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The 2018 AAA 400 Drive for Autism was a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race held on May 6, 2018, at Dover International Speedway in Dover, Delaware. Contested over 400 laps on the 1-mile (1.6 km) concrete speedway, it was the 11th race of the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season.
| Race details[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 11 of 36 in the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series | |||
 | |||
| Date | May 6, 2018 | ||
| 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 | 115.044 miles per hour (185.145 km/h) | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Chip Ganassi Racing | ||
| Time | 22.770 | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Kevin Harvick | Stewart-Haas Racing | |
| Laps | 201 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 4 | Kevin Harvick | Stewart-Haas Racing | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | FS1 | ||
| Announcers | Mike Joy, Jeff Gordon and Darrell Waltrip | ||
| Nielsen Ratings | 1.7 (Overnight)[11] | ||
| Radio in the United States | |||
| Radio | MRN | ||
| Booth Announcers | Joe Moore, Jeff Striegle and Rusty Wallace | ||
| Turn Announcers | Mike Bagley (Backstretch) | ||
Background
Dover International Speedway is an oval race track in Dover, Delaware, United States that has held at least two NASCAR races since it opened in 1969. 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 is 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.
Entry list
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Paul Menard was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 22.524 seconds and a speed of 159.830 mph (257.221 km/h).[12]
| Pos | No. | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Time | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 21 | Paul Menard | Wood Brothers Racing | Ford | 22.524 | 159.830 |
| 2 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 22.579 | 159.440 |
| 3 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 22.583 | 159.412 |
| Official first practice results | ||||||
Kyle Larson scored the pole for the race with a time of 22.770 and a speed of 158.103 mph (254.442 km/h).[13]
Qualifying results
Second practice
Joey Logano was the fastest in the second practice session with a time of 22.858 seconds and a speed of 157.494 mph (253.462 km/h).[14]
| Pos | No. | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Time | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 22 | Joey Logano | Team Penske | Ford | 22.858 | 157.494 |
| 2 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Team Penske | Ford | 22.864 | 157.453 |
| 3 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr. | Furniture Row Racing | Toyota | 22.923 | 157.048 |
| Official second practice results | ||||||
Final practice
Aric Almirola was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 22.745 seconds and a speed of 158.277 mph (254.722 km/h).[15]
| Pos | No. | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Time | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 22.745 | 158.277 |
| 2 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 22.777 | 158.054 |
| 3 | 14 | Clint Bowyer | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 22.797 | 157.916 |
| Official final practice results | ||||||
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Stage Results
Stage 1 Laps: 120
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 10 |
| 2 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 9 |
| 3 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Team Penske | Ford | 8 |
| 4 | 19 | Daniel Suárez | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 7 |
| 5 | 41 | Kurt Busch | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 6 |
| 6 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 5 |
| 7 | 14 | Clint Bowyer | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 4 |
| 8 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 3 |
| 9 | 22 | Joey Logano | Team Penske | Ford | 2 |
| 10 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Team Penske | Ford | 1 |
| Official stage one results | |||||
Stage 2 Laps: 120
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 10 |
| 2 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Team Penske | Ford | 9 |
| 3 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 8 |
| 4 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 7 |
| 5 | 14 | Clint Bowyer | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 6 |
| 6 | 19 | Daniel Suárez | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 5 |
| 7 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr. | Furniture Row Racing | Toyota | 4 |
