Weekend Recap: Dover

Weekend Recap: Dover

There were some surprising and not so surprising winners this weekend at the Monster Mile in Dover, Delaware, so let's see who scored victories in each of the top three Series.

Camping World Truck Series: Lucas Oil 200 @ Dover

The Onion isn't done winning just yet. Todd Bodine scored a surprising victory at Dover, his first of the year for Red Horse Racing who already have one victory this year at Daytona, courtesy of John King. Bodine didn't have the best car at all, that was Kevin Harvick who dominated the race that was plagued by rain showers. 

Harvick appeared to have a win locked up when rain began to fall just past the halfway point of the race, but the rain wasn't as heavy as anticipated and they got back to racing, causing Harvick to pit. Bodine had already made a pit stop laps earlier and held the lead until it started pouring at lap 147 of 200. Justin Lofton maintained his points lead with a top-10 finish.

Nationwide Series: 5-Hour Energy 200 @ Dover

He's at it again. Joey Logano took home his fourth Nationwide victory of the 2012 season in dominating fashion, though with a little action involved too. Logano looked to be a runaway favorite, but after pitting with less than 40 laps to go, he surrendered the lead to teammate Ryan Truex. 

Truex, running a part-time Nationwide schedule, was racing just ten days after he had an appendectomy and, not to mention, in front of all of his family who were at the track from his nearby hometown of Mayetta, New Jersey. Truex built a comfortable lead as Logano tore through the top ten like a man on a mission. With less than ten laps left, it looked like Truex was on his way to his first Nationwide victory, but coming off of turn 2, two lap down cars were side by side and Truex couldn't find a way to get around. Logano quickly caught and passed Truex and pulled away for the win.

Series points leader coming into the event, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., made a self proclaimed "driver error" less than 40 laps into the race as he wrecked coming off of turn two all by himself. With a strong run by Elliott Sadler, he assumed the points lead over Stenhouse as they head into an off weekend.

Sprint Cup Series: FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks

Hendrick Motorsports domination continues. Jimmie Johnson cruised to an easy victory at Dover, his 7th there, tabbing him as the tamer of the Monster. Johnson had virtually no competition all day, except for one man, his teammate Jeff Gordon.

Gordon started 14th but quickly worked his way up into the top-5 and was the only car consistently faster than Johnson. Gordon finally took the lead away from Johnson with roughly 150 laps remaining and began to pull away. But just when it seemed Gordon was due for some good luck in 2012, the dark cloud that has been hovering over him struck again. A loose wheel 20 laps into the third to last run of the race forced Gordon to pit and give up the lead to Johnson who put him a lap down. 

There was a chance for Gordon to still win if the race went caution free for the last 70 laps, but with 60 to go, another one of NASCAR's famous invisible debris caution put Gordon's last shot at winning out of the window. Johnson pulled away from Kevin Harvick on the final run and scored his second victory of the season. Greg Biffle retained a slim points lead of 1 over his teammate Matt Kenseth who finished 3rd. The Series heads to the Tricky Triangle of Pocono Raceway this weekend where Jeff Gordon won last year's race.