Who’s Hot, Who’s Not Leaving Dover

It may have taken a full day, but we now know who’s on top of their game and who’s not leaving the Dover International Speedway. The Gander RV 400 was originally scheduled to start a little after 2 p.m. ET on Sunday but due to mother nature, didn’t start until 12 p.m. ET on Monday.

Now that 400 miles of racing are behind us on the Monster Mile, here’s who’s hot and who’s not.

Who’s Hot

Kyle Busch

While he’s only had one top five finish over his last five races, how can we saw that Kyle Busch isn’t anything but hot after securing another top 10 finish on Monday. The 10th place run, his second straight week at that of one, gives him 11 in 11 tries this season. While he is hot about the racing package with some choice words about it after his 13th straight top 10 overall, he’s still on the “hot” list for us.

Joey Logano

Dover has never been his track as Logano has never finished in the top five before at the Monster Mile in the spring. But on Monday, the Team Penske driver not only won a stage, his fifth of the season at that, but he led more laps (16) than he led in his entire 20 previous Dover starts combined in his seventh place effort. This was Logano’s fourth straight top seven on the year.

Martin Truex Jr. 

While he didn’t have the finish at Talladega, Truex did earn his second win in the last three races on the season. Now, Truex has seven top eight finishes in his last nine starts on the season.

Kevin Harvick

The speed in his No. 4 Ford isn’t on par yet, but for the fifth time in 11 tries this season, Harvick finishes fourth. He now has eight top 10’s already this year, just none better than fourth. Still, that’s a pretty good start considering there’s more speed to be had.

Alex Bowman

He’s finally heating up too. Last weekend, Alex Bowman earned his best career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series finish with a second place run at Talladega. On Monday, he backed that up with another runner-up at Dover. That’s two straight.

Chase Elliott

Bowman’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate won last week in Talladega and for the sixth time in seven tries at Dover, he earned a top five (5th).

Who’s Not

Aric Almirola

Almirola has hit a rough patch of the season. The Stewart-Haas Racing driver started 2019 off with a top 10 in six of the first seven races. But, over the last four, he’s finished 37th, 23rd, ninth and 16th respectively.

Brad Keselowski

Yes, the Team Penske driver has two trips to victory lane already in 2019. But, since his second win of the year at Martinsville, Keselowski has finishes of 36th, 18th, seventh, 13th and 12th respectively.

Ryan Blaney

Keselowski’s teammate is on this list as well. Blaney, has finished 15th or worse in four of his last five starts on the season. Overall, he has seven finishes of 15th or worse in 11 tries.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 

This hasn’t been a great start to the year for Stenhouse Jr. either. He finished 33rd on Monday for his sixth straight race of a result outside of the top 15. He had four top 15’s in his first five races of the season but none since.

 

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