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Dover International Speedway, Dover, DE (1.0-mile oval)

• Final Practice: Saturday, September 23 (SPEED at 11:30 a.m. AT, 10:30 a.m. ET)
• Bud Pole Qualifying: Friday, September 22 (SPEED at 4:00 p.m. AT, 3:00 p.m. ET)
• Race: Sunday, September 24 (TNT/TSN HD at 1:30 p.m. AT, 12:30 p.m. ET)

Fast Facts
The Race: Dover 400
The Place: Dover International Speedway
The Date: Sept. 241
The Time: 1:10 p.m. (ET)
The Distance: 400 miles/400 laps
TV: TNT/TSN HD 12:30 p.m. (ET), 1:30 p.m. (AT)
Track Layout: 1-mile oval
Purse: $5,028,146 2005
Winner: Jimmie Johnson 2005
Pole: Ryan Newman
Pre-Race On-Track Schedule: Friday—Practice, 11:35 a.m.- 1 p.m. Qualifying, 3:10 p.m. Saturday—Practice, 9-10 a.m. Final practice, 10:35-11:20 a.m.

Top 10 Point Standings
1. Kevin Harvick - 5,230
2. Denny Hamlin - 5,195
3. Matt Kenseth - 5,189
4. Jeff Gordon - 5,180
5. Jeff Burton - 5,166
6. Mark Martin - 5,155
7. Dale Earnhardt Jr. - 5,149
8. Kasey Kahne - 5,120
9. Jimmie Johnson - 5,091
10. Kyle Busch - 5,084
Click here for complete pre-race point standings.

Event Stats - underlined when link is activated

Practice Results - click here

Qualifying Order - click here

Qualifying Results - click here

Starting Lineup - click here

Race Results (unofficial) here

Point Standings (post-race, unofficial) here

Burton Breaks Dry Spell to Win at Dover and Take Chase Lead

Dover, Del. (September 24, 2006) -- Jeff Burton is back in victory lane after a long dry spell.

The popular veteran driver from Virginia battled side by side with former NASCAR champion Matt Kenseth at Dover International Speedway, passing him with six laps to go for Burton's first win in more than 160 races.

Kenseth, one of the fastest cars all day, had his ford sideways several times during the battle trying to hold off burton in his Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.

Burton, however, doggedly kept hounding Kenseth until he finally slipped past cleanly.

Kenseth ran out of gas one lap from the end and wound up 10th, which cost him the lead in the Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup. Click here for the rest of the story.

