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SRT Motorsports - Race Recap - Dover Drivers Find “Monster Mile” Difficult Challenge Keselowski, Allmendinger Did Elude 13-Car Mishap on Lap 9

June 2, 2012, Dover, Del. - The track they call “The Monster Mile” lived up to its reputation Sunday as one of the most challenging venues on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series circuit. And the Dodge Boys would certainly agree.

Sunday’s FedEx 400 challenged crew chiefs and drivers alike to make the right adjustments to survive 400-laps around the all-concrete oval. A few were successful in the chess match and ran at the front of the field throughout the afternoon. For the rest, it was a struggle.

For several, the struggle didn’t last long. An accident on Lap 9 turned out to involve the largest number of cars this season – 13. The race had to be red flagged for just under 20 minutes to clear the debris.

Both Dodge drivers – and A.J. Allmendinger – were in front of the mishap. That was the good news for the duo. The first half of the 400-lap contest was dominated by . He led 153 of the first 200 circuits.

It wasn’t until lap 235 that Brad Keselowski and the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger made some noise. The Blue Deuce advanced inside the top 10 and, using some pit strategy, made it all the way up to sixth over the final 200 miles.

Keselowski’s chance for a top-10 finish was dealt a setback during the fifth caution on Lap 342. During the , he stalled his car and was forced to reboot his ECU, dropping him to 15th-place for the restart on Lap 345. Over the next 55 laps Keselowski was able to pick up three positions to finish 12th. He remains 11th in the Sprint Cup Series driver standings 86 points behind the leader, .

“We were anywhere from a 10th to 15th-place car today,” said Keselowski. “We made good adjustments all day on the Miller Lite Dodge and had solid pit stops to run a little better than that. We were just kind of stuck. We didn’t make the car worse and we didn’t make it better. The guys on the Miller Lite Dodge did a good job executing to get us a solid finish. It was really all I had today.”

Crew chief described it as a “tough” day. “We never really had good speed in the car all day. We adjusted on it and tried some different things. We just weren’t able to find it today.”

Allmendinger had his share of issues trying to find the right balance on his No. 22 Dodge, saying his car was “temperamental” with how it handled. Allmendinger finished 16th in the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger.

“Wish we could have at least pulled out a top 15, but we just struggled all weekend,” said Allmendinger. “The guys made some big changes Saturday after qualifying for the start of the race. For those first few laps before the red flag it felt decent but pretty quick into that next run we got tight. The car just felt on top of the track.”

Crew chief echoed his driver’s sentiments. “It was a tough day for us,” he said. “I think this race track has a lot of swings in it as it rubbers up and comes back. Everybody struggled with race cars today and other teams seemed to dampen that a little bit.”

Johnson led 289 laps and took the checkered flag 2.550 seconds ahead of second-place . There were 17 lead changes among seven drivers in a race that took 3 hours, 15 minutes and 23 seconds to complete. Johnson averaged 122.835 mph in a race that was slowed by seven cautions for 32 laps.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Point Standings (After 13 of 36 events) 1. Greg Biffle 486 2. -1 3. Jr. -10 4. -22 5. Jimmie Johnson -33 6. Martin Truex Jr. -45 7. Kevin Harvick -46 8. -79 9. -80 10. -81 11. BRAD KESELOWSKI -86 23. A.J. ALLMENDINGER -194

Race Results NASCAR Sprint Cup Series FedEx 400 Dover International Speedway June 3, 2012 1. Jimmie Johnson 2. Kevin Harvick 3. Matt Kenseth 4. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 5. Clint Bowyer 6. 7. Martin Truex Jr. 8. 9. 10. 12. BRAD KESELOWSKI 16. A.J. ALLMENDINGER

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