Dover Rundown

Packed grandstands and warm weather had many fans excited for what the sole Dover race of 2024 has to offer. Instead it was a lackluster event, where Kyle Larson was unable to get past Denny Hamlin for the win in the closing laps.

After practice and qualifying on Saturday, many were excited for the race as similar to Bristol, the rubber wasn't sticking to the track and was instead leaving marbles. However on Sunday it was a much different story. Almost immediately rubber was being layed down on the track, limiting the different lanes that Dover offers.

While stage 1 produced some pretty good racing with cars being able to run multiple lanes, run side by side and many drivers making their way through the pack, this was the only stage that had anything to offer. By the time stage 2 rolled around there was too much rubber on the track and passing became much harder as there was really only the bottom line and the high line. Having only a couple of options to run makes it easier for the car in front to aero block.

Aero blocking is what we saw at the finish of the race. Denny took the lead on pit road after a caution and Larson came out 2nd to him. Before this it was largely Larson being the fastest car along with Truex who faced damage to his splitter and grille on a restart. But by taking the lead, Denny gained control over the rest of the race. In the final 10 laps, Larson had gotten within three tenths of Hamlin and looked poised to pass him. Hamlin, being the experienced driver he is, was able to predict and adjust to the lines Larson was using to gain time which made the 5 stall out and not being able to gain any more time on him.

While I've defended the Next Gen car in most circumstances, even in some cases like this, it has been getting harder and harder with each race. There is clearly a fundamental issue with this car and the aero of it that has changed the nature of racing for the worse. Rather than awarding the car behind for being faster and closing the gap, this car awards the guy ahead by making it much easier to defend your position in every scenario. This is a very backwards mentality and NASCAR needs to start making changes starting with this offseason at the latest.

Rant aside, this race was fairly average. Like I said, stage 1 gave some good racing, but there was nothing to watch after that. For this I would give the race a 4/10 putting it with Phoenix from earlier in the year.