Victory Lane photos - click here

Post-Race Notes

• Jeff Burton won the Dover 400 at Dover International Speedway, scoring his 18th NASCAR NEXTEL Cup victory in his 431st career start.
• This is his first victory in 2006 and first at Dover in 26 races here. His most recent victory came at Phoenix in October 2001 – 176 races ago.
• Burton became the 12th different race winner in 2006.
• Burton climbed to 35th on NASCARS all-time win list, tied with Geoffrey Bodine, Neil Bonnet and Harry Gant.
• Burton won the $10,000 NASCAR NEXTEL Leader Bonus for winning the race and leading the points.
• Burton won the race from the 19th-place starting position. Matt Kenseth also won the spring race at Dover from 19th.
• Burton climbed from fifth to first in the point standings, the biggest gain among the top 10. He is six points ahead of second-place Jeff Gordon.
• This is the seventh time in his career that Burton has held the point lead. He last held the point lead after California in May 1999.
• Burton led the final six laps in the Dover 400, the only laps he led during the race.
• This is team owner Richard Chidress’ 82nd NASCAR NEXTEL Cup victory. Childress has scored four victories at Dover. His last Dover victory was by Dale Earnhardt in the 1993 Budweiser 500.
• Burton’s victory was the 17th Chevrolet victory in 28 races in 2006.
• Carl Edwards (second) scored his 14th top-10 finish in 2006 and his second top-10 finish in five races at Dover.
• Jeff Gordon (third) scored his 14th top-10 finish in 2006. It marked his 17th top-10 finish in 28 races at Dover. Gordon climbed from fourth to second in the point standings and is now just six points behind Burton.
• Kurt Busch (fourth) scored his ninth top-10 finish in 2006. It marked his fourth top-10 finish in 13 races at Dover.
• Greg Biffle (fifth) scored his 13th top-10 finish in 2006. It was his fourth top-10 finish in nine races Dover.
• Martin Truex Jr. (sixth) was the highest finishing rookie for the first time in 2006.
• Denny Hamlin (ninth) scored his 11th straight top-15 finish.
• Matt Kenseth (10th) scored his sixth straight top-10 finish, extending a streak that began at Michigan in August.
• Jimmie Johnson (13th) has been ranked among the top 10 for 97 consecutive races. Johnson has been running at the finish in all 28 races in 2006. Johnson climbed from ninth to eighth in the point standings.
• Four rookies finished in the top-15 at Dover: Truex (sixth), Clint Bowyer (eighth), Denny Hamlin (ninth) and Reed Sorenson (11th). This is the fourth time this season that four rookies posted top-15 finishes.
• At least one of the Raybestos Rookie-of-the Year contenders has scored a top-15 finish in all 28 races this season.
• Kevin Harvick (32nd) ended a 39-race streak of running at the finish that began at California last September, which was the longest current streak. Mark Martin takes over the streak, running at the finish in the last 35 races. Martin’s streak began at Kansas City one year ago.
• Harvick also ended a streak of 11 straight top-15 finishes that began at Daytona in July.
• Tony Stewart (33rd) remained 11th in the point standings. He has a 217-point lead over 12th-place Greg Biffle who finished fifth. This is the first year that Stewart will not finish among the top-10 since 1999, ending a seven-year streak. Stewart missed The Chase by 16 points. Stewart is chasing the $1 million bonus for finishing 11th in the final point standings. Jeff Gordon finished 11th in 2005 and Jamie McMurray finished 11th in 2004, the inaugural year of the Chase.
• Chevrolet clinched the 2006 Manufacturers’ Championship at Loudon- the 30th Manufacturers’ Championship for Chevrolet. Chevrolet has won the Manufacturers’ Championship in each of the last four years.
• Matt Kenseth led 215 laps in the Dover 400, leading the most laps for the fourth time in 2006. Kenseth also led the most at Las Vegas, Chicago and second Michigan.
  The Chase Drivers
• Four of the 10 Chase drivers finished in the top 10 in the Dover 400.
• Six of the 10 of The Chase drivers changed points positions at Dover.
• Jeff Burton climbed from fifth to first in the point standings. He is one of five “first-timers” to compete in The Chase.
• Jeff Gordon climbed from fourth to second in the point standings. Gordon is competing in the Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup for the second time in three years. He is one of just two drivers that have competed in two of the three. Gordon finished third in 2004 and 11th in the 2005 final standings.
• Matt Kenseth remained third in the point standings. He is now 18 points behind point leader Burton. Kenseth is competing in the Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup for the third straight year. He is one of just three drivers to do so. Kenseth finished eighth in 2004 and seventh in 2005.
• Denny Hamlin dropped from second to fourth in the point standings. Hamlin is competing in the Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup for first time and is the first Raybestos rookie contender to compete in The Chase. He is 18 points behind point leader Burton.
• Kevin Harvick dropped from first to fifth in the point standings. Harvick is competing in the Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup for first time. He is also one of five “first-timers” to compete in The Chase.
• Mark Martin (14th today) remained sixth in the point standings. Martin is competing in the Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup for the third straight year. He is one of just three drivers to do so. Martin finished fourth in 2004 and 2005.
• Dale Earnhardt Jr., remained seventh in the point standings. He is competing in the Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup for the second time in three years. He is one of just two drivers that have competed in two of the three. Earnhardt finished fifth in 2004 and 19th in the 2005 final standings.
• Jimmie Johnson climbed from ninth to eighth in the point standings. Johnson is competing in the Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup for the third straight year. Johnson finished second in 2004 and fifth in 2005.
• Kasey Kahne dropped from eighth to ninth in the point standings. Kahne is competing in the Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup for first time.
• Kyle Busch remained 10th in the point standings. He is competing in the Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup for first time and is one of five “first-timers” to compete in The Chase.

