lineup. MRN.com. Motor Racing Network. October 5, 2018. October 5, 2018.
6. Web site: Final Practice Results. MRN.com. Motor Racing Network. October 6, 2018. October 6, 2018.
7. Web site: Gander Outdoors 400 Results. MRN.com. Motor Racing Network. October 7, 2018. October 7, 2018.
8. Web site: Points standings. Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. October 8, 2018. October 8, 2018.
9. Web site: Manufacturer standings. Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. October 8, 2018. October 8, 2018.
10. Web site: Dover final TV ratings . . . 19 November 2018.
11. Web site: Utter. Jim. Kyle Larson tops Friday's NASCAR Cup practice at Dover. Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. October 5, 2018. Dover, Delaware. October 5, 2018.
12. News: Gelston. Dan. Kyle Busch, Harvick start 1-2 in playoff race at Dover. October 5, 2018. Associated Press. Associated Press. AP Sports. October 5, 2018. Dover, Delaware. https://web.archive.org/web/20181006075148/https://racing.ap.org/article/kyle-busch-harvick-start-1-2-playoff-race-dover. October 6, 2018. dead.
13. Web site: Utter. Jim. Kyle Larson fastest in final NASCAR Cup practice at Dover. Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. October 6, 2018. Dover, Delaware. October 6, 2018.