Five time defending NASCAR champ Jimmie Johnson will look to tie legends Richard Petty and Bobby Allison for the most all times win at Dover Downs this afternoon as the green flag drops at the FEDEX 400 drops this afternoon at 1:15 pm in Delaware.
Johnson has six career wins at the Monster Mile, including three of the last four events there. He swept the races at Dover in 2009. He says that the short track just fits his style well.
"It reminds me a little bit of my off-road days," Johnson said. "I really like this track. Our race wins and finishes kind of back that up. I'm looking forward to another great weekend and I would love to hopefully get a win and get some more points."
Johnson sits on the pole today despite the fact that qualifying was rained out. Thanks to a new NASCAR rule, the driver with the fastest average laps in practice gets the pole and that was Johnson. Previously, NASCAR would set the field by order of points standings. However, as AJ Alimendinger joked to Jimmie Johnson this week, the new rule probably won't change much.
"I don't understand," Allmendinger said. "The system is the same for you. You're either fastest, or they used to do it by points, so you started on the pole. Not sure how much different that is for you."
Johnson currently sits second in the Sprint Cup standings behind Carl Edwards, who continues to rack up 10 ten finishes. Edwards has finished in the top 10 in each of the past four races and has eight top tens over the first ten races of the season.