Qualifying Notes

• Jeff Gordon won the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series Bud Pole for the Dover 400, lapping Dover International Speedway in 23.053 seconds at 156.162 mph. Jeremy Mayfield holds the track-qualifying record of 22.288 seconds, 161.522 mph - set June 4, 2004.
• This is Gordon’s 55th career Bud Pole in 465 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series races. He moved into a tie with Bill Elliott for sixth all-time on the Bud Pole winners list.
• This is Gordon’s 14th consecutive year to score a Bud Pole, every season since his full-time career began in 1993. He ended a 47-race streak without a Bud Pole – the longest of his career.
• Gordon became the 13th different Bud Pole winner in 2006. This is his 13th top-10 start in 2006.
• This is Gordon’s third Bud Pole and 18th top-10 start in 28 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race at Dover International Speedway, but his first Bud Pole here since June 1996.
• Gordon became the third different Bud Pole winner in the past eight races at Dover International Speedway. Ryan Newman had three Bud Poles and Jeremy Mayfield two since 2002. Qualifying was canceled twice in the eight-race period.
• Scott Riggs posted the second-quickest qualifying lap of 23.068 seconds, 156.060 mph – and will join Gordon on the front row for the Dover 400. It is his fourth top-10 start this season, Riggs had not started better than 15th in his previous five races at Dover.
• This is the 11th Bud Pole for Chevrolet in 2006. Dodge has 12 Bud Poles and Ford has four. Qualifying was canceled at Bristol.
• Matt Kenseth (third) posted his fifth top-10 start in 16 races at Dover. Kenseth had just eight top-10 starts in the first 22 races of the season, but has posted four in the past six races.
• Ryan Newman (fourth), who started 38th in his career-first Dover race (June 2002), has posted nine top-10 starts in 10 races here – all top-fives. This is only qualifying effort that did not result in a front-row starting position for Newman since September 2002 when he started fourth in his second race here. His other non-front row starts were when qualifying was canceled in September 2003 (fifth) and again in June 2005 (fourth).
• Joe Nemechek (fifth) posted his ninth top-10 start in 25 races at Dover. It is also his eighth top-10 start of 2006 but just his second in the past 11 races.
• Reed Sorenson (seventh) was the highest qualifying rookie and posted his career-best qualifying effort.
• David Ragan (37th) qualified for his career-first NASCAR NEXTEL Cup race. He became the 86th driver to attempt to qualify this season and the 72nd to compete in 2006.
• Only three of the 10 Chase drivers qualified in the top 10: Gordon, Kenseth and Mark Martin (ninth). Point leader, Kevin Harvick (25th) was the lowest-qualifying of the Chase drivers.
• Four drivers failed to qualify for the Dover 400: Morgan Shepherd, Kenny Wallace, Chad Blount and Donnie Neuenberger.

Who's Hot Heading to Dover

• Kevin Harvick has won two straight races and three of the last six. He has out-scored all other drivers in the past 10 races - scoring 1,585 points - 118 more than Denny Hamlin, his nearest competitor.
• Denny Hamlin has posted 14 top-10 finishes this season and ranks second the Championship point standings after the first race of The Chase- his career-best points position. He is also second in points earned over the past 10 races - earning 1,465 points.
• Matt Kenseth has posted 13 top-five finishes in 2006 and ranks third in the point standings.
• Matt Kenseth has posted five straight top-10 finishes, the longest current streak.
• Jimmie Johnson has scored a top-15 finish in 22 of the 27 races in 2006, the most of all drivers.
• Jimmie Johnson is the only driver to score 18 top-10 finishes in the first 27 races of 2006.
• Kasey Kahne has won five races in 2006, the most of all drivers.
• Denny Hamlin has scored top-15 finishes in 17 of the last 18 races.
• Kevin Harvick has posted 11 straight top-15 finishes. Harvick has been running at the finish in the last 39 races, the longest current streak.