| 8 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Team Penske | Ford | 3 |
| 9 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 2 |
| 10 | 22 | Joey Logano | Team Penske | Ford | 1 |
| Official stage two results | |||||
Final Stage Results
Stage 3 Laps: 160
| Pos | Grid | No | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Laps | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 400 | 60 |
| 2 | 12 | 14 | Clint Bowyer | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 400 | 45 |
| 3 | 7 | 19 | Daniel Suárez | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 400 | 46 |
| 4 | 3 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr. | Furniture Row Racing | Toyota | 400 | 37 |
| 5 | 9 | 41 | Kurt Busch | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 400 | 38 |
| 6 | 8 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Team Penske | Ford | 400 | 48 |
| 7 | 10 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 400 | 30 |
| 8 | 14 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Team Penske | Ford | 400 | 33 |
| 9 | 19 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 400 | 38 |
| 10 | 1 | 42 | Kyle Larson | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 400 | 27 |
| 11 | 13 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 400 | 26 |
| 12 | 6 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 400 | 32 |
| 13 | 18 | 22 | Joey Logano | Team Penske | Ford | 400 | 27 |
| 14 | 17 | 24 | William Byron (R) | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 399 | 23 |
| 15 | 5 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 399 | 22 |
| 16 | 23 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 399 | 21 |
| 17 | 25 | 95 | Kasey Kahne | Leavine Family Racing | Chevrolet | 399 | 20 |
| 18 | 11 | 20 | Erik Jones | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 399 | 19 |
| 19 | 22 | 6 | Trevor Bayne | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 398 | 18 |
| 20 | 16 | 37 | Chris Buescher | JTG Daugherty Racing | Chevrolet | 398 | 17 |
| 21 | 28 | 47 | A. J. Allmendinger | JTG Daugherty Racing | Chevrolet | 397 | 16 |
| 22 | 29 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 397 | 15 |
| 23 | 15 | 88 | Alex Bowman | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 397 | 14 |
| 24 | 30 | 13 | Ty Dillon | Germain Racing | Chevrolet | 396 | 13 |
| 25 | 26 | 43 | Darrell Wallace Jr. (R) | Richard Petty Motorsports | Chevrolet | 396 | 12 |
| 26 | 27 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 395 | 11 |
| 27 | 32 | 38 | David Ragan | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 395 | 10 |
| 28 | 31 | 15 | Ross Chastain (i) | Premium Motorsports | Chevrolet | 393 | 0 |
| 29 | 24 | 32 | Matt DiBenedetto | Go Fas Racing | Ford | 392 | 8 |
| 30 | 35 | 23 | Gray Gaulding | BK Racing | Toyota | 386 | 7 |
| 31 | 33 | 00 | Landon Cassill | StarCom Racing | Chevrolet | 385 | 6 |
| 32 | 34 | 55 | Reed Sorenson | Premium Motorsports | Chevrolet | 382 | 5 |
| 33 | 21 | 31 | Ryan Newman | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 377 | 4 |
| 34 | 20 | 21 | Paul Menard | Wood Brothers Racing | Ford | 354 | 3 |
| 35 | 4 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 271 | 19 |
| 36 | 37 | 51 | Cody Ware (i) | Rick Ware Racing | Chevrolet | 244 | 0 |
| 37 | 36 | 99 | Derrike Cope | StarCom Racing | Chevrolet | 145 | 1 |
| 38 | 38 | 72 | Corey LaJoie | TriStar Motorsports | Chevrolet | 20 | 1 |
| Official race results | |||||||
Race statistics
- Lead changes: 6 among different drivers
- Cautions/Laps: 8 for 48
- Red flags: 1 for 41 minutes and 1 second
- Time of race: 3 hours, 28 minutes and 37 seconds
- Average speed: 115.044 miles per hour (185.145 km/h)
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Television
Fox Sports covered their 18th race at the Dover International Speedway. Mike Joy, five-time Dover winner Jeff Gordon and two-time Dover winner Darrell Waltrip had the call in the booth for the race. Jamie Little, Vince Welch and Matt Yocum handled the action on pit road for the television side.
| FS1 | |
|---|---|
| Booth announcers | Pit reporters |
| Lap-by-lap: Mike Joy Color-commentator: Jeff Gordon Color commentator: Darrell Waltrip | Jamie Little Vince Welch Matt Yocum |
Radio
MRN had the radio call for the race which was also simulcasted on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.
| MRN Radio | ||
|---|---|---|
| Booth announcers | Turn announcers | Pit reporters |
| Lead announcer: Joe Moore Announcer: Jeff Striegle Announcer: Rusty Wallace | Backstretch: Mike Bagley | Kim Coon Alex Hayden Dillon Welch Steve Post |
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