Saturday Dover Notebook

Notebook Items:

- In one sense, the pressure’s off Chris Buescher at Dover

- Johnson encouraged by progress of Earnhardt's recovery

- Short Strokes

October 1, 2016

By Reid Spencer

NASCAR Wire Service

IN ONE SENSE, THE PRESSURE'S OFF CHRIS BUESCHER AT DOVER

DOVER, Del. – When racing pundits were making their Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup predictions at the start of the 2016 season, it’s doubtful that Chris Buescher made anyone’s top 16.

Nevertheless, Buescher defied the odds and qualified for the Chase on the strength of an unlikely victory in the rain-shortened Aug. 1 race at Pocono.

But the opening two events of the playoff didn’t go the way the driver of the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford would have liked. Buescher finished 28th at Chicagoland and 30th at New Hampshire to fall into last place in the Chase standings, 30 points below the cut line.

To avoid elimination when the Chase field is trimmed from 16 drivers to 12, Buescher almost certainly needs a victory in Sunday’s Citizen Soldier 400 at Dover International Speedway (2 p.m. ET on NBCSN) to advance to the next round.

To Buescher, surprisingly, that means a stress-free weekend at the Monster Mile.

“We look at Dover as the last race of this round, and we really don’t have anything to lose,” Buescher said. “Chicago and Loudon weren’t the races that we wanted to have, and we come into Dover, one of my favorite race tracks. 

“I’m excited to get on track. This should be a place where we can really have a good run and see if we can advance to that next round. It’s going to be tough at this point, but this is probably our best race track out of this round, so I’m excited to get going.”

In his only previous Sprint Cup start at the Monster Mile—a wreck-filled war of attrition on May 15—Buescher finished 18th, four laps down. But in four NASCAR XFINITY Series starts at Dover, Buescher has one victory, three top 10s and a worst finish of 11th.

“Like we said, we don’t really have anything to lose here,” said the 2015 XFINITY Series champion. “All we have to do is gain, so, to me, it’s going to make it to where we’re able to go out here and not worry about it, take some chances, try and utilize some risk and see if we can pull something off.”

JOHNSON ENCOURAGED BY PROGRESS OF EARNHARDT’S RECOVERY

Most race car drivers would rather wreck than watch someone else drive their cars.

From that perspective, Jimmie Johnson can understand why Hendrick Motorsports teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. hasn’t been frequenting NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race tracks as he spends the rest of the season recovering from a concussion.

Yes, Earnhardt made a brief appearance at Watkins Glen in August, and he participated in a longer press conference at Darlington a month later. But Sunday will be the first time Earnhardt will stay for a Sprint Cup race.

“I completely understand how difficult it is to come to the track and feel productive,” Johnson said. “But I guess many of you haven’t had a chance to see him in our team meetings, at the shop, and various ways we interact and being a part of the discussions week-to-week on what’s happened when we’re getting ready for the next week.

“He’s been deeply involved in all of that. I can only imagine how hard it is to go to the track and watch your car race, and then also how boring it would be, because we do have the coolest job to sit in that race car. And then just to come to a track and watch, I don’t know if I could do it.

“It’s great from a public perception that he’s coming and that people can really see how hard he’s working and then kind of tie that together with his recovery process. But I’ve seen a lot of him and I know he’s dying to get back in the race car and eager to feel amazing again, and I think he’s on a great road of progress right now.”

Part of Earnhardt’s recovery involves participation in high-stress public situations. On Friday, before coming to Dover, he attended a high school football game at his alma mater, Mooresville High School.

SHORT STROKES

Saturday morning’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice was shortened because of light rain, but not before Jeff Gordon, subbing for Dale Earnhardt Jr. this weekend, posted the fastest lap of the session at 160.514 mph. Gordon ran 41 laps before the session was curtailed at the 40-minute mark, second only to Jamie McMurray’s 42. ... Interestingly, there were no Chase drivers in the top six on the speed chart in the Saturday morning session. Behind Gordon were Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ryan Newman, Kasey Kahne, Paul Menard and Clint Bowyer. Kyle Larson, who led Friday’s opening practice at the Monster Mile, was the fastest of the Chase drivers on Saturday, recording a best lap of 158.898 mph…

Saturday’s final Sprint Cup practice was cancelled because of rain.