NASCAR: AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway: What you need to know – Charlotte Observer

Distance: 400 laps, or 400 miles.

Where: Dover International Speedway, a 1-mile, high-banked, concrete oval in Dover, Del.

When: 1 p.m. Sunday.

TV: Fox Sports 1.

Radio: MRN.

Last year’s winner: Matt Kenseth.

Also this week: OneMain Financial 200, Xfinity Series, Dover, 1 p.m., Saturday, Fox Sports 1. Bar Harbor 200, Truck series, Dover, 5:30 p.m., Friday, Fox Sports 1.

Worth mentioning: Is 16 teams too many for the playoffs? As it stands now, Austin Dillon (average finish of 19.1), Ryan Blaney (19.3) and Ryan Newman (18.2) would make the postseason … David Ragan has raced at Dover 21 times and never finished on the lead lap. Matt Kenseth has 23 lead lap finishes, most among active drivers.

Who’s Hot/ Who’s Not

HOT

Martin Truex Jr.: He has led 337 laps combined in the last two races and has a win and a third-place finish to show for it. Expect the hot streak to continue: Nobody has scored more points than he has over the last seven races at Dover.

NOT

Joey Logano: He won at Richmond, and since then nothing has gone right. The win was declared “encumbered” when a rules violation was found afterward. Stats-wise, Logano keeps the win, but he does not get the usual bonus points or automatic entry into the postseason. Crashes at Talladega (32nd) and Kansas (37th) and a mediocre finish at Charlotte (21st) have dropped Logano from fourth in points to 10th.

Chase Elliott: He has finished 24th or worse in each of the past four races, the worst stretch of his full-time NASCAR career at any level.

Matt Crossman