Dover...One of the coolest tracks on the circuit in my mind. I was not very lucky at the nickel slots in June, but I still like Dover. You will notice on TV this weekend that there are bridges that cross over the track. One of the neatest experiences is walking out of the track on Saturday and watching the Nationwide cars zing off of turn two all pitched sideways as they dissappear under your feet.

The first Dover is always interesting for RGM as the Baja 500 is usually the same weekend, so he misses practice and qualifying. This year we had Matt Crafton in the car for practice and qualifying. I am not privy to the specific reason that he was chosen, but he did a fine job. From the perspective of the team members, the last thing you want a substitute driver to do is try to be a hero and wad the thing up. Since Robby doesn't qualify the car, you have to start last anyway,so why bother spending alot of time rebuilding a car if you don't have to, right? That being said, you have to run lap times that are competitive enough to tune the car around. We had tested with Matt Crafton at Nashville in the summer of 07, so Matt was familiar with Robby's cars, and he was decently quick at the test, so everyone on the team had faith that he would do a good job. It is really tough to try to make setup decisions for raceday based on Crafton's feedback, because we did not really have a baseline as to whether or not Robby and Matt like the same feel in the car. In the end it's a bit of a guess, but it worked out fine. Just an interesting quirk of the season that you have to deal with.

So...what to expect this week...My guess is that the 16 will be fast, because they were in the spring, and the win will have them swimming in confidence. As for the 7, it could be good or frustrating. The biggest handling problems usually happen when the car gets slammed into the banking at corner entry. Sometimes the car will be darty when this happens, and if that is the case, the confidence is not there to get back on the gas quickly, and you miss the apex of the corner. Getting the right toe setting to address this will be a key. Dover is really hard on the cars similar to Bristol, so weird things can break or rattle off the car. One of the races I did with Robby, a shock broke on the qualifying lap and screwed up the lap. So....you never know where the monster is lurking.