Dover Nuggets

Dover Milestones
• Jeff Green is expected to make his 225th career start at Dover International Speedway.
• Jimmie Johnson is expected to make his 175th career start at Dover International Speedway.
• Kasey Kahne is expected to make his 100th career start at Dover. All of his starts have been consecutive.
  Dover Bud Pole Winner
• Ryan Newman scored three Bud Poles in the last seven races at Dover. Qualifying was rained out in two of those races giving Newman three Bud Poles in the five qualifying sessions. Newman also won three of those seven races.
  Different Race Winners
• There have been five different race winners in the last five races at Dover International Speedway.
  Dover Sweepers
• Ryan Newman (2003), Jimmie Johnson (2002) and Tony Stewart (2000) each swept both races at Dover. There have been nine sweeps at Dover since twice-a-year racing began there in 1971. Only two occurred between 1971 and 1987. The remaining seven sweeps all occurred since 1988.
  Starting Up Front is Important at Dover
• Six of the last seven races at Dover have been won from a top-10 starting position. Only seven of the 73 race winners started from a starting position outside the top 15.
  Starting Up Front is the Place to Be at Dover
• Twenty-four of the 73 race winners at Dover started from the front row (33 percent).
  Recent Dominance at Dover International Speedway
• Kyle Busch has posted three top-five finishes in his three races at Dover International Speedway. Busch finished second in his first two races at Dover in 2005 and followed with a fifth-place finish there this past June.
  Dover Streaks
• Ryan Newman has posted eight straight top-five starts at Dover, the longest current streak.
• Kurt Busch has posted nine straight top-15 starts at Dover, the longest current streak.
• Mark Martin has posted five straight top-10 finishes at Dover, the longest current streak.
• Jimmie Johnson has posted four straight top-10 finishes at Dover.
  Owner Wins at Dover International Speedway
• Rick Hendrick leads all owners scoring 10 victories with five different drivers at Dover International Speedway: Jeff Gordon (four), Jimmie Johnson (three), Geoffrey Bodine (one), Ricky Rudd (one) and Ken Schrader (one).
  Leading The Way at Dover
• Jeff Gordon has led 2,198 laps at Dover - the most of all active drivers, leading in 17 of his 27 races. Gordon ranks third all-time in laps led at Dover behind Bobby Allison (2,803) and Richard Petty (2,205).
  Dover Standouts
• Mark Martin leads all active drivers with four Bud Poles in his 40 races at Dover
• Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin lead all active drivers, each with four victories at Dover.
• Mark Martin leads all active drivers with 19 top-five finishes at Dover.
• Mark Martin leads all active drivers with 25 top-10 finishes at Dover.
• Ryan Newman leads all active drivers with a 6.44 average start in nine races at Dover.
• Kyle Busch leads all drivers with more than two races with a 3.0 average finish at Dover.
  Season Nuggets
• Race No. 28 at Dover marks the second of the 10 races in the 2006 Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup.
• Kevin Harvick leads the Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup by 35 points over Denny Hamlin. It is Harvick's career-first time as the point leader.
• Eleventh-place Tony Stewart has a 313-point lead over 12th-place Greg Biffle.
• Six different car owners are represented in the 2006 Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup: Hendrick Motorsports (Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch and Jeff Gordon), Jack Roush Racing (Matt Kenseth and Mark Martin), Richard Childress Racing (Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton), Joe Gibbs Racing (Denny Hamlin), DEI (Dale Earnhardt Jr.) and Evernham Motorsports (Kasey Kahne).
• Seven Chevrolets, two Fords and one Dodge are competing in the 2006 Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup.
• Ten of the top 10 and 16 of the top-25 drivers changed point positions at New Hampshire.
• Jimmie Johnson leads all drivers scoring 18 top-10 finishes in 27 races in 2006 - one more than Matt Kenseth.
• All 27 victories in 2006 have been scored by drivers ranked in the top-14 in the point standings. Jeff Burton (fifth) and Mark Martin (sixth) and are the only two drivers among the top 10 yet to score a victory in 2006.
• Jeff Gordon is the only driver to lead in 19 of the 27 races this season and leads all drivers, scoring 110 lap leader bonus points, five more than third-place Matt Kenseth.
• Denny Hamlin has posted six straight top-10 starts, the longest current streak. Hamlin has posted 11 straight top-15 starts, also the longest current streak. Kevin Harvick has posted 10 straight top-15 starts.
• After winning only three races in all of 2005, Dodge has won six of the 27 races in 2006. Chevrolet has 16 victories while Ford has just five. Chevrolet clinched the 2006 Manufacturers' Championship for the 30th time for Chevrolet. Chevrolet has won the Manufacturers' Championship in each of the last four years. One year ago Ford had 11 victories at this point of the season.
• Three of the top-10 in driver points have been running at the finish in every race in 2006: Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick and Mark Martin.
• Jeff Gordon has posted four DNFs - the most of any driver ranked in among the top 19.
• NASCAR Rookie-of-the-Year contender Denny Hamlin has scored top-10 finishes in 14 of the 27 races in 2006 (52 percent). He has scored 17 top-10s in 34 career races - 50 percent. He has scored top-10 finishes in eight of the last nine races and 17 top-15 finishes in the last 18. He also has been the highest finishing rookie in 14 of the 27 races in 2006 (52 percent).
• At least one rookie has scored a top-15 finish in every race this season. In 21 of the 27 races a rookie finished in the top 10 (78 percent). In nine races two or more rookies finished in the top 10.

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