2019 Drydene 400

2019 Drydene 400

Race details[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]
Race 30 of 36 in the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
The 2019 Drydene 400 program cover, celebrating 100 NASCAR Cup Series races at the track.
Date	October 6, 2019 (2019-10-06)
Location	Dover International Speedway in Dover, Delaware
Course	Permanent racing facility 1 mi (1.6 km)
Distance	400 laps, 400 mi (640 km)
Average speed	135.734 miles per hour (218.443 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing
Time	21.559
Most laps led
Driver	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing
Laps	219
Winner
No. 42	Kyle Larson	Chip Ganassi Racing
Television in the United States
Network	NBCSN
Announcers	Rick Allen, Jeff Burton, Steve Letarte and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Nielsen Ratings	1.826 million[9]
Radio in the United States
Radio	MRN
Booth Announcers	Alex Hayden, Jeff Striegle and Rusty Wallace
Turn Announcers	Mike Bagley (Backstretch)

The 2019 Drydene 400 was a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race that was held on October 6, 2019 at Dover International Speedway in Dover, Delaware. Contested over 400 laps on the one-mile (1.6  km) concrete speedway, it was the 30th race of the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season, the fourth race of the Playoffs, and the first race of the Round of 12. Kyle Larson won the race, his first of the season and ultimately last driving for Chip Ganassi Racing.

Dover International Speedway (formerly Dover Downs International Speedway) is a race track in Dover, Delaware, United States. Since opening in 1969, it has held at least two NASCAR races. In addition to NASCAR, the track also hosted USAC and the Verizon IndyCar Series. The track features one layout, a 1 mile (1.6 km) concrete oval, with 24° banking in the turns and 9° banking on the straights. The speedway was owned and operated by Dover Motorsports.

The track, nicknamed "The Monster Mile", was built in 1969 by Melvin Joseph of Melvin L. Joseph Construction Company, Inc., with an asphalt surface, but was replaced with concrete in 1995. Six years later in 2001, the track's capacity moved to 135,000 seats, making the track have the largest capacity of sports venue in the mid-Atlantic. In 2002, the name changed to Dover International Speedway from Dover Downs International Speedway after Dover Downs Gaming and Entertainment split, making Dover Motorsports. From 2007 to 2009, the speedway worked on an improvement project called "The Monster Makeover", which expanded facilities at the track and beautified the track. After the 2014 season, the track's capacity was reduced to 95,500 seats.

• (i) denotes driver who are ineligible for series driver points.
• (R) denotes rookie driver.

Joey Logano was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 22.056 seconds and a speed of 163.221 mph (262.679 km/h).^[10]

Kyle Larson was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 22.126 seconds and a speed of 162.705 mph (261.848 km/h).^[11]

Denny Hamlin scored the pole for the race with a time of 21.559 and a speed of 166.984 mph (268.735 km/h).^[12]

Stage One Laps: 120

Stage Two Laps: 120

Stage Three Laps: 160

• Lead changes: 14 among 9 different drivers
• Cautions/Laps: 3 for 17
• Red flags: 0
• Time of race: 2 hours, 56 minutes and 49 seconds
• Average speed: 135.734 miles per hour (218.443 km/h)

NBC Sports covered the race on the television side. Rick Allen, 2006 race winner Jeff Burton, Steve Letarte and 2001 race winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. had the call in the booth for the race. Dave Burns, Marty Snider and Kelli Stavast reported from pit lane during the race.

MRN had the radio call for the race, which was simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Alex Hayden, Jeff Striegle and 3 time Dover winner Rusty Wallace had the call for MRN when the field raced down the front straightaway. Mike Bagley called the race from a platform outside turn 3 when the field raced down the back straightaway. Winston Kelley, Steve Post, and Kim Coon called the race for MRN from pit lane.

Pos Driver Points 1 1 Martin Truex Jr. 3,095 1 2 Denny Hamlin 3,080 (–15) 2 3 Kyle Busch 3,080 (–15) 1 4 Kevin Harvick 3,074 (–21) 3 5 Kyle Larson 3,063 (–32) 1 6 Brad Keselowski 3,052 (–43) 2 7 Alex Bowman 3,049 (–46) 3 8 William Byron 3,032 (–63) 5 9 Joey Logano 3,032 (–63) 2 10 Clint Bowyer 3,028 (–67) 5 11 Chase Elliott 3,025 (–70) 2 12 Ryan Blaney 3,010 (–85) 13 Aric Almirola 2,101 (–994) 14 Ryan Newman 2,085 (–1,010) 15 Kurt Busch 2,084 (–1,011) 16 Erik Jones 2,037 (–1,058) Official driver's standings

Manufacturers' Championship standings Pos Manufacturer Points 1 Toyota 1,093 2 Ford 1,058 (–35) 3 Chevrolet 1,027 (–66) Note: Only the first 16 positions are included for the driver standings.